My thanks to the publisher, St. Martins, the author and to Net Galley for providing a free advanced reader copy of the e- book version of Germania.
Germania , incidentally,was the new name for Berlin chosen by Hitler for his grandiose capital of the victorious Reich.
Germania is of the police procedural genre of mystery novel, with the difference of being set in Nazi Germany in 1944. The primary character is Richard Oppenheimer. He is Jew. He was a police officer in the Berlin criminal police known for his dogged pursuit and apprehension of murderers. But that was before the Nazis took over. Now the unemployed Oppenheimer wears a yellow star, and lives along with his non- Jewish in a” Jewish House” apartment with other Jews awaiting the dreaded knock on the door which would summoning them for a one way-trip east.
The knock does come, qith an SS officer who ordering Oppenheimer to come with him. He is needed, the officer tells him, for his expertise in sex- murder investigations . A young woman has been found dead, mutilated and her body left sprawled before a monument to German dead. Oppenheimer is offered a vague promise of life away from a death camp if he cooperates. Within days another grisly murder scene is discovered. Such things must be the work of a deranged untermensch; ironically, The Jew Oppenheimer is ordered to help the S and SD find the murderer.
The most interesting thing about the novel is the background of Berlin in 1944, which is being bombed night and day, it’s strict, rationing of everything and the constant crushing police state presence. The author, Martin Gilbert, tells of the war weariness of the Berliners and their cynical disbelief in Nazism and the “ golden pheasants” of the regime. The author obviously has done his research on the period, or, I would guess, has family tales handed down to him, an invaluable oral history of Berliners at war. It is against this truthful background that the criminal investigation occurs.
The investigation, and the book, move slowly. Oppenheimer’s travels through Berlin are detailed , to the detriment of pace. Judicious editing of some description was needed. The author’s development of his hero was good, with my sympathy growing at his dilemma. I did enjoy watching the hero’s careful navigation between the many shoals of the Nazi regime, not just for Jews, though that was certainly bad enough, but also for any citizen whose chance remark, carelessly revealed political opinion or silly joke would land him in deep trouble with the thought police.
At times I had to flip back a few pages to follow what was happening. This was partly the blame of the fact that this was an advance copy, and lacked the careful formatting of a finished copy. For example, when the novel changed viewpoints from Oppenheimer to the one, say, of his minder, SS man Vogel or to another supporting character, most books would have a double space paragraph break, or perhaps a printer’s mark of one kind or another. The same went for instances of conversational changes. I learned to watch for them. Near the end on the book, when the scene shifted abruptly to the killer’s lair , it seemed out of place. Had it been a constant throughout the story , teasing the reader on by letting the reader into his mind , it would have built suspense.

Summary: I looked forward to reading Germania . I read all of Philip Kerr’s novels featuring Bernie Gunther, a non- Nazi cop forced to survive as best he could during the war and afterward . Germania does not reach Kerr’s level, but it still has it’s attraction for readers of crime novels: A really different protagonist, a starkly different setting and an ending that might startle , but feels true.
Cautions: although it involve a depraved murderer, there nothing too graphic? Finally, , the translation for the German often resulted in some awkwardness. Things were “ complexer”, and an occasional sentence had a bit of German complexity in them.
Rating : Good.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.
A Jewish former police inspector is asked for help in solving a serial murder case.
Interesting plot and characters that suffers a bit from translation problems. Worth a read.

In the waning weeks of the second world war, a Jewish homicide detective is conscripted into helping the German authorities when the sexually mutilated body of an unidentified woman turns up in front of a memorial to the victims of a previous war. Former police inspector Richard Oppenheimer, a lifelong resident of Berlin, has managed this far to escape the fate of many other Jews, but as the threat to the few of his co-religionists remaining in the city grows more site, his only hope of survival rests with the young Nazi officer who recruited him. As evidence begins to mount that a serial killer is on the loose and that a high ranking Gestapo officer may be involved, Oppenheimer realizes that solving the crime may spell the end of his own life, but his need to pursue the case no matter where it leads wars with his own survival instincts.
A well written procedural with an excellent portrayal of a nation on the brink of self-destruction, and a sympathetic and multidimensional protagonist.

