Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 4, 1994 TAG: 9409070007
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
By Robert Harris. Harper. $6.50 (paper).
"Fatherland" is a first-rate thriller with a serious purpose. Author Robert Harris has taken a familiar premise - German victory in World War II - and made it all too believable. The setting is Berlin, 1964. Adolph Hitler's 75th birthday approaches when police detective Xavier March is called to investigate the drowning of an old man. It doesn't take March long to learn that the victim was a wealthy and important member of the Nazi party, and several of his contemporaries have also died under unusual circumstances. More important, some party officials want to sweep the whole matter under the carpet.
But March is nothing if not tenacious. He's a believably cynical and worn out character, a man who has seen a lot and recognizes lies when he hears them. March's search for the truth - the truth of his case and larger historical truths behind it - is at the core of the novel. And even though Harris scrupulously follows the rules for a thriller (most of them, anyway), this one has some real weight to it.
Harris is able to sustain his story all the way through. The conclusion is the strongest part of the novel. It ends on precisely the right note, one that might leave an opening for a sequel. I hope there is. Harris, a columnist for the London Sunday Times and author of a nonfiction book about Hitler, has more to say about this fictional world.
- MIKE MAYO, Book page editor
Night Prey.
By John Sandford. Putnam's. $22.95.
"Night Prey" is not the book you want to read if you're home alone at night - particularly if you're a woman who doesn't close her drapes. Even worse, if you've ever been visited by a cat burglar and fear that he may have returned to your home, be careful with this novel. Now, if your intruder/stalker is also a brilliant psychopath who finds sexual release in torturing and murdering women, just hope that you've also got the dynamic Lucas Davenport working for the Minneapolis Police Department to solve the murders and catch the killer.
This is the sixth John Sandford novel with a variation of the word "prey" in the title. It is a terrific read. It has a shocking plot, well-developed characters and a really scary undertone of horror. Don't read "Night Prey" if you need to get a good night's sleep. You'll be hooked to the end by this excellent thriller.
- JUDY KWELLER
Summer of the Redeemers.
By Carolyn Haines. Dutton. $22.95.
During the summer of 1963, 13-year-old Rebekah Rice learns two disturbing truths: things are not always what they seem, and change (like it or not) is inevitable. Set in rural Mississippi, "Summer of the Redeemers" contains a large cast of memorable characters whose tranquility is disrupted by the arrival of a religious sect with mysterious ways and by an equally exclusive young woman who moves on to a deserted farm with horses as her only companions.
Carolyn Haines' accurate portrayal of time and place lures readers into her tale and holds them fast. Her teen-age protagonist possesses the maddening stubbornness typical of her age, which leads her into situations that make Kali Oka Road ("where nothing ever happened") a strange and frightening place. In this, her first novel in hard cover, the author also shows the delicate balance among family members with opposing needs, the ephemeral nature of happiness and the dangers inherent in just being alive. She writes deftly and from the heart.
- LYNN ECKMAN
Judy Kweller is vice president of an advertising agency.
Lynn Eckman teaches at Roanoke College.
by CNB