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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent WW II espionage thriller, July 7, 2010
This review is from: The Losing Role (Kindle Edition)
Late in 1944, the German Army pressed westward along the western front in a desperate attempt to break the Allied advance. The offensive would later come to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. While plenty of novels and movies have portrayed the American side of the struggle in Belgium's Ardennes forest that winter, Steve Anderson's The Losing Role examines the story of a German soldier caught up in a cause he knows is lost. Max Kaspar is an out-of-work actor drafted into the German Army to fight a war he doesn't have the stomach for. A former emigrant to America, Max's English speaking skills, not to mention his acting ability, lands him a part in Operation Greif, the brainchild of SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny. The plan is for English-speaking soldiers to sneak behind American lines and wreak as much havoc as possible to better the odds of Panzer divisions breaking through American lines. Max, however, has plans of his own. Max has seen enough of the horrors of war to know that Germany is fooling itself if it can think it can win. The Russians are fueled by revenge on the Eastern Front and the Americans, well, there's no end to the resources at their disposal. It's Max's hope to use the cover of the operation to desert the Army and find passage back to America, where he can rejoin his family and renew his career. But any soldier can tell you that nothing ever goes as planned in war. Anderson doesn't offer much hope for Max. It seems as if everyone has an ulterior motive and Max isn't sure who to trust, or for how long. Each encounter he faces could be the one where he gets caught or killed. Anderson deftly elevates the tension when Max stumbles over words, phrases or elements of American culture that any American would know. The story is told entirely from Max's point of view but Anderson skillfully hints to the reader what other characters are up to through well placed conversational and body language clues that Max doesn't always pick up on. While it would be easy to root against Max simply because he's a German soldier (our enemy at the time), Anderson sculpts Max as a likable guy, a victim of circumstance rather than a hero for Deutschland. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn of Max's struggle to fit in as an immigrant actor in America, forced to play German stereotypes. Disgruntled, he returns to a rejuvenated Germany where he finds success and love, at least until the bombs start to fall. I would've liked to have seen more interaction with Max and his pre-war girlfriends on both sides of the Atlantic. While we got a good start with Lucy, Liselotte comes across as an ideal placed on a pedestal. We never really get to know her. It's always refreshing to see a portrayal of a German soldier as something other than a mindless stormtrooper perpetuating Hitler's bloodlust for world domination. Max isn't a Nazi and he has no stomach for war. He's an actor who just wants to entertain his audience, but he's smart enough to know that those that speak out against the war effort disappear. The setting is thoroughly researched, but Anderson uses it to bolster the credibility of the story rather than rehashing historical trivia. His masterful use of dialogue builds suspense every step of the way. The Losing Role is an excellent WW II espionage thriller that transcends the genre, making it a story that you don't have to be a history buff to enjoy.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written and realistic, May 15, 2010
This review is from: The Losing Role (Kindle Edition)
"He considered leaving again- just walking off into the trees and never coming back. He didn't. This was all about tomorrow, and the day after that. So he rolled up in a ball on the back seat and closed his eyes, squeezing them shut until he'd fooled himself into something like sleep." This is how Max in Steve Anderson's The Losing Role gets through another night as a German soldier who is a man in the wrong place at the wrong time of his life. Anderson is an artful writer who makes the images in this story come alive. It is also well researched- a late relative of mine was a young German officer during WWII, and The Losing Role brings back to my mind the stories told to me of these very places and the people he met. Especially of the anxiety involved in "playing a part" to protect the innocent people around him, while planning escape to save himself and get to America. Will Max be successful in his journey? I really enjoyed reading his story, and am looking forward to much more from Steve Anderson!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well Researched and Fascinating, January 2, 2011
"The Losing Role" by Steve Anderson is a historical fiction book which takes place during World War II. The story follows a failed German actor who is drafted to infiltrate American lines posing as an American officer. Max Kaspar, a.k.a. failed German-American actor Maximilian von Kaspar, is fighting on the Eastern front when he is drafted by the SS for an unknown mission. Soon Max discovers that he has been recruited to impersonate American officers and cause havoc behind enemy lines. Realizing the absurdity of the plan, Max devises his own plan which ultimately, he hopes, will bring him back to America and to his true love, the theater. I'm a sucker for espionage thrillers especially if they take place in WWII. "The Losing Role" is an interesting book with a refreshing twist, it is told from the view point of a German solider - and a likable one at that. Max has been disillusioned by the promises of America, he has been grinded by the rough life of an immigrant and an actor and has decided to go back and protect the Fatherland. As an immigrant I can certainly understand Max's disappointment. Many immigrants come to America with a promise of "streets lined with gold" only to realize that the only thing guaranteed is hard work and that there is no such thing as "easy money". No matter what everyone else say. Mr. Anderson made Max an affable character, an actor wearing a uniform due to his naïveté. We meet Max on the brutal Eastern front, fighting the Russians, but learn about his life in America through flashbacks. This is a well researched and fascinating book. Mr. Anderson's description of Operation Greif (Germans posing as Americans) comes across very vividly as a part of the last attempt for the Germans to turn over the war, even though it seems that the men in the field realize that it is in vain. However the confusion that Operation Greif caused among the Americans is well documented and Mr. Anderson does a wonderful job bringing that to life. Some historical characters, such as the colorful German Lt. Colonel Otto Skorzeny, make a cameo which is always a pleasure. Skorzeny was the leader of Operation Greif and lived to see the end of the war (and then some), he was a formidable commando.
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