The Road to Ithaca

Captain Martin Bora #5

by Ben Pastor

In May 1941, Abwehr officer Bora is sent to Crete, recently occupied by the Wehrmacht, and must investigate the brutal murder of a Red Cross representative befriended by SS-Chief Himmler. All the clues lead to a platoon of trigger-happy German paratroopers, but is this the truth?

Bora takes to the mountains of Crete to solve the case, navigating his way between local bandits and foreign resistance fighters. With echoes of Claus von Stauffenberg, Bora is torn between his duty as an officer and his integrity as a human being.


"THE ROAD TO ITHACA" is the fifth novel in the Martin Bora WWII mystery series.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, World War II, Detective, Novels, Italian Literature

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 23, 2014

About the author

Ben (Maria Verbena Volpi) Pastor was born in Rome, but her career as a college teacher and writer requires that she divide her time between the United States and Italy, where she is now doing research. Author of the internationally acclaimed Martin Bora war mysteries, she begins with Aelius Spartianus a new series of thrilling tales. In addition to the United States, her novels are published in Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic. She writes in English.

Reviews

[Linda Morelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

In early June 1941, Martin Bora, a captain in the German Abwehr (Intelligence), is sent to Crete to pick up cases of wine for the German embassy in Moscow, but as soon as he lands, he is ordered to investigate the brutal shooting death of a Swiss national that may have been committed by German paratroopers. This story is less about a straight forward police procedural than describing the atmosphere in Crete recently conquered by the Germans. As Bora searches for the truth behind the shooting, we find ourselves drawn into the multifaceted Cretan political landscape of German conquerors, neutral expats, local Greek constabulary, resistance fighters and fugitive Spanish rebels. As with the previous novels, a complex, nuanced picture of occupied Crete emerges as Bora travels to the interior of the island in search of a key witness to the shooting. Along the lines of other authors such as Phillip Kerr and Alan Furst, the tone is one of ambiguity and individual conflicts...

What I enjoyed was Bora’s soul searching as he seeks his witness. He is conflicted, caught between the two worlds of his strict Prussian background (integrity) and his obligations as an officer in the Wehrmacht (duty). Pastor draws explicit parallels between Bora’s journey into the heart of Crete and Odysseus’s Odyssey. The author alternates between Bora’s personal entries into his diary (first person) and the main narrative (third person), which adds to the personal dilemmas faced by Bora. As I moved deeper into the narrative, I forgot at times that this was a mystery.

For full review by Richard Morelli, please visit: http://myshelf.com/mystery/16/roadtoi...

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual in this outstanding series, it´s about so much more than a mystery. War,ethics, dilemmas,politics, and one of the best main characters around. It does drag a bit in the middle,and not even the symbolic meaning of "the quest" helps, but it´s still a solid 9/10.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bora has come to Crete. He is supposed to bring back cases of certain vintages of wine to a Russian bigwig in Moscow but his trip turns into more than that. A high-level Red Cross official, along with his whole household is murdered. A group of German paratroopers has been accused of the crimes. Tasked with finding the truth of the matter, Bora goes into mountainous country to speak to a Major Powell. This might help help him find the culprit[s]. Are the Germans guilty? Many details of Cretan life at that period [1941] are given. The descriptions are especially vivid and we get more of a sense of Bora's character through actions surrounding the mystery and also in his dealing with a boyhood friend[?] who leads the German unit in question. There is no love lost between the two. Not only does Bora live on Ithaca Street, but there are many references to Ulysses and his odyssey throughout the book.

Highly recommended.

[Chequers · Rating 3 out of 5]

La scrittura e' sempre super fluida ed il mio amato Bora sempre interessante (qui particolarmente introspettivo), ma lo scenario dell'occupazione tedesca di Creta non mi ha entusiasmato piu' di tanto, anche se raccontato dettagliatamente dalla Pastor. Da lei mi aspetto di molto meglio.

