Prisoner of Night and Fog

Prisoner of Night and Fog

by Anne Blankman

Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult Fiction

Synopsis: In 1930s Munich, danger lurks behind dark corners and secrets are buried deep within the city.  But Gretchen Muller, 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 graded 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.

As Gretchen investigates the very people she's always considered friends, she must decide where her loyalties lie.  Will she choose the safety of her former life as a Nazi darling, or will she dare to dig up the truth-even if it could get her and Daniel killed?

From the book jacket

Review:  This book started out quite slow.  I was tempted to abandon it 100 pages in but decided to give it another shot.  I'm glad that I did.  The book picked up so much after the first section.  I felt like the first section really just introduced characters but too many of them since I didn't know who people were later but I decided it really didn't matter for the most part.  The first section also told us about Gretchen's life with her brother, Reinhard, and implied that things happened between the two of them but didn't give us enough clues as to what had happened and that drove me a little nuts.  But once the action picked up, it was hard to put this book down.  Most books about WWII focus on individual people and their hardships, this book focused on someone who was close to Hitler, believed in his ideology, learned the truth and had to decide what to do.  It was also interesting to get a glimpse into Hitler as a person, how he empowered his followers, and a look into his past, even though this is a fictional book (the author did do research and includes a select bibliography).  Psychology comes into play and that just fascinates me!  I was satisfied with the ending and then I found out that there is a sequel due on in April 2015.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.  I thought this worked well as a stand alone book.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars