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Pantheon
The darkest secrets of World War II! finally revealed. The number one bestseller returns with his most explosive book to date.
406 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
45 people are currently reading
590 people want to read
About the author
Sam Bourne
46 books339 followersSam Bourne is the literary pseudonym of Jonathan Freedland, an award-winning British journalist and broadcaster. He has written a weekly column for The Guardian since 1997, having previously served as the paper's Washington correspondent. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The New Republic, and The Jewish Chronicle, and he presents BBC Radio 4's contemporary-history series The Long View.
For nearly two decades he has covered the Middle East conflict, and in 2002 he chaired a three-day dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, which was sponsored by The Guardian. The participants in that meeting went on to broker the 2003 Geneva Accord.
Freedland is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Righteous Men, also a number-one bestseller in the UK, which has been translated into thirty-one languages, and the nonfiction works Jacob's Gift and Bring Home the Revolution. He lives in London with his wife and two children.
For nearly two decades he has covered the Middle East conflict, and in 2002 he chaired a three-day dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, which was sponsored by The Guardian. The participants in that meeting went on to broker the 2003 Geneva Accord.
Freedland is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Righteous Men, also a number-one bestseller in the UK, which has been translated into thirty-one languages, and the nonfiction works Jacob's Gift and Bring Home the Revolution. He lives in London with his wife and two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
March 29, 2012
The publicity for this book promised "the most explosive wartime thriller since Fatherland". That's an odd claim, since 'Fatherland' wasn't set during the war but after it, in an alternative world. In fact, however, what we get is damp squib: ill thought out, unconvincing and disappointing.
It starts with a certain degree of promise. The opening is well told, our hero, battling his ruined body, rowing on the Cherwell in Oxford and the hook - his wife's flight from him with their young child - seems to offer potential. As the central character pursues them across first England and then America, however, its flaws become more obvious. As the book focuses on its central conceit, amongst the academic elite of Yale in the US, it breaks down entirely becoming sadly implausible.
I shall not reveal the main MacGuffin that drives the action, and provides an explanation for the title, but it is something that might appear profoundly shocking to modern sensibilities, simply would have been rather less so to someone in 1940. Bourne provides numerous quotes from well known intellectuals of the day that provide a context in which these ideas flourished (indeed, he crowbars these elements in in a deeply unconvincing manner). Yet Bourne makes the central character - an academic, well connected to the same intellectual set that the quotes are provided from - ignornant of their views, presumably to make him more like the reader. One might wonder how he managed to remain so ignorant of the views of the people around him: did he close his ears every time he met them at his college's high table? This leads to another major problem.
Others have mentioned that the hero, James Zennor, is not always sympathetic. The problem is rather greater than this though: he is often not credible. Apparently a doctor of Psychology this plays no part in the story, other than to provide a degree of irony that he suffers from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress. He could just as easily - and convincingly - be a doctor of History or English or any other subject. At no time does he approach problmes with an attitude that convinces as an academic; rather he tends to charge at problems, bull in a china shop style, without any thought for subleties or consequences. He was apparently raised a Quaker, yet this detail does not effect his behaviour at all (save a reference to talking of people as 'souls'). He has fought in the Spanish Civil War and is militant in his belief in combating Nazism with force - fair enough, but where was the internal debate as he contradicted the pacifism he was raised to believe in?
Such issues pale, when compared to the villain of the piece, however. Without giving away his identity, by the time that he ends up threatening Zennor and his family with a pistol in the climactic scene, any pretence at plausibility has been thrown away.
So, if this is no character study, how does it bear up in terms of plot? After all, this is a thriller. Sadly, this is a disappoinment too. The initial tension generated by the disappearance of Zennor's family is allowed to disapate as the story goes on. The mystery of why his wife chose to leave him is answered fairly early on. A new plot motor is introduced once he reaches Yale, but there is an unsatisfactory lag in the middle. More tension is generated in a brief subplot about an American at the US Embassy in London.
Much of the plot makes very little sense: a postcard from his wife is removed from his home address by an unknown party before Zennor can see it and it reappears in his college pigeonhole. It could be an intriguing detail - someone who also wants to know what is happening to his wife perhaps? But, in fact, it turns out that it was someone trying to delay him seeing the card. Hard to see why anyone would bother taking the risk if they were going to put it straight into the pigeonhole (which might be checked by an academic early and regualarly in a day). Why not keep it and put his postbox the next day, which would guarantee delaying Zennor and not arouse suspicion? Once we get to hitmen sent after Zennor and the villain giving away his evil plan in a published lecture, you quickly realise that the story does not repay much thought.
