An old Holocaust survivor kills himself in Hamburg--an event bound to be overshadowed by breaking news of the Kennedy assassination. Nevertheless, young reporter Peter Miller finds something in the suicide's diary that's an even greater bombshell because of his personal connection to it. It drives him to hunt down a Nazi war criminal in hiding--a quest that puts him in league with Mossad and pushes him to infiltrate ODESSA, an elaborate international "underground railroad" for former SS officers (as part of the vetting process, he actually has to whip it out and prove he's not circumcised!).
What is it that Miller learns from the diary? Despite being in his point of view for most of the novel, we don't find out until the "climactic" confrontation. That's the central mystery and Big Reveal of the whole story. Which is a shame, because it's no great shakes--if two or three cliche possibilities spring to mind, I can pretty well assure you that you've guessed it already.
In addition to the artificiality of the way the information is withheld, and the predictability of it, I think Big Reveals make wonderful turning points but weak, gimmicky resolutions. If I were keeping a bibliography of evidence for that, I could certainly add Odessa File to it.
In general, this is an awfully clunky read. It's basically a bunch of ripped-from-the-headlines infodumps and potboiler devices held together with "logic" that doesn't even last for as long as it takes to set the book down and walk over to the proverbial fridge. Just as one f'rinstance, when calling around to check on Miller's bona fides, the ODESSA vetter glaringly fails to ask someone an obvious question that would immediately expose Miller.
As for the "characters," it's almost fair to say there aren't any, to speak of. Real-life Nazi hunter Simon Weisenthal puts in a cameo appearance, and he's the only one who shows a spark of genuine animation, in a passage that could damn near double as a Sunday supplement puff-profile.
It's sad, really--the high-concept of a non-Jewish German infiltrating an organization like ODESSA for vengeful motives nobody can guess is a nifty one. I would love to see it done well. The execution here is poor, however, and I can't recommend this.
(I read a library hardcover with no dustjacket, but a quick search of the internets reveals this novel never had a groovy cover in any form, so that's why no scan or borrowed image.)
1 comments:
I read this one many years ago and was kind of disappointed with it, since Day of the Jackal is was so good, probably the best thriller I've ever read.
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