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Indeholder "Forfatterens bemærkning", "Del I", "Del II", "Appendiks I", "Appendiks II", "Kilder".
De to britiske piloter, James Teasdale og Bryan Young bliver skudt ned over Tyskland nær Dresdan under anden verdenskrig. De redder livet i første omgang ved at
???
Jussi Adler-Olsen debuterede som forfatter med den her bog, men han er heldigvis blevet bedre siden.
Publication
Description
British pilots James Teasdale and Bryan Young have been chosen to conduct a special photo-reconnaissance mission near Dresden, Germany. Intelligence believes the Nazis are building new factories that could turn the tide of the war. When their plane is shot down, James and Bryan know they will be executed if captured. With an enemy patrol in pursuit, they manage to jump aboard a train reserved for senior SS soldiers wounded on the eastern front. In a moment of desperation, they throw two patients off the train and take their places, hoping they can escape later. But their act is too convincing and they end up in the Alphabet House, a mental hospital located far behind enemy lines, where German doctors subject their patients to daily rounds of shock treatments and experimental drugs. The pilots' only hope of survival is to fake insanity until the war ends, but their friendship and courage are put to the ultimate test when James and Bryan realize they aren't the only ones in the Alphabet House feigning madness.… (more)
Media reviews
User reviews
It tells the story of two British pilots, Bryan Young and James Teasdale, friends from childhood, who were sent on a dangerous aerial reconnaissance
The two are transferred along with the others to a sanitarium known as Alphabet House because of the alphanumeric categorization of patients with mental illnesses. (Such special treatment for SS officers who had mental problems was of course not available to most sufferers, who were gassed to death.)
At Alphabet House, James and Bryan are subjected to radical treatments for their putative psychoses, including frequent electroshock and daily administration of dangerous anti-psychotic drugs that induced catatonic-like states. Bryan tried not to take his pills, but this too was dangerous; if the officials at the facility suspected anyone of malingering, that person would be executed. As it turns out, however, Bryan and James were not the only ones pretending to have psychiatric disorders. But the others who are faking are determined to take no chances with anyone knowing about them; they have a secret to protect that will make them rich if only they can survive until the war is over. Thus, the two Brits are constantly observed, judged, suspected, and mistreated by the German prisoners to cause them to slip in their roles, if indeed they are playing roles. And as the German malingerers - high-level sadistic Nazis - increasingly suspect the two, the tension ratchets up enormously.
Evaluation: Although a few aspects of the story strained credulity, this psychological (in a double sense) thriller kept me on the edge of my seat once I got into it a bit. (Jim was pulled in right from the start.) Even though Adler-Olsen wrote this debut novel many years ago, you can see a talented writer at work, who is adept at pacing and characterization. I did not find the characters at either end of the morality spectrum unduly caricatured. This is a solidly good book, and it is a standalone. We both enjoyed reading it, as we have enjoyed the other books by this author.
Eventually, Bryan escapes alone. The story then switches to 1972. Bryan is a successful doctor and businessman. He had spent years searching for James after the war but eventually gave up. However, when he meets a man who is from the area of The Alphabet House, he hires him to find any information he can about any survivors. With his information, Bryan is on the trail again but rather than James, he finds the other malingerers who benefitted financially from the war and are determined to stop anyone from uncovering their crimes.
This is the first book I have read by author Jussi Adler-Olsen and, as it turns out, it was the first book he wrote; it is, however, the first time it’s been released in North America so firsts all around. Despite its setting, The Alphabet House is not, according to Adler-Olsen, a war story. It’s also not a perfect book. At times, it strains credulity almost to the breaking point and it says a great deal about the writing and the sheer adrenaline rush of the story that, despite the occasional ‘huh’, it never interferes with the enjoyment of the book. This is one edge-of-your-seat, nail-bitingly intense, unputdownable and a whole lot of other adjectives and adverbs that can be used to describe one hell of a psychological thriller. In other words, I liked it a lot. This may have been my first book by Adler-Olsen but it will definitely not be my last.
I thought it was the next entry in the series, but it's actually an older stand alone book from Adler-Olsen making a North America debut.
Two British pilots, James Teasdale and Bryan Young are doing flyover
Teasdale and Young are too good at their subterfuge - they end up admitted to the hospital and subjected to treatment. Much time passes - until one of them escapes. And one is left.
I thought this was a great idea for a book. Indeed, it has its basis in reality. Adler-Olsen's father worked in a psychiatric facility and Jussi wondered about malingerers or those living out their lives in such a facility.
Once the two Brits land in The Alphabet House, the pacing of the novel slows down. Adler-Olsen draws out the time, echoing what the two servicemen would be feeling. There are many cringe worthy moments that can only make the reader appreciate that much of this is based in reality.
The second half is from 1975 when the the first goes back looking for his comrade. In this second half the pace picks up as we discover what happened in the last thirty years to both men. And how the past has a long reach....
The Alphabet House explores war, friendship and the innate desire to live, all couched in a tense, atmospheric narrative.
I would like to be able to suspend belief in the case of some
Put simply, I can only recommend this novel under one circumstance. If you are incredibly dumb and gullible, perhaps you might believe up to half of the fact situations that arise in the course of this story.
