Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "conspiracy-thriller"

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A gripping high-stakes thriller that unlocks an international conspiracy masterminded by Auschwitz’s Angel of Death.

In September 1974, a group of men gathers at a Japanese restaurant at the behest of one man, who enlists them to murder ninety-four men across Europe and North America. All of these men are former SS officers, still loyal to the Nazi cause. The man who has called them to action is Dr Josef Mengele, who escaped to South America after the Second World War, avoiding capture and trial.

Yakov Liebermann, who investigates war crimes and is famed for bringing multiple Nazis to justice in recent years, receives an urgent telephone call from a young man who claims to have a recording of a meeting at which Mengele discusses a plot to bring about the Fourth Reich. Despite the call being cut short, it troubles Liebermann and he decides to look into the man’s claims.

Liebermann uncovers evidence that suggests what the caller claimed may have been true. Men have begun dying – men of the same age, all with younger wives and teenage sons. But why have these victims been selected, and what connects them? The answer provides terrifying implications for the future and the truth behind Mengele’s scheme, one which began many years before as he conducted his cruel experiments at Auschwitz.

In a race against time, Liebermann strives to bring an end of Mengele’s plot, the fate of the future hanging in the balance.

Ira Levin is a true master, his novels intricately plotted and devastatingly realised. ‘The Boys from Brazil’ is an outstanding thriller, all the more chilling as it was inspired by the true events of the Holocaust and features Mengele, who, at the time of publication in 1976, was still alive and in hiding in South America. Levin was always ahead of his time; his plot hinged on the concept of human cloning – all the more unsettlingly plausible in today’s climate.

Raising many ethical and moral questions, the novel twists and turns, tightening its grip as it hurtles towards the climatic showdown between Liebermann and Mengele. It is both a gripping drama and a study of humanity, as well as a warning from history that the past can never be allowed to repeat itself.

Levin’s novels are often the blueprint of their respective genres – this is no exception, a precursor to many conspiracy and political thrillers. The novel was also adapted into a film in 1978, starring Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier. In whatever medium, Levin's storytelling remains immortal.

‘The Boys from Brazil’ is classic Ira Levin – a study of evil and the nefarious schemes that are bred in the dark shadows of the human mind.



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