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Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML: Ireland 1963. As the Irish people prepare to welcome President John F. Kennedy to the land of his ancestors, a German national is murdered in a seaside guesthouse. Lieutenant Albert Ryan, Directorate of Intelligence, is ordered to investigate. The German is the third foreigner to die within a few days, and Minister for Justice Charles Haughey wants the killing to end lest a shameful secret be exposed: the dead men were all Nazis granted asylum by the Irish government in the years following World War II. A note from the killers is found on the dead German's corpse, addressed to Colonel Otto Skorzeny, Hitler's favorite commando, once called the most dangerous man in Europe. The note simply says: "We are coming for you." As Albert Ryan digs deeper into the case he discovers a network of former Nazis and collaborators, all presided over by Skorzeny from his country estate outside Dublin. When Ryan closes in on the killers, his loyalty is torn between country and conscience. Why must he protect the very people he fought against twenty years before? Ryan learns that Skorzeny might be a dangerous ally, but he is a deadly enemy..… (more)
User reviews
Neville builds up the tension powerfully, and the plot fizzes along in an entertaining way, though it never quite aspire to any degree of plausibility. The depiction of Charles Haughey is interesting and unforgiving, and expunges any inclination that anyone might have had to see him as a figure of unassailable rectitude. Albert Ryan, the chief protagonist, is, however, a rather two dimensional figure, and not one that I expect to have the depth to sustain another fictional outing.
All in all, and enjoyable adventure story, but not much more.
The style is very sparse and the writing and plotline didn't take me much of anywhere.
- signed someone UNMOVED and ONE WHO DID NOT GET IT ... me bad?
I recently learned something about post-WWII history as regards Ireland that I still have not come to grips with. Ireland, a country I have long admired, opened its borders to dozens (hundreds?) of Hitler's Nazis and SS officers after the
Rather surprisingly, I did not learn this from some history book or a newspaper or magazine article. I learned of it, instead, from a brand new crime thriller written by Irish author Stuart Neville. Ratlines, set in 1963 just before President John F. Kennedy's famous visit to Ireland, features Lieutenant Albert Ryan, an Irish intelligence officer given the unenviable task of solving a series of murders that has claimed the lives of three ex-Nazis hiding out in Ireland. Someone, or some group, is identifying these war criminals and eliminating them one by one.
Ryan's superiors, fearing that any bad publicity will force the U.S. government to cancel Kennedy's visit, demand quick results, with no leaks to the media. Ryan’s problem is that the government minister in charge of the investigation seems himself to be in bed with one of the worst of the Nazis living in Ireland, a brutal psychopath to whom Ryan is forced to report any progress he makes in finding the killers.
Ratlines is well paced and filled with interesting characters, including a beautiful redhead Ryan becomes infatuated with at precisely the wrong time in his life. And the question is which side she is on. Now Ryan, because he can trust almost no one, is forced to take the fight directly to the bad guys with no backup - something that makes his long-term survival very unlikely.
Stuart Neville writes a good thriller, and Ratlines will not disappoint fans of the genre. Incorporating a little known facet of Irish history, a very unflattering one, at that, into his main plot line was a brilliant move, a little bonus to the curious reader that makes Ratlines a book to recommend to likeminded friends.
And that's what I'm doing.
Rated at: 4.0
Lieutenant Albert Ryan left Ireland to fight with the British against the Nazi’s in WWII. Upon his release he soon discovered he had no civilian
It’s 1963 and as his country anticipates the arrival of American President John F. Kennedy, Ryan finds himself tracking down a killer of German nationalists and being ordered to ally with a Colonel Otto Skorzeny, ‘Hitler’s favorite commando’. Caught in a maelstrom of lies and deceit, Ryan finds there is only one person he can rely on, himself, but will that prove to be enough?
Stuart Neville introduces a sometimes naïve, but not innocent individual in his latest stand-alone novel. Set against a backdrop of espionage and distrust, misplaced loyalties, he drops the reader into a world of political chess and greed, then deftly leads us through a minefield and turns the lights out.