Bourne rejects what might be more interesting avenues for the story. At the end, passed over in no more than a paragraph, there is a point where a journalist has to decide what to do with information that could undermine a major politian and - as a result - influence the outcome of a war. The revelations, a fantastic scoop, could change history but go against the political bias of that reporter and his journal. A possibly fascinating moral dilemma, but not one that we explore here.
What makes it particularly disappointing is that buried away in here are some interesting nuggets. Sam Bourne is the journalist, Jonathan Freedland, and he has unconvered some genuinely fascinating stories. The alternative 1936 Olympics in Barcelona and that many of those who had gone to participate there stayed to fight when the Civil War broke out, were facts I was ignorant of. They deserve wider publication but this novel does not do them the justice I suspect Freedland the journalist could.
It starts with a certain degree of promise. The opening is well told, our hero, battling his ruined body, rowing on the Cherwell in Oxford and the hook - his wife's flight from him with their young child - seems to offer potential. As the central character pursues them across first England and then America, however, its flaws become more obvious. As the book focuses on its central conceit, amongst the academic elite of Yale in the US, it breaks down entirely becoming sadly implausible.
I shall not reveal the main MacGuffin that drives the action, and provides an explanation for the title, but it is something that might appear profoundly shocking to modern sensibilities, simply would have been rather less so to someone in 1940. Bourne provides numerous quotes from well known intellectuals of the day that provide a context in which these ideas flourished (indeed, he crowbars these elements in in a deeply unconvincing manner). Yet Bourne makes the central character - an academic, well connected to the same intellectual set that the quotes are provided from - ignornant of their views, presumably to make him more like the reader. One might wonder how he managed to remain so ignorant of the views of the people around him: did he close his ears every time he met them at his college's high table? This leads to another major problem.
Others have mentioned that the hero, James Zennor, is not always sympathetic. The problem is rather greater than this though: he is often not credible. Apparently a doctor of Psychology this plays no part in the story, other than to provide a degree of irony that he suffers from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress. He could just as easily - and convincingly - be a doctor of History or English or any other subject. At no time does he approach problmes with an attitude that convinces as an academic; rather he tends to charge at problems, bull in a china shop style, without any thought for subleties or consequences. He was apparently raised a Quaker, yet this detail does not effect his behaviour at all (save a reference to talking of people as 'souls'). He has fought in the Spanish Civil War and is militant in his belief in combating Nazism with force - fair enough, but where was the internal debate as he contradicted the pacifism he was raised to believe in?
Such issues pale, when compared to the villain of the piece, however. Without giving away his identity, by the time that he ends up threatening Zennor and his family with a pistol in the climactic scene, any pretence at plausibility has been thrown away.
So, if this is no character study, how does it bear up in terms of plot? After all, this is a thriller. Sadly, this is a disappoinment too. The initial tension generated by the disappearance of Zennor's family is allowed to disapate as the story goes on. The mystery of why his wife chose to leave him is answered fairly early on. A new plot motor is introduced once he reaches Yale, but there is an unsatisfactory lag in the middle. More tension is generated in a brief subplot about an American at the US Embassy in London.
Much of the plot makes very little sense: a postcard from his wife is removed from his home address by an unknown party before Zennor can see it and it reappears in his college pigeonhole. It could be an intriguing detail - someone who also wants to know what is happening to his wife perhaps? But, in fact, it turns out that it was someone trying to delay him seeing the card. Hard to see why anyone would bother taking the risk if they were going to put it straight into the pigeonhole (which might be checked by an academic early and regualarly in a day). Why not keep it and put his postbox the next day, which would guarantee delaying Zennor and not arouse suspicion? Once we get to hitmen sent after Zennor and the villain giving away his evil plan in a published lecture, you quickly realise that the story does not repay much thought.
Bourne rejects what might be more interesting avenues for the story. At the end, passed over in no more than a paragraph, there is a point where a journalist has to decide what to do with information that could undermine a major politian and - as a result - influence the outcome of a war. The revelations, a fantastic scoop, could change history but go against the political bias of that reporter and his journal. A possibly fascinating moral dilemma, but not one that we explore here.
