The Shadow District by Arnaldur Indridason Thomas Dunne/Minotaur Books, $25.99, 344 pages ISBN 978-1-250-12402-9) Iceland, positioned at the top of the world between Europe and North America, is a land of active volcanoes, long winter nights and some of the best noir writers in the world. Case in point . . . the newest crime fiction thriller by international best-selling author Arnaldur Indridason is a meticulously plotted murder mystery
The One Man by Andrew Gross Minotaur Books, $26.99, 415 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-07950-3 Pundits the world over have examined, discussed, analyzed, diagrammed, debated, researched and written thousands upon thousands of books, articles and dissertations on the subject of the Second World War. It’s the object of infinite fascination and endless study; perhaps because it was the most momentous, and tragic event in all of human history—costing at least 60,
A Hero of France by Alan Furst Random House, $27.00, 234 pages, ISBN 978-0-8129-9649-4 On September 1, 1939, German Armed Forces invaded Poland with tanks, armored infantry divisions and dive bombers. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany the next day and World War II began. Poland surrendered two weeks later. The German forces occupied Poland, loaded their weapons and combat troops onto railroads, and headed west, right
Echowave by Joe Joyce Liberties Press, PB, $15.99, 323 pages, ISBN 978-1-910742-13-6 As an avid and long time student of twentieth-century American and world history, I thought myself pretty well versed in World War II lore . . . until this week’s MBR disabused me of the notion. That’s because it made me aware of the fact that everything I knew about the war was from the perspective of
World Gone By by Dennis Lehane William Morrow/Harper Collins, $27.99, 309 pages, ISBN 978-0-06-000490-3 Doesn’t it seem that the older we get, the more complicated our lives become . . . and the more complex our lives . . . the more we yearn for the good old days when things ran better, life was somehow easier and more quaint? A cowboy poet named Badger Clark summed it up
Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst Random House/Penguin, $27.00, 251 pages, ISBN 978-1-4000-6949-1 If you’re a fan of noir fiction, tales of WWII exploits or spy thrillers, you’ll love this week’s MBR . . . an espionage novel set in Paris in 1938, on the eve of World War II, just as the Spanish Civil War is coming to an end. Generalissimo Franco’s Nationalist forces, together with their Nazi
The Investigation by Jung-Myung Lee Mantle/Macmillan, £16.99 (about $26.00) 325 pages, ISBN 978-0-230-76871-0 Mention “World War II Prison Stories” in any group and the resulting discussion will invariably focus around one of three classic and much admired movies: Stalag 17, The Great Escape, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. But, if you’re willing to do more than sit on the couch with a dazed look and the TV
Then We Take Berlin by John Lawton Grove Atlantic Inc., $26.00, 418 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2196-7 I’ve always enjoyed reading historical fiction or crime and espionage novels, as well as most anything to do with World War II and the early cold war period. When I found an unfamiliar author who had just written a novel that combined all those elements into one project . . . I couldn’t wait
The Crooked Maid by Dan Vyleta Bloomsbury, $26.00, 427 pages, ISBN 978-1-60819-809-2 In the immediate aftermath of WWII, Vienna, Austria was a political, social and environmental disaster. It was a city in the hard business of reconstruction, denazification and redirection . . . a place that was in the midst of “Convincing itself that it was the first victim of Nazism, not it’s willing bride.” By the year 1948,
A Man Without Breath (Bernie Gunther) by Philip Kerr A Miriam Wood Book/Putnam/Penguin, $26.95, 465 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-16079-0 A nation without religion—that is like a man without breath.–Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany, 1933-45. He had total control of the press, radio and all aspects of German culture during that time. It was his job to make the Nazi Army look as good as possible, while at