Having read Ghosts of Belfast recently, I was expecting this book to shoot out of the starting blocks, and instead found the pacing much slower than I had anticipated in the beginning. There is a lot of history involved in Ratlines and Stuart’s meticulous research shines through by not losing the reader, rather enlightening those of us who aren’t as familiar with the political landscape of the time. Upon reading about celebrations thrown after Kennedy’s assassination, it struck home just how well of a job he’d done when it played perfectly well with Skorzeny’s character.
Another solid read that I will be highly recommending.
The book was good, interesting and compelling. The reason I do not give it more stars is because it was a little slow to get started and also the graphic violence and torture that I do not enjoy reading about.
Is it the Mossad? Patriotism, betrayal, honor and evil are themes explored within the search for the assasins-fast moving, historically interesting and authentic.
The story starts with death and then has Albert Ryan of the Army investigation unit being strongarmed by Haughey into investigating the murders quietly. His investigation berings him down some dark alleys and into some secrets and lies some of which people are willing to kill to keep.
It's an interesting read, the characters are well-drawn and from what I've read Haughey was quite like he's depicted. Gruesome in places, but interesting.
While Albert works for the Irish intelligence agency, his investigation is overseen in part by the Irish Minister of Justice and Colonel Otto Skorzeny, an Austrian ex-Nazi who is the target of the murderers. Albert’s investigation takes him to politicians and military folks, and it’s a very violent investigation.This book is more violent than books I typically read. Also, the book is almost entirely made up of male characters, which is quite a switch from what I usually read.
The novel delves into something I didn’t know about Ireland, namely its harboring of ex-Nazis after World War II. (I thought that was confined to South America.) A ratline is a way out for ex-Nazis: providing them homes and funds to start new lives in new places. This political and historical background is the strongest part of the book. The plot itself is not the strongest part in my opinion because I went into the book expecting a significant amount of violence and crosses and double crosses based on the other Stuart Neville book I read, The Ghosts of Belfast. It is a briskly paced book with a vivid historical background, but the actual resolution of the murders was not the most interesting part of the book for me."
source: publisher via NetGalley
I enjoyed the book. It was a quick read, and mostly well written. Some of the violence it is was a little over-graphic for my taste though. This book fits in well with the WW2 crime fiction and intrigue books that I enjoy, such as Alan Furst.
Our main man, Albert Ryan, is a decent man, an ex-soldier. Unfortunately for him and many of his fellow country men's opinion of him, he was fighting for the ‘wrong' side. The English side. This presents one of the novel's (several) interesting points. That the Irish may well have been more anti-British in WWII than they were anti-Germany. A theme echoed and perhaps more fully realised in the situation of the Breton nationalist characters' situation. Where they were so anti-France, that they used the opportunity of the Nazi invasion, to ally themselves with the Nazis against the rest of France. Though they try to excuse themselves from being tarred by the holocaust brush. It is pointed out several times that they can't pick and choose. He works for the Irish government's intelligence services and is set to investigating the murders of several foreign nationals which may or may not be linked to the presence of a successful German businessman/ex-Nazi, living quite openly and participating quite prominently in Dublin's social life in the early 1960's. As his investigations progress, links to Skorzeny become more compelling and more dangerous. He also gets on the wrong side of an Israeli Mossad officer, who contrary to expectations, doesn't want Skorzeny dead and also claims not to know who has been killing Skorzeny's associates.
I did feel a bit short-changed, when it became clear it was basically about a gold robbery and kind of money-laundering operation. But that may just be me. The style reminded me a little of Len Deighton in SSGB. Which is a good thing. Yeah, the Nazi link, but more the period feel. Neville doesn't go so much in for the descriptions as Deighton does, but there's a real sense of time and place about the writing. The plotting is good and tight, the characters believable and interesting.
