Author: V.S. Alexander
Publisher: Kensington Books
Year: 2018
Genre(s):historical fiction, historical romance
Part of a Series: No
Rating:
Why I read it: Once Upon a Book Club selection
Summary: As the Allied troops close in on Berlin during the Second World War, Magda Ritter is sent to live with her aunt and uncle in a safe part of Germany. There, she gets a job with the Third Reich, serving as a taster for Adolf Hitler. It is her job to taste all his food before he eats it to make sure it is not poisoned. It is a dangerous job and though Magda is not an ardent Nazi supporter, she is glad to have a job and finds that working for the Fuehrer has some perks. She also meets Karl Weber, a young S.S. officer assigned to Hitler’s luxurious house in the countryside.
Soon, though, she learns that Karl isn’t as loyal to the Fuhrer as people believe and he opens her eyes to the travesties the Third Reich is committing. They become co-conspirators in a dangerous mission: to kill Hitler.
Review: There are a lot of books about World War II and Nazis in general. I get why. We’re fascinated by how an entire country can lose its moral code and let a madman take control, even if some are blind when it happens nowadays. It also involved large scale death and destruction, which creates tension and makes almost everything life or death. But I kinda wish the Once Upon a Book Club person would lay off World War II for a while and move onto another period if she wants historical fiction.
Please?
Despite getting weary of World War II books, I did like this one. There was plenty to please everyone—romance, intrigue, drama, and so on. Magda was a good heroine to follow—someone who started out neutral to the Nazis as she was not a party member but not averse to getting a job with the party who ended up hating them to the point she wanted to kill Hitler. Yet she also managed to end up in a position where she was trusted by Hitler and Eva Braun, so much so that they were there when Magda and Karl married. Eva played a larger role than Hitler, a flighty woman who didn’t seem to care that they were at war but had moments of insecurity she allowed Magda to see.
Her romance with Karl was a bit quick but it was something that was sweet. It also drove Magda through the rest of the novel as they are separated for a bit. There was a twist at the end that I appreciated and I hope others did as well. And don’t worry—it’s a good twist!
Alexander does a very good job in describing the setting, especially when depicting war-torn Berlin. The same is true for all the places Magda follows Hitler and the concentration camp she is sent to during the story. Alexander shows the horrors and torture the prisoners went though, how the Nazis broke the people—sometimes literally.
Bottom line: An exciting story about a woman trying to survive Nazi Germany.
Sex: Mentions but nothing graphic. Does mention rape.
Moonlight Musing
If you could go back in time, would you kill Hitler?
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