K [Import] [Hardcover]

Daniel Easterman (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0002256037
• ISBN-13: 978-0002256032
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,006,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile read!, August 28, 2000

By 

R.A.Moore. - See all my reviews

This review is from: K (Paperback)

I found K to be a good read. I`am surprised that there is only one review, and a highly inaccurate one at that! Must have wanted the free $50 voucher, without even going to the trouble of reading the book in the first place! The book is not about a German conquest of the United States. It is set in 1940, against the backdrop of the Ku Klux Klan taking power in the United States, under Charles Lindbergh, who defeats Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 Presidential elections. By 1940 the United States is a police-state with more concentration camps than Nazi Germany, with whom it is a sworn ally, against Britain and the Soviet Union. We also meet John Edgar Hoover, who is in charge of the FBIS (Federal Bureau of Internal Security) which is the USA's equivalent of Nazi Germany's SS. In this alternate KKK-run America the Black's have been re-enslaved and the Jew's are Public Enemy No.1, as they were in Hitler's Germany. The plot of the story is basically the story of John Ridgeforth, a British agent, who has been sent into this alternate America to assasinate David Stephenson, the Vice-President. Who is on the verge of shunting President Lindbergh aside, becoming president himself and bringing the United States into the war on Germany's side and crushing Britain between them. Whether he succeeds or not, i`am not about to reveal, for fear of ruining the book for those who may be thinking about buying it. The book is a good read for those with an interest in alternate history and it does go a good way to explaining how a few small changes in 1920's America could have made the scenario of this book into a reality! Which would have seen that we would all be living in a very different world today!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good story....but not good alternate History, May 14, 2003

By 

Ronald Smirlock (Clementon, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: K (Paperback)

The premise is plausible: A depression-era America electing a Fascist government, leading to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and a possible alliance with Nazi Germany.

However, the author of the novel is British, and it seems he failed to do much research into American History. Some of the errors include (without giving away the story):

1. Charles Lindbergh is elected President is 1932. This is impossible since Lindbergh is only 30 years old in 1932. It is a constitutional requirement that the President be at least 35 years old.

2. The book takes place in October-November of 1940. No mention of a 1940 Presidential election is made, or an explanation of why there was no election.

3. The author probably did not research Joe Kennedy's religion, which causes the ending to make no sense at all.

If you want an interesting story, then read this book. If you want plausable alternate-history reading, I suggest you look elsewhere.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alternate History Thriller, August 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: K (Paperback)

What if.. The USA got a fascist government during the depression. 10 years later the country is a dictatorship with ghettos, lynchings, slavery and concentration camps. By 1940, the US government is negotiating a pact with Nazi Germany. A British SOE agent is sent in by submarine to assassinate a key person in the White House...

Like most good writers of speculative fiction, Easterman's interest lie not in creating a mathematically near-correct extrapolation of the future (or, as here, an alternate past) - but in creating a warped mirror image of our here-now. Easterman writes THRILLERS. Even if they often have a fantastic element (and are all the better for it), his affilament with other genres is circumstantial.

As a thriller, "K is for Killing" is a genuine page turner. As Alternate History, it's effective. As a cautionary tale, it's chilling. I'll withold one star for a slightly flawed ending (no spoilers!), but I'll also recommend it heartily.