Fatherland

By: Robert Harris

Narrated by: Michael Jayston

Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best-selling classic of alternate history, a murder mystery set in a world where the Nazis won World War II - for fans of The Plot Against America and The Man in the High Castle.

Berlin, 1964. The Greater German Reich stretches from the Rhine to the Urals and keeps an uneasy peace with its nuclear rival, the United States. As the Fatherland prepares for a grand celebration honoring Adolf Hitler's 75th birthday and anticipates a conciliatory visit from US president Joseph Kennedy and ambassador Charles Lindbergh, 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.

But when Xavier March discovers the identity of the body, he also 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 the American journalist Charlotte Maguire, 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.

©2017 Robert Harris (P)2017 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A singular achievement displaying original and carefully wrought suspense... Fatherland easily transcends convention." ( The Washington Post)

"Ingenious...a triumph...suspenseful and elegant." ( San Francisco Chronicle)

Loved it.

Easy read. Never got board. Enjoyed every moment. Felt a little like a better version of a certain book that was turned into a TV show.

Scary dystopian WW2 adventure. Loved it!

Michael Jayston is one of my favorite (and most underrated narrators). He does an amazing job, and this dystopian historical fiction was so much fun to read. Very well done.

German accent needed!

Really needed a German narrator who speaks English for this narration. An English accent is very distracting

Too credible alternate history

Yes, sadly, this alternate history is too credible. It’s well-written, a page-turner of a story, with an excellent narration. It’s also kind of scary to think what truly could have happened, and very sad to think of what did happen until the Nazis surrendered.

Story: 3 Stars For Plot, 5 For Worldbuilding

It'd be over harsh to call the detective story of Fatherland cliche. A better word for it is standard.

You have the outsider cop, weary but heroic, blessed with friends on the inside who bend the rules to help him find the truth, which he inexplicably decides is worth ignoring his superiors when they take him off the case. Really, it's beyond inexplicable, given the setting. However, it was done well enough that I never found it boring, which to me is the difference between uninspired and cliche.

What is inspired here is the setting: the Triumphant German Reich for which Xavier March is our tour guide. With the exceptions of the films Downfall and Conspiracy, this is the best portrayal of the Nazis that I've seen in fiction. I've read/watched crazy scenarios of them conquering America before 1950, of Hitler being a clear-eyed evil genius commanding a perfectly disciplined machine, or of him being an actual demonic entity. The last is as reasonable as the first, and they all reduce the historical phenomenon of Nazism into a henchman generator run by a boogeyman. Fatherland is the only story where I felt the author took what was happening in the 1940's, and then honestly tried to extrapolate what Germany would look like twenty years later, had they won.

All in all, I think it's a good read, narrated well by Jayston.

wow

this book has everything, murder, love, betrayal, war crimes. it's a must read. you will not be disappointed

Terrific

Great story, great characters, great narrator. Just discovered this author but I’m a long time fan of Michael Jayston, the narrator from his work on John LeCarre audiobooks.

Thoroughly enjoyed

Harris does a great job of describing scenes and world building - and even puts a little twist/reveal into that as well. The story does become a little predictable towards the end, but only in the way one knows how Titanic ends.

Almost loved it all….

Excellent story and great narration; very exciting; hard to put down; the kind of book you stay awake at night to listen to, but hated the ending.

immersive, believable performance

one of my favorite alternate history books. Harris immerses you in the bureaucracy of evil. its a relentless thriller.

the audio performance is fanatstic, he gives subtle distinction and cadence to his characterizations.