I had a hard time on how to rate and review this book
It’s about a week since I finished the book and I finally getting around to formulating my thoughts.
I first list the negative aspects.
Reading this book it felt like the author was putting down his vision of the story as they appeared in his head without trying to organize them so there be a smoother flow of the story line for the reader.
Too often I found myself confused and flipping back a page to see if I missed one. I notice that this has become a bit of a trend lately but at least most of the time they try to kind of put up a chapter heading that gives you a clue. Maybe the book read better in the original German langue. If I went this feeling alone I would have given it a three star.
Now for the positive, this story is a bit unique. Most books deal with the horror in the concentration camp. Live in the Ghettos, survival by hiding and the inhuman transportation of the Jews from various part of Europe.
Here we learn about the German Jews that had a non-Jewish German partner. The wife would be given a choice, divorce which pretty much meant a dead sentence for the husband. If they decided to stick with their spouse they had go live with their husband in a designated area but at least most of the time it stopped the husband from been send to a dead camp. If the wife left or died then the husband lost this thin line of protection.
In the story our Jewish man was a former detective, so a man with a good job and authority. He also was a soldier for the German Reich during World War I. His fairly comfortable life changed with the rise of the Nazi regime. At the time of story he is resigned to his new status expecting any time to be arrested and send to a concentration camp. It becomes clear when a Gestapo enters his home at night and orders him to follow. He automatically picks up his little suitcase expecting never to go home again.
Fate places him in a kind of partnership (if you can call it that) with a Gestapo officer. Distrust of each other from both sides they do develop respect for the other person and manage to work together.
Learning about the situation of the Jew and the Gestapo officer it is hard to determine who is worse off.
The ending gave our detective back some of his dignity by giving him control on how he was going to die and not at the hands of the Gestapo been tortured to dead.

Germania is an interesting novel about a Jewish police detective, no longer eligible to work for the Berlin police, but called into service by the Nazis. As a historical novel, it felt real. The author does a good job of maintaining the excitement of the hunt. I did get a feeling of Bernie Gunther as the late author Philip Kerr created a detective story similar to Germania. All said, there is a drawback to the novel. The book makes no distinction as it shifts scenes and characters. You think you are continuing to read a scenario only to realize that the author is somewhere else.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Germania is an intense murder mystery set in WWII Berlin. The dual storylines of the ravishes of war and locating the perpetrator of a gruesome murder means there is a lot going on in this book. The story was originally written in German, and the translation is flawless. The author’s research shines in the details throughout the story.

A serial killer targeting women who appear to have had relations with the Nazi SS is making the party nervous, so former detective and Jew, Richard Oppenheimer is brought in to help find the killer. The author's portrayal of Oppenheimer's life as a Jew in Nazi Germany and his conflicting feelings about helping with the investigation add greatly to the depth of the story. The plot twists and red herrings make for a gripping read. The plot tension and pace are perfect. Oppenheimer desperately investigates the murders not only to find the killer, but hopefully, to keep he and his wife alive.

Author Gilbers vivdly develops each character and gruesomely describes each murder victim. It was very easy to visualize the characters and scenes while reading. Fans historic fiction or murder mysteries will love Germania.

This a unique take on a serial killer investigation. Women are being tortured, mutilated and brutally murdered amidst the bombing of Berlin during the last years of WW II. The SS is making little headway in the investigation and they decide to enlist the help of Richard Oppenheimer who is a former police investigator and a Jew. Oppenheimer knows he has no choice in conducting the investigation even though doing so could put his life at risk.

The author does a very good job of weaving historical information into the storyline. He vividly paints a picture of the hardships and the fear the Jews and even the average German citizens experienced in contrast to the privilege of the high ranking Nazi officers. This book has so much more to offer than merely investigating and catching a serial killer.

This book is about has an interesting, but a somewhat far fetched premise. It takes place during the first half of 1944 in Berlin. The SS approaches and utilizes a Jewish detective, who has been unemployed, to solve a series of murders that they wanted kept secret. While the book is interesting, it requires great leaps of imagination for anyone who is the least bit familiar with the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.

I expected to love the book Germania, based on its NetGalley description and my own reading history. Apparently the vast majority of its advance readers did so, but I was left unmoved by an uneven plot and a coldness that permeated characters, dialogue, and narrative. Such a grim story needs an abundance of heart, which this one lacked.

