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The Cain Conspiracy
Paperback
509 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
8 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Johannes Mario Simmel
133 books88 followersJohannes Mario Simmel was an Austrian writer.
He was born in Vienna and grew up in Austria and England. He was trained as a chemical engineer and worked in research from 1943 to the end of World War II. After the end of the war, he worked as a translator for the American military government and published reviews and stories in the Vienna Welt am Abend. Starting in 1950, he worked as a reporter for the Munich illustrated Quick in Europe and America.
He wrote a number of screenplays and novels, which have sold tens of millions of copies. Many of his novels were successfully filmed in the 1960s and 1970s. He won numerous prizes, including the Award of Excellence of the Society of Writers of the UN. Important issues in his novels are a fervent pacifism as well as the relativity of good and bad. Several novels are said to have a true background, possibly autobiographic.
According to his Swiss lawyer, Simmel died on January 1, 2009 in Lucerne, at 84 years of age.
He was born in Vienna and grew up in Austria and England. He was trained as a chemical engineer and worked in research from 1943 to the end of World War II. After the end of the war, he worked as a translator for the American military government and published reviews and stories in the Vienna Welt am Abend. Starting in 1950, he worked as a reporter for the Munich illustrated Quick in Europe and America.
He wrote a number of screenplays and novels, which have sold tens of millions of copies. Many of his novels were successfully filmed in the 1960s and 1970s. He won numerous prizes, including the Award of Excellence of the Society of Writers of the UN. Important issues in his novels are a fervent pacifism as well as the relativity of good and bad. Several novels are said to have a true background, possibly autobiographic.
According to his Swiss lawyer, Simmel died on January 1, 2009 in Lucerne, at 84 years of age.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 21, 2024
Simmel was a German author who wrote this book in 1967. It's as complicated as a spy thriller but is about an ordinary citizen who gets involved in serious machinations by a network of former (future?) Nazis which happens to include his brother.
The novel opens near the ending, with a scene between a hired assassin and the man who hires him to kill our hero. Events follow along in roughly chronological order from there, as we struggle to figure out how all this is going to make sense. Then, the story doubles back to its beginning, with lots of flashbacks and the occasional drop-in to the present time, enough to make me think it's a modern-day TV show template.
I'd never read anything set in Germany a mere 22 years after the War ended which tackles the legacy of and the fear of a return of Naziism. There are characters who spent WWII working with Nazis, and some who did not (including our narrator.) Simmel shows a wide range of reactions to what had happened and what seemed to be happening politically at the time of the novel. There are also reactions to the Vietnam War and the 6-Day War in the Mideast that are interesting to observe.
Did I mention our hero is co-owner of a live sex-show night club? Motivations of male characters are generally easier to understand than those of females, though the main stripper / sex performer is drawn relatively deeply and plays a bigger role than you'd expect until it happens.
Things keep happening and changing and making me want to know what's next, so that made for a fun read.
The novel opens near the ending, with a scene between a hired assassin and the man who hires him to kill our hero. Events follow along in roughly chronological order from there, as we struggle to figure out how all this is going to make sense. Then, the story doubles back to its beginning, with lots of flashbacks and the occasional drop-in to the present time, enough to make me think it's a modern-day TV show template.
I'd never read anything set in Germany a mere 22 years after the War ended which tackles the legacy of and the fear of a return of Naziism. There are characters who spent WWII working with Nazis, and some who did not (including our narrator.) Simmel shows a wide range of reactions to what had happened and what seemed to be happening politically at the time of the novel. There are also reactions to the Vietnam War and the 6-Day War in the Mideast that are interesting to observe.
Did I mention our hero is co-owner of a live sex-show night club? Motivations of male characters are generally easier to understand than those of females, though the main stripper / sex performer is drawn relatively deeply and plays a bigger role than you'd expect until it happens.
Things keep happening and changing and making me want to know what's next, so that made for a fun read.
January 20, 2025
Una novela con personajes imperfectos en medio de una conspiración para ocultar criminales de la 2da guerra mundial, mientras el drama y fatal resolución del triángulo amoroso que se ve envuelto en todo el conflicto, hace que la novela sea digna de ir a la pantalla grande.
La resolución muy realista hace que esta novela se siente más apegada a la realidad que vivimos, las luchas de poder, incluso en miembros familiares, parecen ser universal y lo peor, siguen vigentes.
La resolución muy realista hace que esta novela se siente más apegada a la realidad que vivimos, las luchas de poder, incluso en miembros familiares, parecen ser universal y lo peor, siguen vigentes.
May 16, 2020
Dost zajímavá kniha.
Hůř jsem se orientovala v časových skocích a osobách (moje paměť na jména je trochu omezená).
Asi nejvíc mě fascinovala část s válečnými zločiny, to bylo velmi sugestivně podané a patřičně děsivé. Pak se to zase rozvolnilo a zase zašmodrchalo... autor si s námi hraje pěkně, ale víc se mi líbila Láska je jen slovo.
Hůř jsem se orientovala v časových skocích a osobách (moje paměť na jména je trochu omezená).
Asi nejvíc mě fascinovala část s válečnými zločiny, to bylo velmi sugestivně podané a patřičně děsivé. Pak se to zase rozvolnilo a zase zašmodrchalo... autor si s námi hraje pěkně, ale víc se mi líbila Láska je jen slovo.
September 12, 2015
Ik vond het wat lastig door te komen. De beginscene is zeer intrigerend en wekt de nieuwsgierigheid op, maar wordt vervolgens niet uitgelegd of verklaard, waardoor het geheel erg verwarrend en onsamenhangend wordt. Na circa 100 bladzijden had ik nog geen idee waar het verhaal heen ging.
March 30, 2012
easy reading but not as good as es muss nicht immer cavier sein or niemand ist ein insel
July 22, 2020
700 pages of continuous suspense! A very clever, intriguing plot with almost endless twists. I highly recommend this book!
January 16, 2022
Mais uma vez Simmel conseguiu oferecer uma obra de arte unica que se demonstrou um masterpiece do começo ao fim afinal a maneira como o autor a escreveu foi muito interessante,a historia em si foi Bem marcante e reflexiva,a trama dos personagens foi realista e unica do começo o fim,a escrita do autor tambem foi um ponto forte afinal o livro faz com que voce fique imerso na narrativa do começo ao fim...
Esse não foi o meu livro favorito do autor porem eu tenho que admitir que fez por mereçer com relação a nota e todos que curtem suspense deveriam consumir tal maravilha
Nota:10/10
Esse não foi o meu livro favorito do autor porem eu tenho que admitir que fez por mereçer com relação a nota e todos que curtem suspense deveriam consumir tal maravilha
Nota:10/10
April 14, 2023
Langatmig
April 10, 2016
To bolo tak straaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaašne dávno. Predchodca dnešných best-sellerov so všetkým čo majú mať: láska, slzy, dojatie (sex bol pridaný až neskôr). Simmelove dojáky sú ako popové slaďáky, patrili k deväťdesiatkam minulého storočia.
May 2, 2013
Gut gut und gut
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews