Budspy

by David Dvorkin

Three hundred million strong, the Third Reich dominates the world. With its booming industry, its advanced science and technology, its fearsome war machine, and its colonies on the moon, the Reich is envied and feared by the rest of the world and invites imitation. Matters almost didn’t turn out this way. During World War II, German troops only narrowly averted disaster at Stalingrad. But after the Führer’s death on the Russian front and the subsequent accession to power of more reasonable men, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to a peace treaty that left Germany in control of Continental Europe and free to prosecute the war against the greater threat of Bolshevism. Now, decades later, America tries to convince itself that it is still the world’s greatest power, even while its government and society, increasingly influenced by the Reich, devolve into something that would have horrified the Founding Fathers. America made its deal with the Devil in 1943, and now it is paying the price. Chic Western works as a government spy within U.S. federal agencies. He is adept at assuming new identities and earning the trust of fellow employees so that he can uncover wrongdoing. He tries not to think about the results of his work. Punishment is swift and harsh in this America. When anti-German subversion is detected in the American embassy in Berlin, Chic is posted to the mighty heart of the Reich to uncover it. He is finally forced to confront the conflict between his conscience, his Jewish ancestry, and the reality that hides behind evil’s seductive face. “An involving anti-utopian thriller.” -- Booklist “A ‘what if’ that works. Budspy is smart, fast, and mean.” -- Kirkus “One of the best explorations of a Nazi victor state that we have. The work of a writer of mature insight, moral subtlety, and no little sheer writing craft. Budspy is superior to just about everything short of The Man in the High Castle.” -- Norman Spinrad, Asimov’s Magazine “A well-told tale of crime and conscience.” -- Indianapolis News “Well-told adventure. There is a degree of subtlety and insight working in this novel that one encounters rarely.” -- SF Chronicle

Genres: Alternate History

Paperback

First published October 1, 1987

Reviews

[Cerisaye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise, another alternate history version of the Second World War but, so far, and more than halfway into the novel, despite believable world-building the book simply isn't in the same league as Robert Harris' Fatherland, Len Deighton's SS-GB, or Ian MacLeod's The Summer Isles). The writing style is adequate for a thriller, characterisation secondary to plot and there's detail enough to satisfy curiosity about an '80s world in which Germany and the Allies agreed terms in 1943, freeing the Germans for the fight against Commumism. Germany is now the super-power the US has been in our reality, with America a repressive but failing state. Chic Western (LOL) is a super-spy sent into businesses and government departments to weed out corruption and wrong-doing, now in the field in undivided Berlin, his mission to hunt down the mole in the US embassy leaking information to the Soviets. Problem is the terribly dated sex-stuff and relationships Chic has with women: our 'Budspy' hero is exhausted and distracted by sexual shenanigans like Carry On Weimar!. Will keep reading and report back.

I was considering awarding this novel three stars on the basis of its believable alternative history world building, and then I read the ending. Oh boy... ridiculous and silly. Totally undoes the good work of creating a realistic What if Germany had not lost the Second World War? scenario. An okay read if you don't expect too much and have a high tolerance for sleazy sex that's all about the male gaze. I suppose the title 'Budspy' should have been a clue the novel wasn't going to rival Man in a High Castle.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Chameleon" is the word that best describes Chic Western, an operative or "budman" for an elite U.S. internal security organization known as the Ombudsman Commission. Fresh from his most recent assignment, Western is sent undercover to Germany to ferret out a staffer in the U.S. Embassy who is leaking secrets to the dying insurgency in the remnants of the Soviet Union. There he experiences the wonders of a dynamic Third Reich forty years after the Second World War, a land of vibrant people and great material comfort. Yet as Western explores further, he begins to encounter the dark side of this supposedly perfect world, leading him to consider disturbing questions that ultimately lead him to a determined conclusion.

David Dvorkin's novel offers an intriguing portrait of an alternate Third Reich. Positing a successful plot to eliminate Adolf Hitler in 1942, he goes on to depict an empire of success and progress, one in which the guilt over the Holocaust is assuaged by the creation of a Jewish state. Equally interesting is the comparisons his character continually makes of a grim, repressive America, where a police state keeps a tight lid on racial tensions. Yet the novel is marred by a rather clumsy plot. For a supposedly elite agent, his central character seems anything but, being all too causal with his cover identity and ignoring some obvious clues from the start. It is as if all Dvorkin's energy went into developing his premise and settings, with the actual story itself developed as an afterthought. This mars what is otherwise an enjoyable presentation of an alternate world that avoids the typical dystopian stereotypes in favor of a more subtle depiction of evil.

[Danny · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit dated obviously but still interesting. felt a bit unpolished. a quick read.