There is an intriguing idea here -- a Jewish policeman, forced to leave his job under the Nazi regime, is force back into service by the Gestapo, who need his brilliant detective skills. And the historical research was unparalleled. Still, I wasn't enchanted.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an advance readers copy.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It was a well written book. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.

There is a serial killer of women in Berlin. One of the Nazi's comes after Oppenheimer. He used to be a cop in the Berlin police department and had a good record. Now they want him to find the killer...

Thomas Dunne Books and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It has beeen published and you can get a copy now.

This is a fascinating story. Richard is happy to help them find the killer, but he's a Jew and he has to be careful. He's only alive because he married a woman that was not Jewish. The man he's working with protects him as well as he can.

The women are mutilated and as it goes on, the killer is cutting their arms off and taking them with him.

Richard works hard on the case and comes up with a suspect. It's hard to do your job when you are constantly being bombed.

The first man they brought in is not the killer but the Nazi's get a confession out of him through torture and then they kill him.

Richard is still going after the real killer. The man had killed before and was in jail but when Hitler took over, he pardoned him. He's very elusive.

Richard has to worry about his wife, too. He's leaving her alone while he hunts and it's dangerous in Berlin.

You get an upclose look at the Nazi's. Someone else's life means nothing to them.

Richard finds the killer but the killer isn't going down easy. The man he's working with has been given orders to kill him once the case is closed. Will the Nazi do it?

I think it is important not to think of Germania as a thriller. It is a police procedural set in a historical time period. Therefore, it moves at a rather plodding pace compared to a typical thriller.

There are obviously a lot of backstories to tell in the waning days of the Third Reich. Especially of the unusual relationship between the experienced former Detective, and Jew, Oppenheimer, and his SS supervisor, Volmer.

Oppenheimer is just trying to survive. Will he be sent to a concentration camp after he solves the serial case he is working on? Can he still complete his escape plan with his Aryan wife? Or is it too late to save them in a Reich quickly swirling down the drain?

Historical fiction fans of the WWII period will love the look behind the curtain at the lives of the German people, both Jew and Aryan, in the waning days of the war. I believe Germania is most successful at evoking a feeling of really living through it personally. The mystery was good too. How much you like the book depends on what your favorite genres are. For mystery and thriller lovers, like me, 3 stars (but much higher for WWII historical fiction readers).

Thanks to Thomas Dunn Books, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Germania is intriguing but did not pull me in. It took too long for everything to develop and the premise that the Nazis would ask for a Jewish detective’s help is implausible.

BOOK PREVIEW: Germania by Harald Gilbers

Let’s see where the story begins …

STORY... Berlin 1944: A serial killer stalks the bombed-out capital of the Reich, preying on women and laying their mutilated bodies in front of war memorials. All of the victims are linked to the Nazi party. But according to one eyewitness account, the perpetrator is not an opponent of Hitler's regime, but rather a loyal Nazi.

Jewish detective Richard Oppenheimer, once a successful investigator for the Berlin police, is reactivated by the Gestapo and forced onto the case. Oppenheimer is not just concerned with catching the killer and helping others survive, but also his own survival.

WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT WITH THIS BOOK?.... Hearing rumors that this book may be Book 1 of a continuing series with our lead detective, Richard Oppenheimer, leading the way.

I am all in… And ready to read… ✨😎✨

Germania by Harald Gilbers
2020 New Book Releases | December

Winner: Glauser Prize – Best Crime Debut
Historical Fiction Novels | Thriller Books | Crime Fiction Books | Suspense Books | Historical Fiction WW2 Books

Debut Novels

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All my reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Books & DIY Home Ideas | Denise Wilbanks at www.thisismyeverybody.com ... Including my video tutorials for DIY home ideas inspired by recommended books to support you in bringing your favorite books to life in your life and home.

You can see all my December Book Previews & additional features for Germania by Harald Gilbers at https://www.thisismyeverybody.com/books/books-coming-out-in-2020-december


✨😎✨A big thank you to Harald Gilbers, St. Martin’s Press, Sara Beth Haring (with St. Martin’s Press) and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in my review are my own.

I liked this book. There was plenty of action and tension throughout. I'm looking forward to more from this author.

