Fatherland - Robert Harris Reviews

This well-known thriller is certainly not new and yet, somehow, despite it sounding just like my cup of tea, I'd never quite got around to reading it. Finally, with a four hour bus trip ahead of me, I was tempted to snap it up from the fairly limited selection that the bookseller was offering as entertainment for the journey. Before the bus had ...  Read the complete review

The year is 1964, and Germany is gearing up for the extravagant celebrations of Adolf Hitler's 75th birthday. Crowds of children and tour groups sweep up before the great dome of the Reichstag, hoping for a glance of their beloved Führer. The events surrounding this day form the backdrop to Robert Harris's Fatherland, which postulates a world in ...  Read the complete review

This was the first book by Robert Harris that I had read. I didn't know anything about it or him, my brother just gave it to me because he thought I'd like it. He was right. Essentially the book is set in a post war society where the Germans have won. It follows a policeman (March), who is becoming increasingly suspicious of ...  Read the complete review

There are quite a few books out now that deal with alternative histories - and a favourite sub genre of these types of book is "What would have happened if the Germans had won the second world war?" The quick answer is, there would be a lot more unhappiness in the world and I would probably have done slightly better in my German O' ...  Read the complete review

History has a lot to teach us and it's important that future generations remember the sacrifices their ancestors went through for them to have the life they have now. The Second World War is still relatively fresh in the mindset of the modern world and the atrocities that occurred then still resonate in the world today. However, as each year ...  Read the complete review

Perhaps it was a mistake to read this book just after a Nabokov and write its review during the process of reading the most recent William Gibson. But I have to say I am sorely disappointed. After reading enthusiastic blurb quotations regarding 'Fatherland' as well as several positive reviews, I expected perhaps not a masterpiece, but a ...  Read the complete review

I once asked an English teacher of mine what made a good book. He replied that it was a book where getting to the end of it was not enough ? you wanted to know what happened to the characters beyond the last page. I have always found this explanation to be a simple, yet satisfying one. With so many books, you get to the end of ...  Read the complete review

In 1992 Robert Harris, an author of political biographies and historical textbooks released a new type of book. This was his first time writing a fiction book, and ?Fatherland? went straight in at the top of the best sellers chart. Now fast forward almost 9 years and I had just bought a box of 10 books from the Book people, which included this ...  Read the complete review

What if? That is an interesting question when it comes to history. How would the world be different if Harold hadn't got an arrow in his eye in 1066? What if the Spanish Armada had defeated the English fleet? What if Napoleon had won at Waterloo? How would the course of history have been changed would we in the UK be a province of ...  Read the complete review

Often in this life there is nothing more powerful than language. As a teacher of a group of bright, intelligent and morally responsible young individuals (if only), I impress, or at least try to impress, on the children the fact that words can be dangerous, as the hurt that they can inflict is largely unseen. And then we get to the great ...  Read the complete review

First published in 1992, it is hard to believe that ‘Fatherland’ was Richard Harris’s first attempt at fictional writing. He had made a name for himself with historical texts and political biographies, but this curiously compelling mix of whodunit and what might have been deservedly shot to the top of the best-seller lists. I ...  Read the complete review

Imagine a world where Germany is the single most powerful nation. Imagine a United Sates run by Joseph Kennedy. Imagine a world where Adolf Hitler, the ‘Fuhrer’ of Germany, is approaching his 75th birthday….. Robert Harris’s ‘Fatherland’ is a ‘what if?’ ...  Read the complete review

This was my first introduction to the writing of Robert Harris and I have to say it was a very pleasant experience. I have since read another of his novels, 'Archangel', and both are what might be classed as historical detective stories. This book is so well written that you can easily forget that mainland Europe is not the Third ...  Read the complete review

I first heard of this book when I was much younger, when I watched the film version. Now looking back, I can see why someone would want to make a film of this epic book. The basic premise in Robert Harris’ Fatherland is a ‘what if’ history scenario. What if the Germans won the Second World War? What if the Reich held sway over ...  Read the complete review

Robert Harris has done something incredible with "Fatherland." He has seamlessly blended the intriguing murder mystery, which is always more interesting when the investigator must battle an oppressive, secretive government to solve the case, and the fantasy of a different world that asks the question "what if?" about Hitler and ...  Read the complete review

This book asks one of the big "what if" questions, What if Hitler had won the war?? This clever and well written thriller uses a recognisable construct "in this case a murder enquiry" that could be taken straight out of Morse with the setting of a post war 1960's victorious Berlin. The book is ...  Read the complete review

Set in an alternative universe in which Hitler won the war, this book opens grotesquely with the naked, one-footed corpse of middle-aged man discovered in a Berlin lake. A divorcee cop then tracks down the motive for the murder -- the dead man attended the Wannsee conference that planned the Nazi mass-extermination of the Jews -- and eventually ...  Read the complete review