In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (2011)

1933. At the request of President Roosevelt, William E. Dodd agrees to be the new US ambassador in Berlin. Although he is a historian rather than a diplomat, he does have one ace up his sleeve: he is Germanophile. When he arrives in Germany, his wife and children accompany him. His daughter, Martha, 24 years old, quickly succumbs to the charms of Nazism and particularly to those of Rudolf Diels, the chief of the Gestapo. Over the months, W. E. Dodd’s eyes are opened. He attempts to alert the US State Department about the true nature of the Hitler’s regime, in vain. Martha, meanwhile, falls in love with Boris Winogradov, a Russian spy...

Author: Erik Larson was born in Brooklyn on January 3, 1954. He is a journalist and nonfiction author. He is a former staff writer for the Wall Street Journal. He has written for many prestigious publications; the New York Times, Harper's and Time magazine, to name a few. He lives a quiet life in Seattle with his blind-date wife and three daughters. He loves to cook, he likes to play tennis, he drinks too much red wine and he enjoys dry humour. His latest book is “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania” published in March 2015. 

My thoughts: This is the third book written by Erik Larson that I have read. The other two are “The Devil in the White City” and “Thunderstruck”. When I came across this book I simply skipped it, as I was not in the mood for a WW2 read at that time.

This year, after I published a review of “The Devil in the White City”, one of my readers suggested this frightening and excellent historical novel. I read it during my holidays at the beginning of June and I simply couldn’t put down this thrilling book: I finished it in only a couple of days.

I find Erik Larson books based on historical subjects to be beautifully written and entertaining, even though the subject matter of this one is terrifying. The book is easy to read as well, giving a detailed and clear account of events that do not confuse the reader. I felt empathy for the humble and courageous ambassador, William E. Dodd, who became America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s regime. On the other hand, I really did not like his daughter, Martha. In my view, she is a spoilt, pretentious and manipulative young girl impressed with superficial things. Thankfully, she starts to improve herself as a result of her growing friendship with two great journalists, women of courage and determination.

I strongly recommend this masterpiece to you. It is a vivid portrait of Berlin during the first year of Hitler’s reign. We experience it through the eyes of a father and his daughter.