Fatherland

Robert Harris appears to be a can't-miss writer. His Pompeii, The Fear Index, and Cicero novels are entertaining and historically intelligent. This is his first novel, an alternate-history speculation in which the Nazis were not defeated in World War II. Suspenseful and seemingly effortlessly written, Fatherland follows a Berlin police detective investigating the death of a retired high-ranking Nazi. It's 1964 and President Kennedy is in the White House: Joseph Kennedy, John's father. Germany is preparing to celebrate Hitler's 75th birthday. Harris carries it all off with elan.