Tuesday 20 May 2014

PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG by ANNE BLANKMAN

Prisoner of Night and Fog
by Anne Blankman
Published: April 2014
Publisher: Headline
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction

"In 1930s Munich, danger lurks behind dark corners, and secrets are buried deep within the city. But Gretchen Müller, who grew up in the National Socialist Party under the wing of her "uncle" Dolf, has been shielded from that side of society ever since her father traded his life for Dolf's, and Gretchen is his favorite, his pet.
Uncle Dolf is none other than Adolf Hitler.
And Gretchen follows his every command.
Until she meets a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter named Daniel Cohen. Gretchen should despise Daniel, yet she can't stop herself from listening to his story: that her father, the adored Nazi martyr, was actually murdered by an unknown comrade. She also can't help the fierce attraction brewing between them, despite everything she's been taught to believe about Jews." - Taken from Goodreads


I originally requested this book because I have a particular interest with Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler after studying it for a few years. Historical fiction is also a genre that I am desperately trying to find and read more books of, because when I do I almost always enjoy what I read.  

For the most part, this book was fast paced and thrilling, although there were occasional slumps where I felt like the story was repeating itself, it didn't really hinder the story and make me want to stop reading. In a way the repetition sometimes added to the story because a lot of the time it was repetition about how vile the Jews or, at least should be, according to Hitler and this really makes you feel gobsmacked that this was actually the mentality of people in this time, who were brainwashed into thinking that even just by touching a Jew you could get a disease, its absolutely crazy! What I found incredibly interesting and unique (at least to the books I have read or seen about Nazi Germany) is that this is from the viewpoint of someone who is technically in the inner circle of the Nazis and Hitler, it gives a completely different dynamic and it was one I incredibly enjoyed.

 The characters were wonderfully written and well developed, there wasn't a single character for me that I felt was unimportant or hindered the story. Germany was exactly how you would imagine with all of the political scheming going on and although this is obviously part fictitious it was very obvious that the author had done a lot of research into this period and it made it so much more realistic and enjoyable. Blankman has a very unique way of writing and so almost everything that Gretchen is feeling you are feeling as well, especially when she is scared of her brother Reinhard, because I found myself almost wanting to throw the book across the room from the fear of him and what he would do next.

In some ways I think having a small bit of knowledge on Nazi Germany is useful when reading this book so that you can easily identify iconic people in the Nazi party and some of the incidents that happen, but in other ways I think you could still read this book with absolutely no knowledge other than knowing who Hitler was. 

I am excited to see more from this author as this is a really solid debut novel.


4.5 STARS

*This book was sent to me for free in exchange for an honest review*

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