Customer Reviews

The Losing Role

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

"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!

"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.

Note: This review was originally published at Red Adept Reviews on July 29, 2011.

Overall: 5 stars

Plot/Storyline: 5 stars

Historical fiction, especially military fiction, is one of my favorite genres. The Losing Role was based on an actual event during World War II, the Battle of the Bulge. In December 1944, German armored infantry forces attacked the American lines over a broad front in Belgium and Luxembourg. One of the lesser known elements of that battle was a "false flag" operation planned by the infamous SS Lt. Colonel Otto Skorzeny, whereby English-speaking German soldiers wearing American uniforms infiltrated American lines and attempted to create chaos and mayhem, and to secure several of the Meuse River bridges.

In the story, Max Kaspar, a German soldier on the Eastern Front, was one of those recruited for "Operation Greif," the false flag operation. Kaspar was then taken to a German army base, where he and others were trained for the mission. Their training included a brief-and frightening-stay in a POW camp to find out if they could fool captured American GIs.

I really enjoyed this novel. There was a lot of suspenseful action as the battle raged in the Ardennes while the Greif team members went about their deadly business. I found myself caring about Kaspar and wanting to find out what happened to him. The ending was a bit of a surprise to me, but in hindsight, it made sense and was very satisfying.


At the end of the book was an Author's Note that added some factual material about the Ardennes battles and Operation Greif. Interestingly, although some movies have played up the success of the operation, historically, the operation was largely a failure and had no real impact on the outcome of the battle.


Characters: 5 stars

The fictional Max Kaspar's life story was told through a series of flashbacks. Born in Germany, his family had immigrated to the United States. Kaspar ended up in New York City trying to make a go of it in entertainment. Unsuccessful in this endeavor, he returned to Germany in 1939, just before the onset of war in Europe. Eventually, he was drafted and found himself in Russia fighting to survive. It was here that Kaspar was recruited for Operation Greif.

Max Kaspar was a fascinating character. The author did a fine job of threading his backstory throughout the novel, gradually revealing what made Kaspar tick. Torn between his native Germany and his adopted America, he made the difficult decision to use the Greif mission as an opportunity to defect to the Americans, but that turned out to be far more difficult and dangerous than he imagined.

Kaspar was a likeable and sympathetic character. His natural sense of humor was challenged by the hardships he experienced in both peacetime America and wartime Germany. In American, Kaspar was a failed entertainer despite his many talents. After returning to Germany, he experienced success, but at a great price when his beloved girlfriend Liselotte was killed in a bombing raid.

Kaspar's Grief team members were interesting in their own right. Their relationships and team dynamics were a big part of the story.


Writing style: 5 stars

The Losing Role was a perfect combination of plot-driven action and character study. The writing was very tight with no wasted words, and the dialogues were realistic. It was obvious that the author did a lot of research into the Battle of the Bulge and the military tactics and weaponry of that era, resulting in a story that was very realistic.


Editing: 4 3/4 stars

The editing was nearly perfect, with very few typos. There was only one obvious factual error in the story, where one of the characters sees a German buzz bomb flying overhead and erroneously calls it a V-2 rocket (the jet-powered buzz bomb was actually a V-1, a predecessor of the modern cruise missile).

The Losing Role has 3,047 Kindle locations (199 pages). I recommend the book to any reader who enjoys historical fiction.

This was a good historical fiction novel set in WW2 told from a German perspective about a real blackflag (i.e., counter-intelligence) operation.

I liked how the author takes you into the mind of Max Kaspar, who is an anti-hero. He struggles with his feelings for Germany and for America, since we find out he lived in both countries.

There is some foul language as the German soldiers attempt to impersonate the cussing that was common to American soldiers. There was also a non-graphic reference to homosexual and heterosexual relationships, but thankfully they were in passing, and not a central element of the story.

This was a great read that kept my interest and taught me something at the same time. Growing up watching the World at War television shows, and movies about World War II, I was put in the position of viewing all German solders as evil. Obviously this was not true and Steve Anderson's story helped to reinforce that. Strong characters, with life and death situations, made this book hard to put down. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

There's nothing I can add to the already comprehensive reviews below, but I did want to stop in quickly to say I loved this book. It's an amazing story. The writer does a great job demonstrating the many conflicts within his German characters and the Americans they encounter during the closing months of WWII.

I'd definitely read another of Mr. Anderson's books. (Actually, I already am!)

The book was very good in describing a different aspect of WW2. The writing was okay, the story line great.. looking forward to the next book..

I got this book in part because I am very familiar with the Battle of the Bulge and the story of the Germans sending soldiers to impersonate Americans. I wanted to see how Anderson blended the story together and I have to say he did so beautifully. Very well written, a great story. This is definitely worth the price!

This is the first book I've read by Steve Anderson, and I like his work very much. The Losing Role is thought provoking and I learned some WWII history from an extremely interesting perspective. Mr. Anderson is a talented writer, and has penned a terrific book. He develops the multi-dimensional characters with subtle style, and doesn't resort to gimmicks to keep you engaged. I genuinely cared for the main character, "Max", and was sorry to see his story end. If you like WWII novels, you are in for a treat. However, if you simply appreciate a talented writer and enjoy a good story, you're also in for a treat. This one of the top books I've read in the past year.