Customer Reviews

The Widow Killer: A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This stimulating and thought-provoking murder mystery provides a unique insight into the waning days of the Nazi occupation of Prague. A vicious killer is stalking, torturing, and butchering women, and both the Gestapo and the local Prague police are searching for the killer. Both groups are also concerned with saving themselves, their country's interests, and as many supporters as they can in the confusing days at the end of the war. The psychological astuteness with which Kohout depicts both the killer and his searchers gives a credibility to this frenetic period rarely seen in fiction. Though it is, of course, easy to identify with the underdog Prague police, Kohout goes beyond mere surface characterization here to create in Morava a fully rounded character, filled with self-doubt but dreaming of a future. And with remarkable even-handedness, he also creates in Buback a Gestapo agent who is more than a caricature or an unthinking Nazi automaton. As the killer's actions become increasingly lurid in the frenzy of the final days, the reader recognizes numerous parallels with the Nazis' scorched earth policy and with the behavior of Czech partisans bent on wreaking vengeance. This insightful, carefully wrought, and fast-paced action novel with its unique glimpses of a turbulent time and place will keep you reading well into the night!

Kohout's novel begins with a German baroness realizing she has just let her murderer in. This is not just a murder mystery set in history, but a shuddering allegorical tale about how we all unknowingly open our doors to evil. All of us are vulnerable to consummate evil-- call it Hitler, inexplicable acts of inhumanity-- and often all our best efforts to overcome it are met with defeat.

The novel's plot grows increasingly complex and darker as the serial killer's trail of blood deepens and stains the lives of those involved. Everyone is involved, in fact. When Germany's defeat becomes imminent, the serial killer's butchery becomes indistinguishable from the mass inhumanity of ordinary individuals swept up in political unrest. The murders are no less savage, but they become all-too-common, a haunting trail of bodies perpetrated by a vast, unstoppable death machine.

I would give it 5 stars if not for the translation, which is sometimes clunky, with odd colloquialisms interlaced throughout, making the characters sound like neer-do-wells out of cheap Hollywood movie. There is great poetry in the romantic relationships, particularly between the Gestapo agent Buback and his mistress, and the language occasionally falls short in capturing the complexity of the characters' emotions. Still, this is an engrossing, chilling story, a panoramic scope of Czech history during the Nazi occupation, the kind of book that keeps you up reading late at night.

When I received this book for Christmas, I thought I was receiving a mystery novel. But that is only the first layer of this intriguing book. Kahout slowly and carefully pulls back layer after layer of the complex political and historical machinations occurring in Prague at the end of World War II. He frames the story with 2 primary characters, one a Czech detective, one a Gestapo agent. Kahout gives them full emotional range and views so many of the events of the last weeks of the war through each of their emotional prisms. This is a rich, deep novel that continually mines fresh perspectives of history, politics, humanity and morality at a turning point in the lives of everyone in Central Europe. The final pages, viewed from today's perspective, are particularly chilling.

Combining historical accuracy and vivid storytelling through the eyes of three disparate characters, THE WIDOW KILLER is an extraordinary read. Set during the final months of the Nazi occupation of Prague, THE WIDOW KILLER follows a naive Czech detective who must partner with an experienced Gestapo agent. Together, they track a serial killer as he butchers widows throughout the city. But as the Nazi regime crumbles and the Prague uprising begins in May 1945, the power hierarchy crumbles and both men are forced to carefully examine their own patriotism and courage ... and, in the case of the Gestapo agent, his willingness to accept moral responsibility for the actions of his fatherland, and for the Nazi Reich to which he once proudly pledged allegiance. Author Pavel Kohout has written a suspenseful mystery, an intriguing exploration of wartime morality, and a compelling historical account of Prague during the last months of the Second World War. Both main characters are flawed and complicated; they suffer not only for their own decisions but for the larger historical context in which they find themselves. The story's elements of nationalism, sexual passion, accountability and professional ambition remain universal and important. The translation, despite a clumsy word choice here and there, serves the story well; I was moved by Kohout's obvious passion for this era in Czechoslovakia's history, and by his skill in evoking both its widely-known events and the nuanced conflicts of the occupiers and the occupied. Highly recommended.

It would be hard for an Author to have more sterling credentials than Mr. Pavel Kohout. He was born in Prague in 1928, he was a leader in, "The Prague Spring", in 1968, and finally with Vaclav Havel he helped create the freedom document, "Charta 77", in 1977. As his book is set in Prague it resonates with the level of detail that only a native could know and share. I used the idea of beyond chaos as a reference to the time he chose to set his tale. I cannot imagine a more frenzied period than the closing months of a war when competing, "Allies", are intent on taking over your city. Mr. Kohout added to this frenetic environment a particularly brutal serial killer with multiple demons that drive him.

