As a devoted fan of Ronald Balson’s work and an avid reader of historical fiction, I approached The Righteous with high expectations. Balson’s previous novels have brilliantly blended emotional depth, rich historical context, and action — a combination I’ve always admired.

However, I found the buildup in this installment slower than his previous novels. The pacing lagged in the first half, with the story taking time to fully engage. While Balson’s attention to historical accuracy remains commendable, it felt like the momentum took a while to catch up with the weight of the subject matter.

That said, once the story found its footing, it delivered a satisfying and meaningful narrative, consistent with Balson’s compassionate and justice-driven storytelling. For readers who value historical fiction with a strong moral backbone, The Righteous still stands as a worthy, if slightly more patient, read.

I bElEiEv I have read nearly all of Ronald Balson’s works. He continues to compose meaningful, heart-wrenching, yet inspiring narratives set in historical reality, which give us a visual image of critical situations in the Holocaust era. His characters are well developed and compelling to follow.

The Righteous follows Ronald Balson's book A Place to Hide.

The first 1/3 of The Righteous seemed to be a follow-up to A Place to Hide and gets us up to date with what has happened to Julia and Teddy Hartigan (co-workers at the US Consulate in Amsterdam when the Nazis occupied) who have escaped and are back in the US after having been provided distinguished service award.

Julia is reconnecting with some of her college classmates (from Michigan :) love the Michigan details!) and her friend Theresa hasn't heard from her family in Hungary in quite some time. At the end of 1943 Hungary hadn't been invaded (yet) but had a Jewish population of 800,000-900,000 people.

So even though there is a war going on in Europe, Julia and Theresa are able to go to Hungary as diplomatic assistants using Theresa's knowledge of the language and knowing that she has a family network there.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for approving my request to read the advance read copy of The Righteous in exchange for an honest review. Approx 304 pages. Expected release date is Sept 9, 2025.

I liked The Righteous, but I did like A Place to Hide quite a bit more.

Just wrapped up The Righteous by Ronald H. Balson, and it really stuck with me. It’s part legal drama, part historical journey, and all heart. The story dives into justice, family, and uncovering painful truths from the past. I really liked how the characters felt grounded and how the plot moved between present-day investigation and the shadows of history. It’s emotional without being overdone and totally makes you think. If you’re into historical fiction with a courtroom edge and strong moral themes, this one’s worth the read.

If I'm being completely honest, the amount of history in this book captivated me more than the story of the characters. This book takes place towards the end of the second World War II, mostly between the US and Hungary (Budapest, specifically). Without belaboring the information in gruesome detail, Balson is able to help the reader understand how quickly Hitler's team was eradicating the Jewish population in countries that it conquered, as well as how quickly (and perhaps why) it turned on its allies. While in hindsight it is difficult to understand why the Hungarian population did not expect that Hitler would turn on their Jewish population, I find that Balson is able to answer those questions effectively. It highlights the inaction of certain agencies and individuals within the US, despite knowing the horrors that were occurring. Further, Balson also does a fantastic job explaining the origins of the immigration caps in the United States and how congress tightly controls those, even in time of desperate circumstance. He offers a rarely seen insight into the complexities faced by those wishing to immigrate to the US and how archaic those rules are and continue to be. It shed more light into the neutrality polices that countries like Switzerland had to take and some of the choices that Carl Lutz (and others) made that could be seen as at odds with that stance. It humanizes the very real uncertainty that people faced in knowing what was happening to their families, and decisions that people were forced to make about whether to stay or leave (along with what the costs were - tangibly and intangibly). I found Balson's characters (particularly Theresa's parents, the Rabbi, and Solomon) to be devastatingly human in many capacities in a way that I think many of us can currently relate to. As with most historical fiction, I walked away from this book wanting to learn more about some of the real people and events in this book, including the work of the World Refugee Board.

