Prisoner Of Night And Fog By Anne Blankmann

[amazon_link id=”147220784X” target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’Prisoner of Night And Fog’ is the first book in a new series by Anne Blankmann.

Gretchen Muller has, as best she can, dealt with the horrors of her family’s past. Her father, a senior Nazi officer, died to save the life of their leader, Adolf Hitler. And now Germany has the chance to be great once more. Swept up in the excitement and passion of life in Munich in 1931, seventeen-year-old Gretchen has embraced the life laid out for her by that leader, her ‘Uncle Dolf’. But the secrets of the past cannot be silenced forever. When Gretchen receives a letter from an anonymous sender claiming to have more information about her father’s death, she becomes swept up in a desperate and dangerous search for the truth. With the full might of the ever-powerful Nazi party on her tail, it is a race that will risk everything she has and change her life forever…

If you have a keen interest in German history, then this book would be ideal for you. The story is primarily a work of fiction, but it also includes a lot of fact as well as real characters who were quite prominent in German history and I’m not only talking about Adolf Hitler.

The story is seen from the perspective of Gretchen Mueller, a young girl who is the apple of her Uncle Adolf’s eye, a man who is a close friend of her family, who takes her on picnics and from her eyes, he is far from being the monster that she has heard whispers about. Adolf is particularly close to Gretchen’s family as her father saved his life during a political rally, tragically losing his own life in the process and for this Adolf owes them a great debt. Gretchen’s father is hailed as a hero but then a Jewish reporter named Daniel comes forward and tells Gretchen that he believes her father was murdered resulting in Gretchen beginning to doubt her favourite Uncle.

This book is a great start to a new series and one that I look forward to continuing with. Gretchen is a powerful lead with a strong voice for this story. She lives with her mother and her brother in their boarding house and looks forward to studying medicine, she leads a fun life with her best friend Eva and knows little about the trouble that is brewing. Although she is terrified of her brother Reinhard and rightly so, as he is a deeply disturbing character, emotionless, he thrives on pain and doesn’t seem to care who he inflicts it on, even his younger sister is occasionally the victim of his fists. I found scenes with Reinhard and Gretchen very unsettling as his behaviour was so unpredictable, you never knew what to expect.

As the story develops and Gretchen begins to get closer with Daniel, we see the dynamics change, as Gretchen felt completely cosy and safe in her life but now with this new knowledge and friendship with the enemy, her life is now also in danger.

The story makes for intense reading as Gretchen begins to see the true side to her Uncle Adolf, no longer a caring man, she begins to see his true colours as he begins to rise to power and she questions her fathers death. It’s the simple things that I enjoyed most with the story, like her noticing his mannerisms and behaviour. As the story is a combination of fact and fiction, it makes for a fascinating tale and one thing that really did catch my attention was Eva Braun, Gretchen’s best friend and who was indeed a recognised character in German history.

A compelling story that handles fact and fiction cleverly, ‘Prisoner Of Night And Fog is an engrossing and fast paced thriller that gives an morbidly fascinating insight to the world of Adolf and those close around him.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”147220784X” target=”_blank” ]Prisoner of Night and Fog from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.