What makes it particularly disappointing is that buried away in here are some interesting nuggets. Sam Bourne is the journalist, Jonathan Freedland, and he has unconvered some genuinely fascinating stories. The alternative 1936 Olympics in Barcelona and that many of those who had gone to participate there stayed to fight when the Civil War broke out, were facts I was ignorant of. They deserve wider publication but this novel does not do them the justice I suspect Freedland the journalist could.
February 8, 2019
I was expecting this to be a very good book. Sam Bourne is the pseudonym of Jonathan Freedland, an excellent journalist and broadcaster whose work I enjoy very much. Sadly, the same cannot be said for his fiction.
Set in 1940 the main protagonist is James Zennor, an Oxford don wounded in the Spanish Civil War, physically and mentally scarred and unable to join up and fight the Nazis. His wife and son vanish and he eventually traces and follows them to Yale in the USA where he realises that Something Suspicious Is Going On and that He Does Not Know Whom He Can Trust. This, basically, is the plot of the first 300 (yes 300) pages of the book. There is a great deal of scene-setting in flashback, details of the Spanish Civil War, stuff about the contrast between life in Britain in 1940 and that in the USA and, frankly, a huge amount of superfluous verbiage. There are endless paragraphs where Zennor repeats to himself what we already know and speculates about perhaps this or maybe that and it all adds up to very little. It is phenomenally slow and even the bits where something actually happens didn't really grip me. I found that there were several "oh, please" moments and the "revelations" were largely visible from a long way off. When the Dastardly Plot is finally revealed it is self-evidently repugnant, but we still have to have its repugnance explained to us through yet more of Zennor's internal monologue, and I began to feel seriously patronized at this point.
The prose is competent and there is a lot of laboriously demonstrated research on show but details, particularly in the dialogue, fail to convince. For example the Master of an Oxford College in 1940 denies responsibility for something with the phrase "It's not down to me," and a hard-bitten Irish American cop who has just informed Zennor that he "don't like limeys," actually says, "Forgive my little impromptu examination just then." This sort of thing crops up frequently enough to ruin any sense of character which has been developed.
I am sorry to be so critical, but I really found this book a struggle and, in the end, a chore. I will be sticking to Mr Freedland's journalism from now on.
Set in 1940 the main protagonist is James Zennor, an Oxford don wounded in the Spanish Civil War, physically and mentally scarred and unable to join up and fight the Nazis. His wife and son vanish and he eventually traces and follows them to Yale in the USA where he realises that Something Suspicious Is Going On and that He Does Not Know Whom He Can Trust. This, basically, is the plot of the first 300 (yes 300) pages of the book. There is a great deal of scene-setting in flashback, details of the Spanish Civil War, stuff about the contrast between life in Britain in 1940 and that in the USA and, frankly, a huge amount of superfluous verbiage. There are endless paragraphs where Zennor repeats to himself what we already know and speculates about perhaps this or maybe that and it all adds up to very little. It is phenomenally slow and even the bits where something actually happens didn't really grip me. I found that there were several "oh, please" moments and the "revelations" were largely visible from a long way off. When the Dastardly Plot is finally revealed it is self-evidently repugnant, but we still have to have its repugnance explained to us through yet more of Zennor's internal monologue, and I began to feel seriously patronized at this point.
The prose is competent and there is a lot of laboriously demonstrated research on show but details, particularly in the dialogue, fail to convince. For example the Master of an Oxford College in 1940 denies responsibility for something with the phrase "It's not down to me," and a hard-bitten Irish American cop who has just informed Zennor that he "don't like limeys," actually says, "Forgive my little impromptu examination just then." This sort of thing crops up frequently enough to ruin any sense of character which has been developed.
I am sorry to be so critical, but I really found this book a struggle and, in the end, a chore. I will be sticking to Mr Freedland's journalism from now on.
August 21, 2013
This book started off promisingly, but quickly unravelled into a messy, disjointed thriller. The plot was either predictable or wildly implausible, with clunky twists and rushed setting. The main character lacked any qualities that made you sympathise with them or take an interest in their welfare. The attempts to bring credence to the plot are attempted through reference to real life events or publications, but these merely act to make the story even more unlikely and lack coherence. One of the poorest novels I have read for some time and a big disappointment.
May 29, 2015
Boring!!!! The book blurb flatters to deceive!! Less "Pantheon" more like "Wendy House". The narrator Julian Rhind-Tutt did his best to invest some energy into the story but this was a difficult task with such very dull material. Definitely will not be recommending this book.
