Subject: FATHERLAND by Robert Harris

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070)
Date: 18 Sep 92 20:28:29 GMT

FATHERLAND by Robert Harris
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper

     Usually alternate history novels are written by science fiction
authors, but every few years we see one by a "mainstream" author.  And for
whatever reason, they seem to choose the "what if Germany won World War II"
scenario.  In 1978 we had what is probably the best-known, Len Deighton's
SS-GB: NAZI-OCCUPIED BRITAIN 1941; in 1980, we had Kenneth Macksey's
INVASION: THE GERMAN INVASION OF ENGLAND, JULY 1940; now we have Robert
Harris's FATHERLAND.

     The year is 1964.  The Reich extends from the Caspian Sea in the east
to the French-German border in the west.  Western Europe is apparently
joined in something similar to the Common Market which follows the Reich's
lead (though the included map shows them as separate nations still).  The
president of the United States, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (yes, *another*
alternate Kennedy story as well), is about to visit Berlin on the occasion
of the Fuhrer's seventy-fifth birthday.  And then the corpse of Joseph
Buhler, high-ranking official (now retired), is found washed up on the
riverbank near his home.  In the course of investigating this death,
Detective Xavier March is led into some of the best-hidden secrets of the
Reich.

     Harris is the author of SELLING HITLER: THE HITLER DIARIES and
therefore has a good background for this novel.  (He did make one minor
technical slip on page 73:  although this takes place in Europe, dates are
given in the American format [mm/dd/yy] rather than European [dd/mm/yy].)
His extrapolations on the whole are reasonable (though I question the
Beatles playing in Hamburg in Harris's world--does it seem a likely locale
for the gay Jewish manager to pick?).  If there is a weak point, it is in
the secret the Reich is trying to hide.  Without revealing it, let me just
say that 1) it isn't a secret to us, 2) it doesn't seem to be a real secret
to most of the people in Harris's world, and 3) I'm not convinced the Reich
would be so concerned about keeping it a secret.  Evidence in our world
indicates quite the contrary.

     The result is that the book failed to involve me--I kept thinking,
"This is supposed to be exciting, or at least suspenseful, but it isn't."
It has some interest as an extrapolation of the Reich twenty years later,
but whether that will satisfy the reader who is expecting a "taut thriller"
is doubtful, and readers who find any suspense in the story won't appreciate
the background.

%A      Robert Harris
%T      Fatherland
%I      Random House
%C      New York
%D      1992
%O      hardcover, US$21.00
%G      ISBN 0-679-41273-5
%P      336pp

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or [email-masked]