Regular marked price: $26.00Discount Price: $18.98
Cost Savings: $7.02 (27%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9781559708395
ISBN number: 1559708395
Label: Arcade Publishing
Manufacturer: Arcade Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: June 06, 2007
Publishing house: Arcade Publishing
Sale Popularity Level: 291478
Studio: Arcade Publishing
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Nicknamed 'the Nazi Hunter,' Marek Cain, deputy director of the Office of Special Investigations at the Justice Department, has for ten years been the point man for tracking down ex-Nazis who have fraudulently entered this country since World War II and bringing them to justice.
One late afternoon, a distraught German woman eludes security and slips into Cain's office. 'I have documents,' she says, 'important documents only for the Nazi Hunter.' She promises to bring them the subsequent day. When she doesn't
show, he dismisses her as just another crackpot. But when he reads in the Washington Post subsequent morning that the woman has been brutally murdered, he
senses he's on to something big. He must find those documents. The trail leads from Washington to Miami, to Boston, back to the Belzec concentration camp in Poland, where half a million Jews were murdered in the winter of 1942, and into the lair of America's fascist militias.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
"The Nazi Hunter: A Novel" is a perfect very first novel by long-time Reutgers news correspondent, Alan Elsner. The mark of a really good writer is the ability to take events from his own life and the pages of history, then put them in the clothes of fiction to make function and style work together in presenting a page-turning story. That's what Elsner has done--and beautifully.
The book is historical fiction based on information from the Holocaust trials, which will inevitably reveal one monstrous example of some of the horrors associated with the camps and the officers in charge. Part of that horror is coated with the sweet sounds of German lieder (love songs) to make dying easier--not for the victimized Jews but for the ease of the SS officers who forced thousands of Jews to die at one time in the Belzec camp in Poland.
A lovely romance threads the pages of the book. Amongst murder and mayhem lies the life-defining act of a sexual coming together of two of the investigators. If this sounds tawdry, it is not. It is a defiance in the face of all that is ugly and degrading about humans to find that core of life that comes through love and sex.
The book is definitely a thriller with all the attempts to murder the narrator/protagonist and all people close to him. Political connections involving important Washington people make the investigations a dangerous political minefield. Even an insider from the bureau leaks damaging information, with the intention of tarnishing the good name of the director.
Marek Cain, called Mark, (yes, he was teased as a boy in school) is the Jewish lead counsel in the government's Office of Special Investigations. The day Sophie Reiner walks into his office, dripping water from her raincoat on a very wet day, changes his life for the subsequent several months.
Joining him in his quest to ascertain the truth surrounding Sophie is Lynn, his young assistant. Their search takes them to the Ukraine, where they interview two surviving Ukrainian soldiers, both at Belzec, then on to Poland and Belzec, a camp where all but two Jews were "exterminated."
At the center of the mystery and investigations is Roberto Delatrucha, a recognized Argentinian master singer of German lieder, who, among others, is about to receive a special arts medal by the President himself. Is he indeed the horrific SS officer they are investigating?
But the most astonishing aspect of the novel is the Jewish theme that forms the strongest thread. Cain is a devout Orthodox Jew, who follows the discipline of his religion: food, prayers, love, ritual. For it is ritual and what it symbolizes that binds all Jews with their one God in continuity and unity. For just a few moments the reader becomes part of this quietening of the spirit as Mark prays.
Elsner tells the reader in the end page that his grandparents were both killed at Belzec and that finally--after fifty years of total neglect--a memorial was created to honor the dead who died there.
Rated by buyers -
Everything I have to say about this book has already been said by a number of other reviewers, but the reason it keeps getting repeated is that it is true. So despite being repetitive, I'll add my kudos.