4/5 stars

<b>Germania</b> is set in Berlin 1944 at the height of the Nazi reign, written in the perspective of a former detective, Richard Oppenheimer, a Jewish man. As a man of Jewish faith, during this time period, Oppenheimer's life is ruled by uncertainty and fear of what could come to himself, despite his marriage to his Aryan wife, providing a tenuous protection. One night an SD man comes to his door, in the Jewish House, and takes him away - Oppenheimer is certain his luck has run out. Alas, this is not so, as the SS has a particular use for him as an investigator. There is a serial killer running amok in Berlin, preying on women and placing their mutilated bodies before war memorials from WWI. All of the victims are linked to the NS party, and they want this kept secret from the public.

So what did I love about this book? I loved the mystery. The plot was captivating, the mystery well written, leaving the perpetrator unknown until close to the end. The main characters were interesting, adequately developed, and all side-line characters were relevant to the story line.

What made this book different for me than any other typical mystery? Hands down, the historical references. A time period that I've always found interesting to learn about and attempt to dissect in order to have a better understanding of the tragedies that occurred is WWII. I really enjoyed the setting of the story during the tail-end of WWII, and the resulting impact of the air-raids and bombings on a serial murder investigation.

What turned me off about this book or made it harder for me to follow along with the story? I preface this by saying, that initially I found it difficult, but as the story progressed I came to appreciate it more as I felt it developed a certain level of authenticity to the story. The titles of SS men that were either left untranslated from German, or were purposely left. I had trouble deciphering what these titles were and the resulting hierarchy of ranks. I am fairly confident that a quick Google search would have probably clarified my initial confusion, but I don't necessarily read a work of fiction to find myself searching across the internet for more clarity. Additionally, another slight irk for me was the changing of perspectives a few times, to that of the killer's perspective. I was left, initially, quite taken aback because there was no separation between Oppenheimer's perspective and that of the killer. A minor issue, but something that I feel the need to mention, nevertheless.

All in all, I very much enjoyed the opportunity to read this novel. I found Gilbers writing to be very enjoyable, particularly because it allowed me to dive into the perspective of a Jew in Berlin, Germany during the Third Reich and the implications of day to day life as such. I would definitely be interested in reading more of his works!

<i>I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! I will also be posting my review to Amazon Canada upon publishing.</i>

This was a decent murder mystery, set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany. Not only did I enjoy the main plot and characters, I also thought it did a great job showing what a burden Oppenheimer, a Jewish former inspector, felt working with the SS to solve a case. He knew solving it probably meant his own death; yet he couldn't allow others to perish.

This was a translation of a German book and I thought it was very well translated. I would be interested in reading more of the series. This book felt a lot longer than the page count indicates, just as a heads up.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC.

Do you like stories about WWII? How about murder mystery/thrillers? Maybe throw in a serial killer just to make it the perfect trifecta! If has caught your attention then you really do need to grab this very book and get reading. You won’t be sorry!

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press Thomas Dunne Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this heart pounding mystery, thrillers intertwined with historical fiction in the time of World War Ii, my favorite war because my father was a war hero. In this thrilling book, a Jewish detective is hunting a serial killer who is leaving his mutilated victims on war memorials. But in trying to solve the case, Oppenheimer is putting himself in danger himself.

GERMANIA goes on sale this week! I highly recommend it! Bravo to author Harald Gilbers!

This historical crime novel takes place in war torn Berlin in 1944. A serial killer is killing women, placing their mutilated bodies in front of war memorials. The main character is Richard Oppenheimer, a Jew who was once a highly thought of investigator with the Berlin police. He is enlisted to help catch the killer while fearing for his own safety.

Gilbers gives us some insight into what it was like being a Jew in Nazi Germany. Oppenheimer's wife was not a Jew so he escaped early exile. He is under pressure because the murders must be solved but the investigation must be kept quiet. The Nazi regime did not want to admit there could be a murderer in the ethnically cleansed society. There was pressure to identify the killer as a Jew.

I enjoyed the investigative process. It first appears the murders are random but Oppenheimer finds relationships the victims had to Nazi officials. He has to avoid Allied bombing as he pursues leads. He has to walk the fine line of finding the truth while not alienating those who could send him to a deadly future.

Gilbers' writing style is clear and informative. I felt there was a good balance between the investigation and the character development of Oppenheimer. I was disappointed in the ending but other than that, an enjoyable crime novel with an interesting historical setting.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.