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Fatherland cover art

Fatherland

By: Robert Harris
Narrated by: Michael Jayston
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Summary

Fatherland is set in an alternative world where Hitler has won the Second World War. It is April 1964 and one week before Hitler's 75th birthday. Xavier March, a detective of the Kriminalpolizei, is called out to investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near Berlin's most prestigious suburb.

As March discovers the identity of the body, he uncovers signs of a conspiracy that could go to the very top of the German Reich. And, with the Gestapo just one step behind, March, together with an American journalist, is caught up in a race to discover and reveal the truth - a truth that has already killed, a truth that could topple governments, a truth that will change history

©1992 Robert Harris (P)2014 AudioGo Ltd. Published by Random House Audiobooks

What listeners say about Fatherland

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  • Overall
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not the counterfactual I'd been hoping for

The strapline for this novel "What if Hitler had won?" is misleading. I bought this hoping that it might be a counterfactual or work of speculative fiction such as Christian Nation by Frederic C. Rich, or the grandfather of all speculative fictions George Orwell's 1984, or even something like Time And Again by Ben Elton. Each of these deals with that "What if...?" question thoroughly and in a way that makes it the focus of the narrative. In Fatherland, we get a half decent whodunnit that just happens to be set in a post WWII Germany where the Nazi's had won. Not enough of what that would have meant to Europe and the rest of the world was explored. There were some nods to the relationship a victorious post-war Germany might have had with other governments, but these were incidental to the plot. To have lived up to the premise, these would have needed to have been explored in much more depth. Basically, this story could have been set in Germany during the war, or in any despotic surveillance society in the present (think N Korea, China, Thailand) and remained essentially unchanged. So, for a politically tinged crime thriller, it's an ok read. For a meditation on what might have become of Europe and the world had Hitler indeed won, this fails to live up to the advertising.

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33 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Just brilliant

It's a Saturday afternoon; the chores remain undone, my stomach is empty, the cat is furious and I really don't care. Just couldn't stop listening - or towards the end, shouting!

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31 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Formidable story, gripping and frighteningly realistic

I remember seeing a movie about alternative history, world in which Germany won the war and Hitler triumphed with his sick ideas and philosophy. Great Reich without Poland, Russia, Baltic States and all other Slavic countries. And without Jews.
Now I found a book on which that movie was based. And the story is much more terrifying and only now I realise that movie didn't do it justice.
Germany 1960s. Grey world full of uniformed people, buildings bigger and talked then anywhere else and in their shadows police investigation. One corpse leads to another, and another, and another. An American journalist, an officer of SS, friends, traitors, corruption, betrayal, death. And at the fringes, slowly coming to the front, dug out from the past the terrible truth: what has happened to all the Jews from Europe.
Gripping. And terrifyingly good.

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22 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Utter brilliance

An amazing story ,set in an alternate chilling history. The depth of characters and the descriptive settings really do conjure up a frightening alternate Europe, with Berlin being the jewel in the crown of nazi germany that is desperately trying to rewrite the past . If you like your history and fancy a twist that is not to farfetched then this is the book for you .

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15 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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rich and scenic

loved it. vivid descriptions and fascinating details bring this novel to life. masterful use of suspense. immerse yourself in this alternative universe.

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9 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Thought Provoking

Good story of what might have been. Very thought provoking and a reminder of what human beings are capable of.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding

Terrific story. Also, a valuable lesson in what the outcomes can be when a people embrace fascism.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant in every way

This book is thrilling and exciting and had me gripped to the very end. Download this book, you’ll not regret it.

Michael Jayston’s narration adds so much to it as well. I’d listen to it all over again straight away, in fact I think I might.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Reads like a vintage Le Carre

The alternate history only provides the platform on which is built an excellent story of subterfuge and pursuit. This is not a WWII novel- it is much more a Cold War novel of Le Carre - think of A Small Town In Germany. Jayston is terrific as always - and this is altogether a dark and thought provoking listen - particularly so in these dark times...

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

What if Hitler had won?

What a treat to read an old fashioned chronologically organised story. I have become really tired of the current fashion for butterfly books which flit flit flit. It was really satisfying to hear March tell his tale without having to work out the timeline or which narrator was in charge. These are definitely more confusing in audiobooks. The moment when Krebs understands the extermination programme was when I really saw how the people had been fooled. There's not much room for personal attachment in this book, you don't really mind what happens to the characters, it's a bigger picture story, but well written and interesting.

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5 people found this helpful