May 15, 2024
This is kind of solid inbetween 3 and 4 stars, but I'm rounding up because I was really invested.
I'm not a huge fan of James Zennor most of the time, but I understand that a lot of that dislike stems from his inability to really take responsibility for some of his actions, until he's absolutely forced to. And also to carry the story along.
I'm alternating between wanting him to find his wife, and her staying away, but I really wanted to find out why she left.
According to the author this is sort of based on true events, and I can't help but find it fascinating, even though a lot of it is quite appalling (the eugenics plot). It's sad in a way that people still today - some 70 years later - think it's ok to meddle with the life of others.
I'm not a huge fan of James Zennor most of the time, but I understand that a lot of that dislike stems from his inability to really take responsibility for some of his actions, until he's absolutely forced to. And also to carry the story along.
I'm alternating between wanting him to find his wife, and her staying away, but I really wanted to find out why she left.
According to the author this is sort of based on true events, and I can't help but find it fascinating, even though a lot of it is quite appalling (the eugenics plot). It's sad in a way that people still today - some 70 years later - think it's ok to meddle with the life of others.
December 27, 2013
I was really disappointed.I liked his books that I've read before but this one was not to my liking.And how can someone like a book tha has a (main) character that is infuriating,annoying and makes the reader-me- wish him dead from the second chapter?The hero was a bully,not-considering,selfish and pompous.I hope the next book has more likable heroes and characters.
September 16, 2013
I do read thrillers and mysteries although not as often as some other genres and Sam Bourne is not a thriller writer that I have read before. This was chosen recently for a book club reading group that I am a member of, otherwise I doubt it was a title I would have selected myself. Whilst it was a reasonable read it was not gripping or exciting enough to have me rushing to read more of this author's work.
Set in the early stages of WWII with plenty of historical detail and well portrayed characters that feel believable, it was the plot itself that I found weak at times. Especially once the action moved across the Atlantic, however it did improve somewhat although it raced rather towards its unsurprising ending. The protagonist James is a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and it is due to his combat trauma that he is not away fighting in 1940 but still immersed in academia at Oxford. When his wife and young son disappear it is only natural that he should follow the clues that his wife Florence seems to have purposely left behind for him and set off to find them. What he discovers during the course of his search is disturbing and will give you plenty to think about as some very unpalatable ideas are uncovered with reference to eugenics. James is of course desperate to find Florence and young Harry but suddenly there is so much more at stake , the future of the United Kingdom.
For fans of the genre I am suggesting personally that Pantheon is nothing more than an average read, certainly not one to get excited about. If you do decide to read the novel do make sure that you read the Author's Note afterwards. As it explains how that although James, Florence and Harry are fictional characters that their story is rooted in the most extraordinary facts.
http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspo...
Set in the early stages of WWII with plenty of historical detail and well portrayed characters that feel believable, it was the plot itself that I found weak at times. Especially once the action moved across the Atlantic, however it did improve somewhat although it raced rather towards its unsurprising ending. The protagonist James is a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and it is due to his combat trauma that he is not away fighting in 1940 but still immersed in academia at Oxford. When his wife and young son disappear it is only natural that he should follow the clues that his wife Florence seems to have purposely left behind for him and set off to find them. What he discovers during the course of his search is disturbing and will give you plenty to think about as some very unpalatable ideas are uncovered with reference to eugenics. James is of course desperate to find Florence and young Harry but suddenly there is so much more at stake , the future of the United Kingdom.
For fans of the genre I am suggesting personally that Pantheon is nothing more than an average read, certainly not one to get excited about. If you do decide to read the novel do make sure that you read the Author's Note afterwards. As it explains how that although James, Florence and Harry are fictional characters that their story is rooted in the most extraordinary facts.
http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspo...
June 17, 2012
Bourne's latest book takes the reader into the past, as ther Second World War rages on in Europe and America oscilates about joining or sticking on the sidelines. Women and children from Oxford University go missing; a trail leading to homes on the campus of the illustrious Yale University. What seems like a simple outreaching of compassion to help the women and children ends up being something a great deal more sinister, something that could turn the War on its head.
The book examines some interesting ideas, as all of Bourne's books are bound to do, and leaves the reader wondering if there is any fact to what they read, as well as what might have happened if the true is being revealed in the pages of this well-written book. Bourne takes the reader not only on a journey into the unknown, but also posits many possibilities along the way that leaves one stopping between chapters to wonder. Should much of what Bourne presents be true, or at least one option revealed with fact, I would probably not be sitting here today reviewing this or any other books.
A superb piece of fiction (or is it reality?) by Bourne can only be met with many strong kudos!
The book examines some interesting ideas, as all of Bourne's books are bound to do, and leaves the reader wondering if there is any fact to what they read, as well as what might have happened if the true is being revealed in the pages of this well-written book. Bourne takes the reader not only on a journey into the unknown, but also posits many possibilities along the way that leaves one stopping between chapters to wonder. Should much of what Bourne presents be true, or at least one option revealed with fact, I would probably not be sitting here today reviewing this or any other books.
A superb piece of fiction (or is it reality?) by Bourne can only be met with many strong kudos!
August 24, 2012
It took a long long time to get going and when it did, it wasn't that great. I couldn't quite believe that Zennor's family would leave like that.
May 5, 2014
I struggled through this book and found it pointless.
January 28, 2018
A fascinating book, centred on the little-remembered worldwide intellectual climate just prior to the Second World War, in which the pseudo-scientific philosophy of 'eugenics' featured prominently. This philosophy held that it was the responsibility of educated people and those in government to improve the racial stock of their people—striving to maximise the best and strongest through selective breeding: just as is done in agriculture and animal husbandry. Producing 'supermen' this way—gods in human form, hence the book's title—was not a joke or an abomination: it was a serious and worthwhile goal.
The shock to the modern reader is that this philosophy was NOT an aberration of the Nazis: it was shared by intellectuals of ALL persuasions, from extreme left to extreme right. It was the way the Nazis implemented it that the more liberally-inclined rejected.
In the Author's Note at the end Bourne (or Jonathan Freedland, journalist and broadcaster) shows that most of the background and even some of the actual events in the story are drawn from real life—including the evacuation of the 100 "Oxford children" to Yale in the States early in the war. This was intended to preserve the best blood stock—children of the best and most intelligent people in Britain—in case the country fell to the Nazis! And there were serious debates on both sides of the Atlantic about how to prevent the worst and least intelligent from procreating. The US government actually did implement a sterilisation programme of criminals and the mentally defective.
It's against this background that the story takes place. It's well-told, leading to an exciting and satisfying climax. Only loses half a star for a slight degree of repetition during Zennor's search for his family.
The shock to the modern reader is that this philosophy was NOT an aberration of the Nazis: it was shared by intellectuals of ALL persuasions, from extreme left to extreme right. It was the way the Nazis implemented it that the more liberally-inclined rejected.
In the Author's Note at the end Bourne (or Jonathan Freedland, journalist and broadcaster) shows that most of the background and even some of the actual events in the story are drawn from real life—including the evacuation of the 100 "Oxford children" to Yale in the States early in the war. This was intended to preserve the best blood stock—children of the best and most intelligent people in Britain—in case the country fell to the Nazis! And there were serious debates on both sides of the Atlantic about how to prevent the worst and least intelligent from procreating. The US government actually did implement a sterilisation programme of criminals and the mentally defective.
It's against this background that the story takes place. It's well-told, leading to an exciting and satisfying climax. Only loses half a star for a slight degree of repetition during Zennor's search for his family.
November 10, 2022
Not the best of Sam Bourne. Although is based on a certain amount of fact, the early pace of the novel is somewhat pedestrian and repetitive. It’s fair to say that the ending is both fascinating and exciting but I saw most of it coming. The fascist group which inhabited the Russian Tea Rooms in Kensington was something with which I am familiar as I am with the pro Nazi spy in the American embassy. Having said that, this particular aspect of the tale was very well handled. Even today such people still exist in high places, many of them in the current UK government.
The great bonus of Pantheon is the central character James, a real enigma who has to tackle his own demons as well as the attempt to take his family away from him.
Judging this against Sam Bourne’s previous thrillers, it does suffer a little in comparison but I did enjoy it and look forward to reading both his and his alter ego’s Jonathan Freedland’s works in the future.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen, Two Families at War and The Summer of ‘39, all published by Sacristy Press.
The great bonus of Pantheon is the central character James, a real enigma who has to tackle his own demons as well as the attempt to take his family away from him.
Judging this against Sam Bourne’s previous thrillers, it does suffer a little in comparison but I did enjoy it and look forward to reading both his and his alter ego’s Jonathan Freedland’s works in the future.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen, Two Families at War and The Summer of ‘39, all published by Sacristy Press.
