o it’s Berlin, 1964. Not our Berlin, but a Berlin where Germany won World War Two. It’s not one of those “Germans Rule the Planet” deals – in this case, they own most of the east (but are still fighting red terrorists along a Vietnam-like front). All other European countries bow to them. And Hitler, now an old man, is about to have a massive birthday party. President Kennedy will soon be flying in to talk detente.

Way below all this is a policeman, Xavier March, divorced, hated by his young son (for party reasons), an ex-uboat man, just doing his job. He ends up along a cold likeside, doing a favor for a fellow officer, looking into a drowned party bigwig. But a number of the issues around the death catch his attention. Like any good protagonist of a murder mystery, he starts to dig.

The weird thing about the book is that we already know what the true crime is, and why various people are getting snuffed. The Holocaust, a thing unknown in this Germany, hidden and filed away, is at the center of all this. But in recovering some of the existing files, March finds himself getting closer (as the SS closes in on him).

It is curious – a mystery where you know all about the coverup (made worse in that the Germans had not been stopped by the end of the war – they just kept going). Author Robert Harris makes good on what little documentation exists, creating a very plausible world of entrenched evil, populated by characters out of history. It was a very good read.

You know, the thing about past and present – the Germans treated their Jewish prisoners without mercy, packing them on trains, moving them east to their deaths. They even had railroad schedules created. And they had meetings (such as the Wannsee Conference). But our current administration is just winging it, making vague promises that will result in economic and humanitarian heartaches, an inept mass-movement of people. This is the devil of being well-read. You know exactly what evil men are capable of once they find power.

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