Brandenburg [Paperback]

Glenn Meade (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1994

A political activist is shot in Berlin. In Paraguay a smuggler is killed in a hit-and-run incident. An elderly businessman then commits suicide in his Asuncion mansion. Journalist Rudi Hernandez is convinced that the deaths are linked. But soon Hernandez too is brutally murdered.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The same historical intensity and credibility that he used in his tremendous debut thriller about a plot to kill Joseph Stalin (Snow Wolf, available in paperback) enliven Glenn Meade's equally ingenious second novel. After the reunification of Germany, investigator Joe Volkmann shuttles back and forth between Berlin and South America in a search for murderous ex-Nazis. Volkmann's probings reveal new information about many things--especially the strange sexual relationship between Adolf Hitler and his niece, Geli Raubal. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Meade's second foray into international intrigue (after Snow Wolf ) imagines that Nazis biding time in South America hatch a viable plot to take over contemporary Germany. The novel opens with a splendidly tantalizing episode of eavesdropping by a Paraguayan reporter who, before he's caught and killed, hides a tell-tale tape recording. In Strasbourg, the reporter's cousin brings her worries to Joseph Volkmann, a British investigator for the (fictional) intelligence agency of the European Community. Volkmann then roots around in Paraguay and uncovers the tape and the SS connections of those implicated in the reporter's murder; back in the would-be Fourth Reich, he stalks sinister figures active in the neo-Nazi fringe until the plot reaches a critical mass consisting of plutonium, a son of Hitler, and a coup in Berlin. Fast, sly, and slick, this thriller delivers the goods--tension, action, plot twists--until the smoke clears on the last page. Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 678 pages
• Publisher: Coronet (September 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340601043
• ISBN-13: 978-0340601044
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,934,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read! Read UK edition too--it's better than US one, November 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Brandenburg: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

A really great book! However, a small point-I first read the UK edition of this book, and then came across a US edition while in the US on hols--and noticed there are noted differences. For some reason the US editors must have decided on changes for the US market, or maybe vice versa, but for my money the UK edition is definitly superior, in pace and style. Read for yourself and see what I mean--they're almost like two different books. (I'd especially recommend the above advice to those American readers who absolutely rhapsodised about Snow Wolf--thinking it without question the best book they'd ever read--but thought Brandenbrug was perhaps not quite as good--my advice is, read the UK edition and then pass judgement! It's a terrific read, one that kept me hooked to the very end.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A meandering mess, July 19, 2004

By 

Bill Garrison (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Brandenburg: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Brandenburg is a novel with WWII background set in the present day. The novel opens with Paraguayan journalist Rudi Hernendez working on a story. With some equimpment he records a secret conversation between several Germans living in his country. What is on that tape is enough to get him in deep trouble, and he is abruptly killed about 1/6 into the novel. So far, the novel is interesting and captivating.

The rest of Brandenburg destroys all of that goodwill it built up in the first 80 pages by detouring into a convoluted mess of characters and clues and ultimate boredom. Joe Volkmann is part of a European "FBI" and joins up with Rudi's cousin, Erica Krantz, to find out what happened to Rudi. They traverse Paraguay looking for clues and find a picture at an abandoned mansion from 1931 of German girl on the arms of a soldier.

Who owned the mansion and who is the girl and what do German extremists have to do with it. At this point, the novel degenerates into uselessness. The best way to describe it is Volkmann going on a massive investigation. Each step turns up new characters, each interview reveals little. Any new information is usually info to aid Volkmann in his next interview, and has nothing to do with the ultimate plot.

Soon, all of the characters run together and overwhelm what little evidence the plot has given me. This novel is way to long. The search for the truth is tedious and boring. I don't recommend you read this novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read Meade's Resurrection Day, banned in USA!, August 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Brandenburg: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed Brandenburg very much. However, I recently finished his latest book, Resurrection Day, published only in Europe, and not in the USA (banned, I hear, because of the controversial and sensitive subject matter!) Resurrection Day is an incredible book, prescient and right up to the minute, about an Al-Qaeda terrorist attack on Washington DC--and one of the best books I've ever read, a must for Meade fans, up there with Snow Wolf, and maybe even better. You have to read Resurrection Day--it's scary, fast paced, and stunning. US readers can order it through Amazon.co.uk. Don't miss it.