There is yet a third layer of conflict on an individual level as several of the characters are trying to resolve their actions during the war with their respective nationalities. Prague was unique in that it was a protectorate, so while occupied it still maintained an indigenous Police Force however closely monitored by the Nazi Invaders. These opposing forces and their members must work in concert to solve a crime just as the relationships and power structures that have governed their lives for 6 years are crumbling by the day, and eventually from moment to moment.

For me the book worked very well for much of the beginning and the end. In fact these two portions make up the majority of the book. There were some decisions made about who would participate in the capture of the killer, and I found them hard to take as credible, and very predictable in their outcome. Taken as a whole the work is well above most contributions to the genre, and additionally brings the first hand life experiences of the Author.

Another aspect that deserves mention is one female player he singles out that seems to embody so much of what the occupying Germans fear they will face as a result of how Germany will be perceived after the war. This woman can be exasperating, as she seems to be enigmatic at best, and to speak in riddles at worst. However as the tale unwinds she becomes a reflection of the more complicated of the wars conundrums.

This is a special book that could stand alone simply on the quality it is imbued with. When the Author is a man who has been in the midst of his Country's History, his words and the experiences he relates raise the work to another level of credibility. It may indeed be fiction, but if you were to walk the streets with this book in hand, you would probably be left with a feeling that it would serve as a guide for your trip through Prague.

A very well done work definitely deserving of your time.

I picked up the book because I recognised the Charles Bridge on the front cover and was intrigued to read something set in Prague at the end of WWII.

It's not a perfect book, but if you're into the politics at the end of the Nazi era, you'll like this. There's also a good story in there, too -- Czech nationals and German occupiers chasing after a serial killer in the dying days of the war.

The characterisations are a bit uneven, but some of the main characters were interesting. The setting and plot made up for that shortcoming, however, and the twist toward the end (as the cops were on the trail of the killer) payed off nicely in the final pages.

I bought this book to get away from the normal stuff that I read. Good choice, as it is both historical gives one a glimpse of the days of German-occupied city of Prague during the twilight of World War II. The story opens with the gruesome murder of Baroness of Pomerania, the widow of a German Wehrmacht general, by a serial killer. The coroner's report determines that the victim did not resist and was not raped. Mysteriously, her heart was removed and vanished with the killer.

The mismatched pair of Jan Morava, a Czech detective, and Erwin Buback, a Gestapo agent who is questioning his loyalty to the Nazis, set out to track down the killer before he can strike again. But as Morava and Buback follow the killer's bloody trail through Prague, it becomes clear that he is not a political radical or a wartime dissident but a tormented psychopath.

In the final days of the Third Reich, as the war proceeds to its gruesome end, the narrative sinuously shifts perspectives, taking us deep into the emotional maelstrom of each of the characters: young Morava, struggling to find love and approval in a war-torn city; the disillusioned Buback, haunted by the ghosts of his beloved wife and daughter; and the tormented killer, sent on a bloody rampage to please "her whom he obeys."

As the story comes to the end, it grips you yearning the know what will happen next. A gripping tale of human struggle under a thrilling murder, Pavel Kohout creation of a memorable work of fiction, as one of the last important novels from one the war's direct eyewitnesses.

Highly recommeded, text refers to hardcover edition.

The first half of this book is an absolute fiction masterpiece. In fact, it is almost perfect. The author does an excellent job of interweaving an engaging plot with complex, interesting and believable characters. This pace is just right, never rushing nor lagging. This book also has some of the best examples of foreshadowing that I have ever encountered.

Description is also handled excellently, making the reader feel as though he really is in dark days of Czechoslovakia's occupation. Historically, all fact are accurate and again, the descriptions are very true to life.

However, approximately halfway through the book begins its fall from grace. The author leads us away from the serial killer plot to a much more politically charged focus. Although he still makes cameo appearances, it is almost as though the killer has been forgotten in the midst of the Czech resistance movement.

This book is akin to two very interesting, well written but completely separate books. And the two stories simply do not mix in the end. The first half is a mystery and the second half is a touching story of the Czech and German people's struggle for survival and journey into an uncertain future after the collapse of the Third Reich. In my opinion, these two stories should have been separate books.

Awesome thriller/murder mystery set in Nazi-occupied Prague circa 1945. As in J. Robert James's series (Salamander, et al), a Gestapo officer is teamed up with a local detective to tackle crime--in this instance a serial killer. What makes the book very interesting is the care Kohout has taken to lay out the difficulties in living under occupation during wartime, knowing who to trust, the testing of loyalties, and the peaks and valleys of hope and despair. On another level, the killer represents evil ideology, while the two detectives embody and common humanity. Beyond general mystery fans, this book should be read by anyone interested in World War II or Prague in general. It should be noted that Neil Bermel's translation is top-notch.

Endearing, suspenseful and very romantic....wonderful characters, a vivid pictorial of wartime Czechoslovakia and very suspenseful detective action. Had me guessing until the very shocking end. I could not put it down. I kept wanting to re-visit the action and characters.

Simply a terrific read. Expect to stay with this one until the wee hours of the morning.

Cris