"The Nazi Hunter" is a truly enjoyable, suspenseful, well-written thriller that will keep you up at night turning pages. And while you are frantically waiting to find out what happens next, you will be absorbing all sorts of fascinating and useful information about American governmental operations, the history of the Holocaust, classical music and song, orthodox Jewish traditions, broken families, contemporary threats from neo-Nazis and their ilk (markedly pertinent after the recent revelation that two such characters were planning to assassinate Obama and execute dozens of others), European geography, the psychology of workplace antagonisms and romances - you name it.
Among the most interesting aspects, in my opinion, are the various contrasts that Elsner sets up and explores: between one family that is deteriorating over decades and another that is finally healing; between love (Mark and Lynn) and hate (the two neo-Nazi buddies); between secularism and orthodoxy; between reason and emotion; between art and politics; between loyalty and betrayal; between past and present.
The caliber of writing and the richness of detail are what you would expect from an experienced writer and journalist such as Elsner. This is a terrific read, and I highly recommend it.
Rated by buyers -
The only things in fiction I like more than a good mystery are solid history and travel to exotic places. Alan Elsner provides me with all three in Nazi Hunter. His lead charcater is an imperfect man, very intense and not the usual smart-alec super-hero that populate this genre. The story is very real and the details unearthed are haunting and memorable.
There is a lot of the original Robert Ludlum here, not the caricature of Ludlum after his death. There is also plenty of Daniel Silva as well -- only Elsner is better than Silva. He is a gifted reporter in his day job. He is an equally fine chronicler of a period in history that must not get away from us.
Please don't miss this important book.
Rated by buyers -
"The Nazi Hunter"; I was drawn to the title as I have had a life long fascination for WWII and particularly the European Theatre; The Holocaust has also been a fascination and I feel strongly that it cannot be forgotten or debunked as we are always one generation away from apathy. I have ordered the book "Guarded by Angels" from Amazon by the same author.
I so thoroughly enjoyed "The Nazi Hunter" that I hated to see it end and tried to slow down a bit... I very much enjoyed Mr Elsner making Cain a religious Jew, the thoughts at the end of chapters from the evil one are chilling indeed. I can't remember a book where the writing has been so crystal clear......I enjoyed every minute of the read.
Rated by buyers -
Elsner, Alan. "The Nazi Hunter", Arcade Books, 2007.
Full of Action
Amos Lassen
There is something about the Holocaust that makes me keep wanting to read about it. It certainly was the most horrible period in the history of the world and perhaps that is so unbelievable that it happened is the reason I read about it so much. Evil is a foreign idea to me and I cannot understand it. I suspect that may be the reason that the Holocaust so mesmerizes me.
Alan Elsner is a former foreign correspondent and his novel "The Nazi Hunter" is a thriller and a story that is full of action. The plot is set in 1994 when Sophie Reiner suddenly appears at the office of Marek Cain, a Nazi hunter in the United States Office of Special Investigations. She tells Marek that she has documents about Belzec which was a Polish extermination camp where half a million Jews were slaughtered. Marek is interested in what she has on both the professional and personal levels---his grandparents died at Belzec. Sophie promises to deliver the documents the following day but she is found dead in her hotel room. Upon examining the room, the police discover a CD of an Argentinean baritone, Roberto Delatrucha and on it he sings one of Shubert's lieders. Knowing that many Nazis fled to Argentina after the War, Cain realizes that this may be a lead and he embarks on a mission to find the singer. As the novels moves forward there are subplots but they do not deter Marek from his goal. He finds himself globe trotting and eventually ending up at Belzec as he strives to discover the truth. \
There is romance and political intrigue as well as views of religion and culture here and Elsner captivates the reader with his excellent writing. The characters are developed beautifully and it is easy to see how much research the author did to write this book. Cain is forced into reconciling his Jewish ness and his personal life to catch the Nazi and Elsner does this in a sublime way. Elsner obviously knows his Holocaust history as well as the tenets of the Jewish religion and the two come another in this amazing book. It is not just a novel but a view of history and morality. Elsner adheres to the Old Testament idea of chasing justice until it prevails. It is quite a book that will have you turning pages at a rapid pace.
Find other books like this one:
