Customer Reviews

The Swiss Account

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Erdman's does a very good job of explaining the Swiss government role in building Germany's war machine in a fact based novel. Fictional characters make this factual story easy and enjoyable to read. Footnotes are scattered throughout the book to make one realize that the Swiss government's idea of "neutrality" must be that they will trade with anyone to make a quick buck.

We've all seen hundreds of books and films about world war 2, but here's one that takes you inside. This historical fiction provides the readed with an unfamiliar look at the war. The origins of the CIA and KGB, along with German intelligence are all depicted in this well documented novel

Erdman is a man of many talents. But it seems like his fictional writing talents were diluted in order to make room for some pinches of historical data. It's not a ponderous read nor a fact-o-rama. In fact, he does do a good job keeping everything fairly easy and balanced for the reader. It's just that he usually does better.

If you like novels with footnotes this is the right book for you. If on the other hand you prefer an interesting plot and lively characters this might not make the top of your list. Erdman is a fine scholar and sets a nice picture of wartime Switzerland, other than that this is a dry book that offers predictable plot devices and little character development

I am lucky enough I got this on sale otherwise I would have been really angry with myself. It is SO boring I hardly convinced myself to finish it! And I kept going only because I hate to leave books unfinished.
As a history text -book maybe it would have been better! But as a novel, and a spy novel at that.... well!
The dialogues are way too long and minutely transcribed, the characters are described too much and we don't really see them acting except for a couple of times. There so much talk in there that I wanted to scream sometimes: well, get going already!
So, ok, it is supposed to be about intelligence operations, secret Swiss/American/German etc encounters but for God's sake, did you have to have so many of them?
It seemed to me that the author is trying too hard to give us all the detalis behind the scene (missing the events) that I felt overwhelmed more often that interested. Maybe he should have left us just guessing and discovering some facts on our own instead of citing bibliography all the time.

All in all, a must-pass!

I recently read Zero Coupon and The Set-Up by Erdman. Both were similar to what I expect from a Grisham or Frey novel, and were what I was looking for, as well as being very exciting and interesting. The Swiss Account just never grabbed my interest, and was a long, plodding journey through what felt like 1,000 pages. If you are looking for a fact based novel, go for it. If you want an exciting beach or commuting book, forget about it.

I'm a big fan of Erdman and recently got all the books I have not read yet by Erdman. This is the worst book I have read by Erdman. I guess if you are fascinated by WWII history and like reading a history book versus a novel, then this book may be for you. Erdman usually mixes in the appropriate amount of historical detail in his books, but he mixed in too much in this book.

This plot (I use the word loosely here) had more holes in it then the cheese from the same country. Ok so the details are correct, the only reason I kept plodding through this one, and it is just that he did not use the details to any great effect. The writing here was very forced and not fresh, almost like a bad high school history book. I have heard some good things about this author but I either picked up the wrong book or there are some people that have some explaining to do to me. Where do I go to get a refund?