Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of world War II

For a non-fiction work, this book has got to be the most awful horror story that I’ve ever seen. It makes The Road, a horrific post-apocalyptic story by Cormac McCarthy seem tame in comparison. Savage Continent, Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe is a remarkable work for capturing the turmoil and chaos that the entire continent of Europe faced when the war came to an end. At least 35,000,000 people were killed in the war, and some estimates make that as high as 50,000,000. Governments had collapsed. All forms of infrastructure had been totally destroyed in the course of the fighting. There was too little food and water. Lowe has done a masterful job of making all of this understandable as he reviewed the losses faced by citizens of every country. It is hard to imagine that those who survived the war had the wherewithal to manage their circumstances after the war. Many did not live through these ongoing challenges which included the continuing ethic cleansing that continued to occur in pockets of various countries. The displacement of citizens makes the current refugee movements from the Middle East, Africa and Central America seem minor in comparison. I am a student of history, and this book cogently paints a picture that I had never previously fully appreciated.

The Monsoon Ghost Image

The Monsoon Ghost Image by Tom Vater is a very dark murder mystery which takes place in Southeast Asia, especially Thailand and Cambodia. The book starts in late 2002, and the course of the story covers about six months. One key figure are Martin Ritter who fakes his death at the outset even though that resulted in the death of the other half-dozen people on his sailboat, which was located in the Andaman Sea off Thailand. Those deaths are only the beginning – lots of people are killed in the course of this story. After having his appearance altered by a psychopathic plastic surgeon, Dr. Suriporn, Ritter thought he was safe, but then he was still recognized, so the chase was on to find him. Another character was Fred Maier, a drunken German detective, felt like his life was no longer worth living and he descended into a severe alcoholic state in an attempt to flee the worsening world that he perceived.

The author set the stage for the dismal state of the world when he wrote, “A clear demarcation line had been drawn in the collective narrative of the brotherhood of man. People weren’t arguing about issues anymore. People were arguing about what had happened and what was happening. People were arguing about the course history had taken and was taking, about who was writing it up and how it was being broadcast and consumed, and they no longer agreed on the broad strokes. The truth was becoming just another story. For better or for worse, every certainty was fragmenting.”

As I say, this is really, really dark. Suriporn is one sick dude who uses his remarkable surgical skills for tasks that only seem to please his sick mind. As much as I like murder mysteries, this one is more frightening and sicker than most – I leave it to you to make a decision on spending time with this novel.

The Torch Betrayal

The Torch Betrayal by Glenn Dyer is a classic World War II spy novel. This is really a historical thriller that makes use of characters like Eisenhower and Churchill; as well as “Wild Bill” Donovan, the first director of the OSS (forerunner to the CIA), Kim Philby, the Soviet spy who was one of the Cambridge Five. Dyer’s protagonist is Connor Thorn, a 26-year-old OSS recruit. The book opens with the theft of a critical page of Eisenhower’s plans for the invasion of North Africa (The Torch) and the eventual Allied assault on the continent. The danger of the loss of that specific data was a change in Eisenhower’s best plans for dealing with Hitler. So the chase was on to find the diary page. Dyer had a little of everything including a love interest for Thorn. This is supposed to be the first book in a Connor Thorn series, and one can only hope that the subsequent Thorn books are as well written as this one. I’m not normally a reader of World War II fiction, but Connor Thorn is a compelling character and The Torch Betrayal is a good story that kept me engaged.

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

Lethal White is Robert Galbraith’s (aka J.K. Rowlings') forth book in her Corman Strike series.  Strike’s former assistant Robin has been elevated to partner in their now famous and growing detective agency.  Strike’s notoriety lands him a case with the irritable Jasper Chizzle, Minister for Culture who claims he’s being blackmailed.  With grown children from three marriages, rumblings about quasi-legal activities, and disagreements with other politicians, Chizzle’s case proves complex and broad in scope for the two detectives.  Then when Chizzle is murdered and the police call it suicide, one of Chizzle’s daughters hires Strike and Robin to find the truth.  Finding that truth proves dangerous for both partners.  Meanwhile, both Strike and Robin’s personal lives are in shambles but the chemistry between the two thrives on adversity.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Even though it was a bit long for a mystery, I was never bored or confused and hated to see it end… a sign of good writing.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson is a wonderful and farcical story. The reader only knows at the beginning that a man, Allan Karlsson, is eager to escape from his Swedish nursing home just before his 100-birthday party. Over the course of the book, we learn about the remarkable life he has led including stumbling into a job at the Manhattan Project where he solved Oppenheimer’s design dilemma so that he could create the atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That led to his becoming friends with Harry Truman who he was with when Harry learned of the death of FDR. Then there were encounters with other world leaders including Stalin to whom he gave secrets about the bomb, Charles de Gaulle, LBJ, Richard Nixon, and others. As the story moved back and forth from old times to current times, Karlsson’s disappearance was being pursued by a police detective, Chief Inspector Aronsson, who would have made Inspector Clouseau seem totally competent. Part of the story involves Karlsson mistakenly stealing a suitcase that contained 50,000,000 krona, which is about $5.6 million USD. I’ve not even mentioned the incompetent thugs who are part of the story. This story is a great escape and it gets my strong recommendation. Thanks to my traveling companion Jane for suggesting this book, and thanks to Amazon for being able to download this book from a remote corner of Viet Nam.

Where the Wind Heals

Where the Wind Heals by Ari Schneider is a delightful read about a young man who learns to climb rocks in his native State of Vermont, and then travels with a friend to distant locations to continue to advance his craft of mountain climbing. It’s a story of adventure and friendship, and also a story of the bumps in the road and how to contend with them. Courage along the road and in the mountains turned into courage of self-reflection and awareness of inner demons that required more attention. As a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, I enjoyed this well-written read from several perspectives. This story gets my strong recommendation.