“War Criminal’s Widow” is book 3 in the series “The Girl from Berlin.” As soon as Annalise, a counterintelligence agent working for the American OSS office, thinks that all the dangers are finally behind, swept away by the protective hand of her high-ranking lover – the Chief of the RSHA Ernst Kaltenbrunner – she has to face an even bigger challenge. With both fronts approaching her quickly … collapsing Germany, she has to make a fateful decision: to run from the allied prosecution together with the father of her unborn baby, the man, who the allies consider one of the major war criminals and who they can’t wait to bring to justice; or to stay with her husband Heinrich and accept a generous offer from the OSS – a new and free life in the United States…
Reviewed by Deborah Lloyd for Readers’ Favorite
Ellie Midwood continues her thrilling The Girl From Berlin trilogy with War Criminal’s Widow. As the Nazi regime is struggling to prolong its grip in Europe, the story of Annalise, her husband Heinrich, and her lover, Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the Chief of the Reich Main Security Office, continues. Annalise and Heinrich are German, working as counterintelligence agents for the American OSS office within the enemy organization. The Third Reich, while often viewed as a formidable organization where all members embraced one goal, is portrayed in a different light in this book. The personal misgivings and individual goals of the officers of the Third Reich lend to an understanding that even such a malevolent force is comprised of conflicted individuals, sometimes doubting its own organization’s goals. Finally, the war is over, Annalise and Heinrich’s last days in their native homeland are harrowing, while an escape is planned by the appreciative American OSS office.
Learning more about the inner workings of the Nazi regime within the triangular relationship of three main characters is certainly an engaging and intriguing process. The Girl From Berlin: War Criminal’s Widow by Ellie Midwood is a suspense-filled, page-turning historical novel with many twists and turns. Ms. Midwood is able to develop complex characters and shows that few people are all-good, or all-evil, especially when living in unusual circumstances. However, when the war ends, the consequences of previous actions remain. This is a thought-provoking novel about a very difficult time in the last century. It is not always an easy read, but it will certainly give the reader much to contemplate.
Other books in the series:
Book one: “The Girl from Berlin: Standartenfuhrer’s Wife”
Book two: “The Girl from Berlin: Gruppenfuhrer’s Mistress”
more
I loved The Girl from Berlin: War Criminal’s Widow. Ms. Midwood’s writing is excellent. The story is riveting. If you are a fan of WWII historical fiction, you will love this book.
Moving on from this series’ Book 2’s cliff-hanging end, in Book 3, Midwood pulls the reader along with Ernest Kaltenbrünner and his mistress, Annalise, now both trying to outwit everything in their wake––the Nazi government and the OSS, as they openly profess their love.
Exciting scenes filter in, such as the bombed out Berlin, a city waiting to be not only conquered, but also torn apart by the eastern and western fronts closing in. It also depicts the decisions made regarding which side to take, as espionage and counter-espionage spin out of control. Once again, as with all of Ms. Midwoods books, I devoured Wikipedia sites to learn more about Himmler, Goebbels, Martin Borman, and the sad fate of the well-respected general, Rommel.
Ultimately, what has horrified yet fascinated me about this page-turning series is most aptly stated in a single line used in this particular book: “There are good and bad people everywhere.”
The Girl from Berlin
If this doesn’t grab your emotions, you’re made of stone!
The author of this first-class novel has brought into sharp focus on the daily dangers of being on the wrong side of ideology. An ideology that through the aspirations of millions of people who have succumbed to an idea or philosophy of one man, Hitler, who now ignore the dangers of their own adulation, reinforced by propaganda from a compliant and controlled media, continue their support of a regime whose deeds become ever more undemocratic and frightening.
Annalise, our Jewish but falsely registered Aryan protagonist, initially naive but stubborn, becomes deeply immersed in a plot to undermine the Nazi regime from within. Helping her in this formidable and dangerous task is her husband Heinrich, who as a senior officer of the SD, the Intelligence arm of the Secret Police, is, in fact, an undercover agent for the American Secret Service. After four years in the Nazi Party, he had become disillusioned with the direction and purpose of its aims and was now himself strongly committed to destroying the Nazi regime.
As a WWII survivor I and my own late wife having lived under Nazi occupation in France, I find that Ellie Midwood the author, is for me at least, the most engaging writer of this genre I have ever read. She has an uncanny ability to place the reader in the location of the protagonist and experiencing the same emotions of that person, while at the same time describing scenes with unerring accuracy of the period.
The story is breathtakingly tense, fast-paced and emotional, at least for those like me who have survived WWII. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in history and even if you are not, you should read it, for there are lessons to be learned. Not only will you love the story, but like me, you will be anxiously waiting for the inevitable sequel which I’m sure will follow.
*Warning spoilers!*
This was an absolutely fantastic series and one I would highly recommend. I definitely wish the series didn’t end here and we got more of Ernst and Annalise (I mean building a case against the Russians, how awesome would that be for another book!?) The end of this book was well done and exactly how I had hoped it would end. The third novel in this fantastic series deals with the fall of Nazi Germany and Annalise’s new life in New York as she copes with her feelings for her now war criminal lover Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner. I felt like this was the most emotional book in the series and it was definitely tearing at my heart strings, particularly Annalise’s speech while at the Beethoven monument towards the end of the book in which she finally confesses how much she truly loved Ernst. The part when she sees Ernst for the last time in Nuremberg is also pretty heart wrenching and well, any scene Annalise has with Ernst following the end of Nazi Germany is pretty heart wrenching. That being said, while I absolutely loved how the series ended, I was left with a few questions that I’m hoping will be answered when I beginning reading “The Austrian”, which tells the story from Dr. Kaltenbrunner’s point of view. Mainly, I’m interested in what caused OSS to spare Dr. Kaltenbrunner’s life, presumably at the last minute, and how the picture of his dead body was taken (the picture that appeared in the newspapers). For that reason, I would actually give this book 4 1/2 stars out of 5, but still it was very good. Overall, I love this book series and it has only made me hungry for more of Ms. Midwood’s stories. She is truly a gifted writer and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into “The Austrian”.
Ok, so I’m trying to think of how I want to word all of this.
This was an amazing story, and a wonderful conclusion to an amazing series. I absolutely loved the conundrum of Ernst, Annalise and Heinrich, and how it all played out. This story has it all: angst, sorrow, joy, and fear. The characters are just so real, though I don’t know that I’d be able to be as understanding as some of the characters were.
A definite shot of beauty in the middle of so many horrors. This whole series is a must read, and I cannot wait to start reading Ernst’s story in The Austrian.