During WWII, Theresa loses contact with her parents in Budapest. Her friend Julia assists her in finding them. They begin rescuing people. Heartbreaking and moving story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I had read the author’s previous book “ A Place To Hide”, so I was happy to read his new offering. This book uses a character “ Julia” who was in the previous story, although there was enough information given so that it wasn’t necessary to read that book before this one, it is a stand alone book. This book takes place in Hungary in the later part of the war, Julia goes to a Hungary with a college friend “ Theresa” who is now a professor in the US on a permanent visa who is concerned about her family living in Hungary that she has been unable to contact, the two women get involved with obtaining visas and trying to transport many of the Jewish population out of Hungary working with the Swiss Embassy. This story was very interesting and informative , the author’s research really is impressive and should be commended. I enjoyed this book, as with any historical fiction book that I read, I always learn something new. I was somewhat disappointed in the ending of this book, it seemed too abrupt, perhaps there will be a sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this novel prior to publication.

I read a lot of historical fiction and non-fiction on WWII and the holocaust. So this book ticked the box for me.

The setting for the majority of the book is set in Budapest, Hungary - one of my favorite cities in the world. One of the most moving memorials is the bronze shoes on the edge of the Danube where Nazis gunned down Jewish citizens. Fisherman dove in trying to save the victims - their shoes were pulled from the river and later bronzed. This was a scene in the book.

Also, another book that I recently read was The Escape Artist from Auschwitz which played a pivotal role in this work.

However on the whole I thought the conversations in the book were both trite and repetitive . Hence the score of 3 out of 5.

I want to thank St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Righteous by author Ronald Balson.
Mr Balson has delivered another spellbinding piece of Historical Fiction. It’s Budapest and the year is 1944.
His fictional characters, classmates from the University of Michigan, Julia and Theresa, take us through a horrendous time in history. Hitler is on the march, determined to rid all of Europe of the Jewish people. For several years Budapest has been spared Hitler’s wrath. But it was only a matter of time. Theresa has not been able to contact her parents for over a year and is very concerned. What happens next is what this book is about.
Can she find her family? What are their lives like? What can be done to help them and others?
Afraid of the outcome. History has told us about Auschwitz and the concentration camps! But you need to keep reading!
The Righteous is scheduled for publication 09/09/2025.

Absolutely fantastic. Easiest 5 stars given to a fantastic book! Excited to read more by this author! Will be sharing with my Facebook group.

Having read and enjoyed ALL of Ronald Balsam’s prior novels, I was eager to read this endeavor and thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity. However, I must say that this book was a complete disappointment to me. Having visited the extermination camps in Poland and the Czech Republic, I am very much aware of the history and the horrors of the Holocaust. I felt that most of this book was written as a history of what occurred in Hungary with several asides concerning the involvement of one family. To my way of thinking, the characters were not a compelling part of the story but rather a means of moving the plot forward to a very abrupt conclusion that actually left the reader wondering what happened. It is almost as though this book is the first volume in a series.

I thought this was a very informative take for a historical fiction that really focused on family and trying to protect those who need help. I really liked Julia and her relationships she builds with others as well as how willing she is to work to protect those who can’t protect themselves and put herself in danger in the process. I also enjoyed Carl Lutz and he gave a good take on how many were helping but also needed to protect themselves and their own country to not get themselves in trouble. Theresa and her family really had you invested and I believe really showed why many did not want to leave their homes.

The only issue I had was the ending seemed rushed and didn’t really close up the story for me as the rest of the book is so detailed and thorough I felt the ending lacked that.

This brave Word War II story will follow the brave adventures of those who are trying to help the jews from being victims of Hitler's persecution. This story also tells the brave story of one woman's brave journey in Europe that originally started out as following her boyfriend's band around. With all the problems being caused by the war will these brave people be able to accomplish what they want?
Our main character Julia is living in the United States in the late 1930's. Much to her parents disappointment she decides to leave home to follow her boyfriends band around. However, she later realizes she made a mistake and breaks it off in Amsterdam. She decides to stay in the Netherlands and work for the government which ends up being a huge success.
However with her huge sucess it doesn't last long with the issues of the war. She has a friend back in the states who is worried about her parents who live in Budapest and are Jewish because she hasn't heard from them. From there they will embark on a journey to not only help Theresa's parents but also the lives other jews as well.
Overall this was a fantastic story about hope and bravery. I am super honored that I took the time to read this novel.
I received an arc copy from Netgalley and all opinions are of my own.