Steve Anderson (1)

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Liberated: A Novel of Germany, 1945 by Steve Anderson takes place during the German occupation after World War II. Mr. Anderson was a Fulbright Fellow in Munich, Germany and his research prompted the writing of this book.

Captain Harry Kaspar is posted in a Bavarian town named Heimgau. However, instead of him being in command he finds a Major Membre already there.

Soon Harry discovers that the Major and others are running a ring to fake artwork, and might have committed a horrific murder. Together with Katarina, a German actress, Harry defies the odds and fights back.

I really enjoyed the author’s previous book, and bought this book (and the next) as well. I have noticed his first book, The Losing Role, is well researched and well written.

Liberated by Steve Anderson has a lot going for it. The history is fascinating, the story is intriguing, the author touches on subjects which are not talked about much such as the prejudice towards patriotic German-Americans and more. I enjoyed reading about Captain Kaspar’s inexperience and naïveté, coming into an occupied land still crawling with Nazis, Nazi sympathizers, as well as displaced persons just trying to survive.

The book, however, did not work for me as much as the previous book did. The romance with Katarina seemed force, and Harry’s attempt to halt corruption, under the shadow of genocide seemed out of place.

I appreciated the effort to show how war can corrupt even the best of us, whole communities in fact. Maybe the author tried to put too much into one book, but I found myself, at some points, just reading to finish.

I enjoyed reading about Katarina’s journey. A famous singer and actress, she found herself working propaganda for the Reich and is now associated with them to her dismay. She spends her time helping victims of the war regardless of who they are, or where they came from.

As I previously mentioned, the research Mr. Anderson did is fantastic, and that alone worth reading the book. I already have the next book in the series and will certainly read it soon.… (altro)

I won this book on Goodreads. It's a historical fiction based right after WWII. I honestly wasn't the biggest fan.

The story almost felt forced and disjointed. The two main characters are way too trusting of each other having only met a day before the go to this place called "The Preserve." One is a former war vet with severe PTSD and the other is a former "boogie" house girl. Typically people from those backgrounds are not going to trust anyone.

Now the story aspect was definitely very interesting and the characters had a lot of realness to them. I think it just could have been better laid out and the characters more developed.

Since I always mention this, there definitely was quite a bit of cussing. But it is a military based book with some messed up characters. I honestly think it would feel even more unrealistic had there not been any.

If you really like reading historical war fiction then you might like this book. Also, if you like conspiracy theories.… (altro)

Steve Anderson’s new book is a post-WWII thriller set on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1948. Wendell Lett, war hero turned deserter, seeks treatment for combat trauma at an isolated facility called The Preserve. Instead of a cure for his jangled nerves, he finds himself caught up in an assassination plot that runs all the way to General Douglas MacArthur.

The Preserve is a first-rate historical thriller. It is fast, dark, complicated enough without being ridiculous, with characters and relationships you are interested in, and enough historic facts salted through the narrative to make you ponder long after the last page.

The Preserve is Anderson's second book featuring Wendell Lett, who first appeared in Under False Flags. They can be read as stand-alones, and are even better read back to back.… (altro)

This novel won't be to everyone's taste but I've given it 5 stars because:

1) it was very funny, provided you like deadpan humour;
2) it's well observed (I was in Germany at the time it was set and it chimed with some of my own experiences);
3) the central character, Gordy, is sufficiently likeable (despite his many, many faults) that I cared what happened to him (not always a given in fiction of this type);
4) it was different and original (I didn't think to myself, "oh no, not another novel about having one beer too many at the Munich Oktoberfest and then being unable to resist pretending to be a Fulbright scholar on the trail of revelations about Hitler etc etc"); and
5) I thought some of the less favourable reviews were a bit mean-spirited - this is a comic novel, for goodness' sake, it's not claiming to be "Moby Dick".

For a longer review, see http://www.paulsamael.com/blog/besserwisser









… (altro)