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.
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I thought Fatherland was such a good read! Alternate history intrigues me and I think this particular point in history is one of the most speculated about when it comes to 'what if's'.
To begin with I found it hard to lose myself in the alternate reality because my mind kept trying to correct what I was reading and saying 'No, no, no, that's now how it was/is'. But several chapters in and I was sucked into the pages and loving it.
Some might say the characters are a bit hackneyed; loner cop, dumped by his wife for overworking, estranged from his kid, meets much younger feisty heroine who he hooks up with no problem, antagonist is a bad bully with no redeeming features....and, and, and. You get the idea. But really, why fix it if it isn't broken? All those very things and more are what make this book great. The alternate ending to WWII means we're taken out of our comfort zone and those other constants give us something familiar to work with.
That's where the familiarity ends though, the story itself is slick, well constructed and highly enjoyable but imaginative use of 'what if' takes us to places that I for one am glad I'll never see. In this fantasy regime, things are grim. There's everything to hope for and nothing to lose.
I gave this to my dad to read and he loved it too. He lived through things the first time around and says Robert Harris has put into words everything he feared at the time and he's glad he only had to read about it.... and not live it.