July 28, 2020
I was looking forward to reading this, having read his other novels, but like several other reviewers I was disappointed. It takes a long while to get going, then plods along through a not very convincing story, albeit that the author tells us afterwards there is a lot of factual basis. What is missing is real storytelling, making the reader care about the “hero”. The main storyline is in itself weak, but the side storyline in London is simply dreadful, made up of totally wooden characters spouting cliches. If I did not already have his next two books he would be going on my “ignore” list. I just hope they will be returns to form. I know he says in the acknowledgements that this was finished in 2011 - but it reads to me more like an early attempt at a novel, put out to “cash in”.
December 15, 2020
This is not a good book. It's not the worst of 2020 but it's pretty close to it. It's based around the little known tory of 100+ children who with a parent were sent to Yale University campus for "safe-keeping" in 1940. The author invents sinister motives behind this act and creates am interesting plot. But the whole thing is desperately overwritten. We get far too many plot summaries and the writing plods along. Some of his vocabulary is extraordinary - we hear of the "dastardly" deeds of the villain. And some of the historic detail is askew - sending letters by first class post in 1940 when the service wasn't introduced until 1968. My advice is give it a wide berth.
September 25, 2021
A strange book. Our main character, James, has chronic anger management issues, an injured shoulder from his involvement in the Spanish civil war (and probably because of the giant sized chip on it).
His wife takes their child to the US, and James first instinct is to rush after them to bring them back home, whether his wife wants to come home or not.
The story is then mixed up the differences between UK and US life, eugenics, Nazis, and spies in the US embassy in London.
Lots of all too loose ends...
His wife takes their child to the US, and James first instinct is to rush after them to bring them back home, whether his wife wants to come home or not.
The story is then mixed up the differences between UK and US life, eugenics, Nazis, and spies in the US embassy in London.
Lots of all too loose ends...
May 1, 2021
Having loved some of Sam Bourne's previous books, 'Pantheon' was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't bad but not the usual fast pace that Ihave come to expect from him.I found it difficult to connect with the main character James Zennor after he was injured during the Spanish civil war, up to then I was sympathetic to the character, but after that James the character became a little disconnected with realty in loosing his self control. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the book, but not Sam's best.
November 19, 2024
An interesting book and I found the extreme behaviours of James in real but it was clearly borne from extreme trauma but his efforts were super human!! And also the changes of behaviour mooted in the final chapter are not possible without long time therapy.
But a good book about what is possible and extreme
😊😊
But a good book about what is possible and extreme
😊😊
April 12, 2020
A clearly well researched and plotted novel. It’s a well paced story that lays a few false leads along the way. The ending ultimately is a bit of a let down but the characters on the way are solid and pull the story along
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 9, 2020
The book started at an unbelievable high and one could almost feel for the protagonist. The story was galloping till it simply fell apart. (No thanks to Mr. Darwin) and then the author just mechanically tied up the threads to ensure it all ended amicably enough.
What a waste of a super plot.
What a waste of a super plot.
July 2, 2023
I enjoyed the book a lot. I made the mistake of reading some reviews before I started reading this book and think they were quite wrong. The author has written an engaging enjoyable story weaving in fact and eugenics to result in a good read.
July 28, 2025
I feel that if the writer's notes had been the preface, the whole story would have been more credible. I was not keen on the one true love theme and the happy ever after ending. That said, the overall subject matter was very interesting and worth further study
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2018
I do enjoy these types of books, little bit of truth mixed in with fiction makes for interesting reading.
September 4, 2019
Anticlimactic.
October 18, 2019
Slow to start with but interesting story based loosely on a real event. Not an easy read due to authors writing style, however a very enjoyable read.
August 8, 2020
Not his best but still superior to many in the genre.
October 15, 2020
Not up to Sam Bourne's usual standard. Annoying characters . This book was so boring !
November 3, 2020
Thanks4that Sam. Please write more stuff.
March 30, 2021
Enthralling
Could not put this book down . The mixture of fact and fiction was brilliant , I will definitely read some more books by this authour
Could not put this book down . The mixture of fact and fiction was brilliant , I will definitely read some more books by this authour
May 7, 2021
Przez pierwszą połowę książki ledwo przebrnęłam, jednak potem zaczyna się rozkręcać i moim zdaniem była to naprawdę ciekawa książka.
July 14, 2021
3.5. A narrativa por vezes é muito enrolada e cansativa, mas o plot é bem interessante. O final deixa bastante a desejar.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews