Customer Reviews

The Traitor: A Novel

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

 

 

The Traitor has an interesting plot -- A British secret agent is captured by the Nazis and, in a decision some considered to be treason, acts out of love and strikes a bargain with his captors. The deal is that in return for his wife who is interned in a concentration camp, the agent agrees to lead a clandestine unit of the SS called the British Free Corps. However, while the author has created an interesting premise and credible characters, the plot didn't move along at a brisk enough pace and the amount of action was somewhat limited for my taste. Further, Walters got too bogged down in describing the motivations for what seemed like every move and thought of the main character. All in all, I'd rate The Traitor as "fair." It is not a bad book; it's just not a book I'd recommend that you rush out to read.

I enjoyed this novel about the little known British Free Corps, so much I eagerly looked up the BFC on the internet. For those who enjoy fact based WW II novels, I suggest that you read this.
The story is very plausible. The only problem I have with this novel (which kept me from giving it a much higher rating) is the absolutely abysmal editing. There are way too many grammatical errors which ruin the natural flow of the story. A good editor would have caught the errors and corrected them--I never thought a Briton would so skewer the King's language!!!!

This is the fascinating story of a British secret agent, Captain Joch Lockhardt, who was captured by the German forces during an unsuccessful operation on the island of Crete, in Greece. Lockhardt is manipulated into working for the Third Reich because they claim to have his wife in custody in a concentration camp. Lockhardt is set the task of establishing the British Free Corps, a small force of British "volunteers" currently held in custody in prisoner-of-war camps, and recruited into the service of the Reich. A central theme in the book is: were these men, Lockhardt in particular, traitors? The British Frei Corps did indeed exist, and its members were actively recruited from prisoner-of-war camps. I suspect that the actual recruiting of these members probably proceeded along very similar lines to what Walters describes in this book. We learn that Lockhardt indeed had his own agenda, and was planning to use his position in the service of the Reich to destroy stockpiles of sarin nerve gas kept at Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp near Nordhausen in modern-day Germany. The story deviates somewhat from what happened at Mittelbau-Dora, which was indeed a V2 rocket production, but never produced any sarin. Otherwise, the story is very well crafted, and I believe that the characters are well developed, as are the relationships between them. The portrayal of a wartime German whorehouse I feel is particularly good. From me, three-and-a-half stars.

This was a mostly worthy book with an interesting plot, well developed characters and good color about life in Nazi Germany during the war. The premise seems preposterous, but isn't, but as the book proceeds, it becomes, in fact, more and more preposterous. Throughout it is laced with convenience coincidences which turn the plot this way and that, although they have all the nuance of a Hollywood B movie. Walters is a good writer, seems to do his research well, but he's not quite in the first rank of novelists because he strains one's credulity again and again. And, like others here have pointed out, the ending is just silly. I hope Walters keeps writing, but this will probably not be his best book.

I've never written a review before but I just had to share how great this book was. As tense as DeMille, as exciting as Follett - I wish the book didn't end. The characters were so well drawn and the writing gave a face and humanity to all sides of the war. Brilliant !

I received this book last weekend and enjoyed the plot line. It did drag a bit at times with too much detail but overall I would recommend it to my friends.I did find it interesting that the author used some of the pseudonyms of some of the BFC members out of Jackals of the Reich.But overall a pretty good book.

I read 'The Traitor' and enjoyed it very much. The British Free Corps were a little-known unit of the German Army in WW2, and it's good to see a little light being shed on them.
It's quite a coincidence that another recently-published book called 'Snides' by Tony Walker also has the British Free Corps as part of the plot. It goes to show that WW2 is still the most interesting period in history!