BOOK REVIEW: REVENGE OF ODESSA
By Frederick Forsyth with Tony Kent / G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Reviewed by: Susan Gorgioski
The Reviewer — Susan Gorgioski is a writer who lives in Australia. She informs us that she has never served in special operations or intelligence -- but likes to read those genres among others. She’s researching a novel while enjoying life with her family and three amazing dogs
REVIEW — The Odessa File was a thrilling read in 1972 and Revenge of Odessa is just as good. Peter Miller, the protagonist in the 1972 novel, was an investigative journalist whose research and tenacity led to an expose of a group of Nazis calling themselves the Odessa (which loosely translates as "Organization of Former Members of the SS”).
Georg is the grandson of Peter Miller and the protagonist in this outing. Georg’s parents died in controversial circumstances when he was a young boy, and he was brought up by his grandfather. Like his grandfather he is an investigative journalist in Germany and Georg also is the host of a moderately successful podcast. He travels to Stuttgart to interview the survivors of a horrific attack which may or may not be as straightforward as it seems. While wandering the corridors of the hospital sickened by what has taken place, Georg meets an elderly dementia patient who reveals something that disturbs and electrifies Georg. A very well written piece of happenstance.
The Nazis are back, in fact, they never left at all
On the other side of the world, a US senator dies in suspicious circumstances, and the Washington DC rumor mill besmirches the senator’s name. One staffer isn’t convinced. She then overhears a conversation that will change her life as she realizes that something is afoot among the leadership of her group. A young woman of above average intelligence she suspects something nefarious is at play and her attempts to navigate the obstacle course that is being built around her makes for tense reading.
The novel moves fluently from the Bavarian countryside to the corridors of power in Washington DC and it is, of course, de rigueur for a group of organized Nazis to be armed and extremely dangerous. The Odessa is a well-trained militia that includes members from all walks of society.
Exposition of controversial current events takes a back seat to action scenes: there is violence but little menace. Georg is not an action man, and this is an action novel. He is fortunately accompanied by his godfather, Scott Brogan, a former MI6 agent and a man intimately familiar with guns, explosives, and other means of killing. The two men make an unlikely team but function extremely effectively together. One is a man of the pen, and the other brings the dynamite. Building on clue after clue, Georg and Brogan embark on their inevitable confrontation with the head of Odessa, the ‘new’ Führer.
The narrative is fast paced and seamless. The writing clear and strong.
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