“During World War 2, two British pilots, James and Bryan, are shot down over Germany. They know that they will be executed if taken hostage. Pursued by German dog patrols, they manage to escape by jumping on to a German hospital
I’ve mentioned before that I tend to stay away from books dealing with certain subjects and WWII is definitely on my personal “stay away” list. Alas, nothing is written in stone and sometimes the premise of a book just sounds too appealing and I have to break down and give it a try. Besides, Mr. Adler-Olsen assured me in the forward that this was not a book “about the war” it is a book “set in war time”. The two mean the same thing to me. Sometimes I am pleasantly rewarded for stepping out of my comfort zone (The Book Thief) and sometimes I am not. I sit on the fence with this book.
First of all I should warn any potential readers of a gentler constitution that there are a lot
(A LOT!!) of gristly (grizzly?) scenes in this book. I listened to it on audio and found myself driving to work grimacing (okay, grimacing more than I usually do on my drive to work). Of course it is a book “set in war time” so I knew that was going to be part of it. The book consists of two parts. Part one deals with “The Alphabet House”, an insane asylum for SS officers, where James and Bryan find themselves delivered by the train. When one of them escapes, by necessity and lack of options leaving the other behind, we move into the second part of the book which takes place 30 years later. With equal parts undying friendship and survivor’s guilt the soldier who escaped has never stopped looking for the friend he had to leave behind. Despite having hired professional private detectives to search for his friend no trace of him has ever been found. Just as he is ready to give up his search and admit that he probably did die when the hospital was bombed near the end of the war, a clue falls into his lap and he goes looking one more time.
Although both parts of the book are interesting I found myself wishing things would move along at a little bit of a brisker pace. Obviously, since our two protagonists were forced to assume the identity of two other men there was a name change involved. As it turns out most of the characters in this book were known by two or more name/nicknames and they were used interchangeably depending on who was doing the speaking. This got to be a little confusing and I would have enjoyed the book a bit more if in the second half the author could have stuck to using one name per character.
Although the book is not in a genre I usually enjoy I am glad I picked it up. Mr. Adler-Olsen did a fine job with a complicated subject.
I had some problems with the plot of this one, which seemed mostly unbelievable, starting from the very beginning when they succeed in replacing dead and dying German soldiers. Why wouldn't the Germans who were chasing them after they were shot down not have the train stopped and thoroughly searched? They would have been caught easily if that had been done. But, if you can suspend your disbeief about the first part of the story, the book's second section, about event in 1972, is pretty well done.
Two British pilots, and very close friends, are shot down over Germany during World War II. Against all odds, they are able to avoid being captured as prisoners of war, only to prisoners of a different sort. Assuming the identifies of Nazi SS officers and then pretending to suffer from what today we refer to as PTSD, they are sent to a mental institution. At this mental hospital, they are not as safe as they would hope and are forced to avoid each other to prevent detection. The fates of these two Englishmen take very different paths.
The second part of the story takes place 30 years later, when several of the patients of the 'Alphabet House', as the mental institute was known, are reunited, and not in expected or pleasant ways.
You wish to find more humanity in this story, but unfortunately, it brings to light the brutality of human nature and the consequences of that. An engaging and powerful story that challenges one to think of one's own limitations under heavy psychological (and physical) hardships.
4 stars.
This is a tale of two books.
The first half of is mind-numbingly monotonous and downright boring, almost to the point of putting it on the DNF shelf. The
"The Alphabet House" is first set during World War II. Two Englishmen, James Teasdale and Bryan Young, bail out when their plane is shot down over Germany during a reconnaissance mission. In desperation, they assume the identities of shell-shocked German SS officers. Assuming their roles too well, they are confined to a mental hospital behind enemy lines. How long will it take for their captors to realize that James and Bryan are imposters? What effect will the pills and shock treatments that the doctors administer to their patients have on the British soldiers' minds? Can they escape from this hellhole? The situation spirals out of control when three fellow inmates viciously turn on James and Bryan.
The second half is also set in Germany, almost 30 years later, during the 1972 Munich Olympics. In the second half, the story really comes alive, as the friends deal with the fallout of their imprisonment.
This book was obviously extremely well researched, the detail is magnificent, horrifying, and yet strangely fascinating. The pacing and layout were cleverly done – the first half is slow moving and plodding, allowing the story to unfold at a pace that allows the reader to almost experience what these two friends are going through. It’s very disturbing but absolutely compelling; you simply can’t look away. The second half is much faster paced, and I’m not going to say anything for fear of giving away the surprising events. It did ramp up significantly to the completely unexpected ending.
This is not a war story as much as it is a story of friendship under extreme circumstances, character-driven throughout, often violent, but always engaging and thought provoking. I found it to be an excellent, moving story, haunting and evocative, with some great edge-of-the-seat moments.
Overall a very good read.
Over all a good story - I enjoy Adler-Olsen's writing.
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Omslaget viser en mand i forgrunden og et bombefly og et beskadiget hus i baggrunden
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslagstekst: Thriller
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Pages
DDC/MDS
839.813 |