As I say, it does raise some very interesting ideas and themes concerning the aftermath of WWII in Europe, in Ireland. Apart from the possibility of Mossad operating unchecked, under Europe's radar in tracking ex-Nazi war criminals, there is the Irish position during and after the war. And the Irish attitudes to those of their countrymen who fought for one old enemy, the English, against a new enemy, the Nazis. There was one conversation, where I got the idea that a thought prevalent in Ireland at the time of the Second World War and when the book was set, would be that the Nazis were an enemy on paper, but the Irish could clearly see they wouldn’t be one that would last too long, so it really wasn’t worth hating them in the way they should the English. The Nazis would soon be gone, but the English had been and would be (unfortunately, in Irish eyes) an enemy for a long time yet. I thought the book suggested an Irish view towards war-time Germany, was ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. But it also posed the question of what was the Irish view of those Irish people who had fought for Britain, when they returned to Ireland? And what of Charles Haughey? I'm guessing he's dead, because he doesn't come out of this book very well at all. These really interesting themes are raised, but not for me, developed and taken where they should be. They seemed to be swept aside at the expense of what started out as looking like an intriguing exploration of the Nazi escape routes from justice in Europe, but then became a more traditional-feeling bullion robbery heist.
It got bogged down around the half to two thirds mark in some eventually much too drawn-out, unnecessarily unpleasantly detailed torturing and people basically just moving things on by just questioning other people. I think as a whole, it does all hang together. Just. I could have done with, as I say, with more of an espionage angle, less of a Great Boat Robbery angle.
I think over all I'll allow it hang by its fingertips to a 4. But with reservations. It did grip me - I read it in two days (though I never know if that's good or bad to get so little time out of a £16.99 spend), it is well put together and plotted and it does all make sense with believable characters, believable situations and plenty to keep you thinking about under way.
Ireland is thrilled but just before his trip, three men are murdered. The last man was a German and on his corpse was a note to Otto Skorenzy, "We are coming for you."
Lt. Albert Ryan of the Directorate Intelligence
The action is intense and the author's writing style makes the reader seem like they are in the middle of the action.
Ryan is like an Everyman of the story. He's a good man, just trying to do his job. Skorenzy, true to his reputation as Hitler's favorite commando, is ruthless and easy to dislike. There are also other sinister characters ready to kill at a moment's notice.
I found the story original and interesting.
The plot is solid but the characters are a little too one-dimensional. For example, Skorzeny is portrayed as the epitome of evil and the ultimate puppet master, but very little else is expressed about him that could help readers understand his motivations. The writing is very straightforward, not quite up to the standards of the Belfast novels in Neville's catalog, but perfectly acceptable for this type of book. The conclusion was a bit 'out there', but things were wrapped up nicely at the end.
I can certainly recommend Ratlines, particularly if you have an interest in historical novels and where ex-Nazi officers ended up after the war (and how they got there).
Stuart Neville has been on my radar ever since he came out with Ghosts of Belfast but, for some unknown reason, I got it into my head that it wasn’t going to be as
Ratlines, like the mooring ropes rats use to evacuate a burning ship, is a word used to describe the means by which Nazis fled Germany after World War II. Set in 1963, the book is so named because several such Nazi expatriates living in Ireland are meeting untimely (or possible post-timely) ends and another, former SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny (an actual person) is receiving warnings that the killers are coming for him. Lieutenant Albert Ryan, Irish G2, has been tasked by Minister of Justice (and future three-time Taoiseach prime minister of Ireland) Charles Haughey with working with Skorzeny to find and stop the killers. Despite misgivings about protecting someone he once fought against, Ryan is pressured to get results lest the violence interferes with the impending first visit to Ireland by a foreign head of state, America’s President Kennedy.
The resulting story contains many intriguing elements, not the least of which is Ryan’s struggle to figure out who, if anybody are the good guys when both sides have shown that they are not above resorting to intimidation and torture to get their way.
Neville is skilled at creating well developed characters, whether they be original or adaptations of existing figures such as Skorzeny or Haughey.
The review copy of this book was obtained from the publisher via the Amazon Vine Program.