HHhH is the story of the assassination of Reinhard(t) Heydrich, the Hangman of Prague, during WWII. He was Himmler's right-hand man, and in many ways the architect of the Holocaust. (The title stands for the German phrase that was current at the time, meaning Himmler's brain is Heydrich.) His assassins were sent from London, by the Czechoslovak Government in exile. They knew they would not return. In revenge Hitler had Lidice, an entire village of people, destroyed - the people and the village too.

Laurent Binet has written a novel, sort of. But because he is writing about real people, and tells us repeatedly that he has principles about making things up about characters who actually existed, he cannot enter into the minds of his protagonists (although occasionally he does, and then gives himself a slap on the wrist). Nor can he meander away from the truth insofar as it is known. Add to this the fact that he is both an academic and French.

The result is on the one hand a satisfying device for supplying the reader, straight up, with information that would otherwise be difficult to introduce. On the other, there are the self-referential asides that interrupt the narrative, the constant questioning of its validity, the self-examination by the author as he quizzes his own motives and responses. Eventually I got irritated. I see I Gave this 4 stars. Make it 3.

By the way, the translation is excellent. Well done, Sam Taylor.