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Flight From Berlin by David John
The Blurb On The Back:
August 1936: The eyes of the world are on Berlin, where Adolf Hitler is using the Olympic Games to showcase his powerful new regime. Cynical British journalist Richard Denham knows that the carefully staged spectacle masks the Nazis’ ruthless brutality, and he’s determined to report the truth.
Sparks fly when the seasoned newspaperman meets the beautiful and rebellious American socialite Eleanor Emerson. A superb athlete whose brash behaviour got her expelled from the U.S. Olympic swim team, Eleanor is now covering the games as a celebrity columnist for newspapers in the States. While Berlin welcomes the world, the Nazi capital becomes a terrifying place for Richard and Eleanor. Their chance encounter at a reception thrown by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels leads them into the center of a treacherous game involving the Gestapo and the British Secret Intelligence Service. At stake: a mysterious dossier that threatens to destroy the leadership of the Third Reich.
Drawn together by danger and passion, surrounded by enemies, Richard and Eleanor must pull off a daring plan to survive. But one wrong move could be their last.
Set in America and Europe, David John’s Flight From Berlin is a masterful blend of fact and fiction, drama and suspense. A riveting story of love, courage, and betrayal that culminates in a breath-taking race against the forces of evil, it will keep you spellbound until its thrilling end.
It’s August 1936 and socialite Eleanor Emerson has been selected for the US Olympic swimming team despite her Senator father’s wishes. Keen to escape a failing marriage to a womanising bandleader, her dreams of a second Olympic gold medal are dashed when she’s thrown off the team before their boat even arrives in Germany. Forced to work as a press columnist, she’s resigned to a dull Games when she meets Richard Denham, a cynical British journalist who’s been trying to expose the truth beneath the Nazi glitter.
Richard’s onto the story of a lifetime: the Jewish-German fencer, Hannah Liebermann, is being forced to compete in the Games against her will. But Richard discovers that there’s another secret involving the Liebermanns that the Nazi government is desperate to protect – and British Intelligence desperate to uncover.
Richard and Eleanor team up to uncover what’s really going on – only to find themselves at the centre of a web of intrigue and danger that will cast them into the worst excesses of the Nazi regime …
David John’s debut novel is an interesting historical thriller that marries fact with fiction and is cast against the 1936 Olympics, with a vibrant heroine, some great dialogue and a contemporary feel, although the pace and tension does slip in the second half.
I loved Eleanor, who’s inspired by real swimmer Eleanor Holm and reads as a cross between Katherine Hepburn and Claudette Colbert – sparky, no nonsense and strong-minded, she doesn’t suffer fools but is also vulnerable because of her marriage break-up. In contrast Richard seems a starchier character – high minded and devoted to his son, despite his divorce. I wasn’t completely convinced by their romance but it had a THE 39 STEPS feel to it.
John riffs on the true story of Helene Mayer for the Liebermanns to go deeper into Hitler’s origins and rise to power in a way that I found convincing – especially scenes involving a German psychiatrist from World War I.
The pacing flags in the second half, mainly because it involves convoluted reasons for the characters to return to Germany, which didn’t quite convince. However there are some great set-pieces (including a scene involving Hitler and an escape on the Hindenberg) and I loved the way John brings real historical figures into the text.
All in all, this is a solid debut and I’m really looking forward to reading what John does next.
The Verdict:
David John’s debut novel is an interesting historical thriller that marries fact with fiction and is cast against the 1936 Olympics, with a vibrant heroine, some great dialogue and a contemporary feel. Although the pace and tension does slip in the second half, I thought this was an engaging mix of fact and fiction and I’m really looking forward to reading John’s next book.
August 1936: The eyes of the world are on Berlin, where Adolf Hitler is using the Olympic Games to showcase his powerful new regime. Cynical British journalist Richard Denham knows that the carefully staged spectacle masks the Nazis’ ruthless brutality, and he’s determined to report the truth.
Sparks fly when the seasoned newspaperman meets the beautiful and rebellious American socialite Eleanor Emerson. A superb athlete whose brash behaviour got her expelled from the U.S. Olympic swim team, Eleanor is now covering the games as a celebrity columnist for newspapers in the States. While Berlin welcomes the world, the Nazi capital becomes a terrifying place for Richard and Eleanor. Their chance encounter at a reception thrown by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels leads them into the center of a treacherous game involving the Gestapo and the British Secret Intelligence Service. At stake: a mysterious dossier that threatens to destroy the leadership of the Third Reich.
Drawn together by danger and passion, surrounded by enemies, Richard and Eleanor must pull off a daring plan to survive. But one wrong move could be their last.
Set in America and Europe, David John’s Flight From Berlin is a masterful blend of fact and fiction, drama and suspense. A riveting story of love, courage, and betrayal that culminates in a breath-taking race against the forces of evil, it will keep you spellbound until its thrilling end.
It’s August 1936 and socialite Eleanor Emerson has been selected for the US Olympic swimming team despite her Senator father’s wishes. Keen to escape a failing marriage to a womanising bandleader, her dreams of a second Olympic gold medal are dashed when she’s thrown off the team before their boat even arrives in Germany. Forced to work as a press columnist, she’s resigned to a dull Games when she meets Richard Denham, a cynical British journalist who’s been trying to expose the truth beneath the Nazi glitter.
Richard’s onto the story of a lifetime: the Jewish-German fencer, Hannah Liebermann, is being forced to compete in the Games against her will. But Richard discovers that there’s another secret involving the Liebermanns that the Nazi government is desperate to protect – and British Intelligence desperate to uncover.
Richard and Eleanor team up to uncover what’s really going on – only to find themselves at the centre of a web of intrigue and danger that will cast them into the worst excesses of the Nazi regime …
David John’s debut novel is an interesting historical thriller that marries fact with fiction and is cast against the 1936 Olympics, with a vibrant heroine, some great dialogue and a contemporary feel, although the pace and tension does slip in the second half.
I loved Eleanor, who’s inspired by real swimmer Eleanor Holm and reads as a cross between Katherine Hepburn and Claudette Colbert – sparky, no nonsense and strong-minded, she doesn’t suffer fools but is also vulnerable because of her marriage break-up. In contrast Richard seems a starchier character – high minded and devoted to his son, despite his divorce. I wasn’t completely convinced by their romance but it had a THE 39 STEPS feel to it.
John riffs on the true story of Helene Mayer for the Liebermanns to go deeper into Hitler’s origins and rise to power in a way that I found convincing – especially scenes involving a German psychiatrist from World War I.
The pacing flags in the second half, mainly because it involves convoluted reasons for the characters to return to Germany, which didn’t quite convince. However there are some great set-pieces (including a scene involving Hitler and an escape on the Hindenberg) and I loved the way John brings real historical figures into the text.
All in all, this is a solid debut and I’m really looking forward to reading what John does next.
The Verdict:
David John’s debut novel is an interesting historical thriller that marries fact with fiction and is cast against the 1936 Olympics, with a vibrant heroine, some great dialogue and a contemporary feel. Although the pace and tension does slip in the second half, I thought this was an engaging mix of fact and fiction and I’m really looking forward to reading John’s next book.