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Ben Pastor's Bora. He is a contemplative soldier who leads us thoughtfully through the bad times. Here he is having to investigate what may well be a war crime on Crete; a Swiss national and members of his household may well have been murdered by German paratroops... embarrassing to say the least. He only went there to pick up some wine!
The story opens up Crete before us and I spent many happy hours trampling through undergrowth and up mountain sides in his company. A very good friend of mine died on Crete. He went out for a short walk and died of thrombosis whilst leaning against a wall. I, myself, have always had a fascination for the island, ever since reading "The Bull of Minos' in my youth. A trip I had planned to visit the site where my friend died and to see Crete in all its historical wonder, had to be cancelled due to an illness... and now Covid rules the world...
This book resonated with my innermost feelings...
I loved it.

[Liz V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A librarian who knows I belong to the WWII group and enjoy mysteries and Greece picked this book by a new-to-me author. It is the 10th in the series, which detracted some from my enjoyment as the story is complex enough in itself without wondering about any backstory.

Martin Bora is sent from his German embassy job in Moscow on the demeaning task of getting Cretan wine for Beria. Once in Crete, Bora is assigned to investigate a war crime reputedly committed by German paratroopers in murdering a Swiss International Red Cross representative and his household just days into the German invasion of Crete.

The story is an excellent reminder that WWII was not a three party fight--Axis, USSR and Allies. (In the storyline, the German invasion of the USSR is but weeks away.) The cast includes Greeks, Germans, Brits, Spaniards, Swiss, Turks, Americans and others of indeterminate nationality--all across a spectrum of political persuasions as fluid as world events. The politics lend themselves to a mystery with innumerable twists and turns but also demand some knowledge of the era in order to follow the threads.

Nits:
* p. 99 ¶ 2 line 3: delete redundant "be"
* p. 106 ¶ 4 line 1: delete "was".
* p. 194 ¶ 8 line 3: "drive-by shooting" seems to have been used in the early 20th century but the term didn't come into use until much later than the 1941 storyline.
* p. 286 line 5: OSS not yet created in 1941.

[Cristina - Athenae Noctua · Rating 3 out of 5]

La strada per Itaca è un buon romanzo, con un intreccio ben costruito, anche se non sempre facile da svolgere a causa dei numerosi personaggi che costruiscono una rete di riferimenti non sempre facile da dipanare in un insieme in cui si incrociano il microcosmo degli avvenimenti e degli attori delle vicende a Creta e gli eventi di portata mondiale. Il tutto si complica quando emergono lo spionaggio e le false identità, cosicché molto spesso si è reso necessario tornare indietro di qualche pagina per riallacciare le relazioni dei personaggi. La lettura, ad ogni modo, è piacevole e il taglio storico del giallo, che proprio nell'evocare vicende tristemente note a tutti suggerisce piste e porta fuori strada il nostro spirito investigativo, conferisce originalità e spessore alla trama.
http://athenaenoctua2013.blogspot.it/...

[Atlantean BCT · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did the others in the series that I have read. The plot dragged when the main character was roaming the Cretian countryside. I think this was supposed to evoke the Odyssey of Ulysses, but as I am unfamiliar with the story, the parallels were lost on me. Nevertheless, I will read another in the series.

[Cerisaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder what the hell it was that we learnt in Spain. Surely we didn’t learn humility, something a man if not a soldier should become familiar with. If anything, we came away from it believing ourselves invincible. We’ll see. It’s something I still want to believe, although travelling in and out of Russia I’m all too aware of the size of the mouthful we’re about to take. Will our jaws stand up to our appetite? England has ruled wide portions of the world, including India. Can’t Germany rule the vastness of Russian Eurasia? In Spain we’d just got our nose bloodied, skinned our knees and elbows. We were a frustrated, mutilated country coming back from the dead after Versailles. Preger, with his fallen brother and social expectations, was a substantial part of it. I was a part of the Reich that lost the Great War and was unbearably oppressed by the Allies. Together, he and I formed a whole. Now we’re coming apart, we don’t see eye to eye, we discern darkly, in a dark mirror, a different Germany from each other’s.


Frustrating though it is to be forced to read the Martin Bora books out of order due to the vagaries of English translation publication, I now realise it doesn't really matter because Pastor plays with the timeline within the narrative anyway, giving hints and actual exposition of past and present events and experiences that, together, shape her fascinating main character. This means you can pick up any of the novels to begin your journey in the company of the German cavalry officer Martin Bora, Prussian military tradition personified to the verge of caricature if not for his relentless soul-searching through diary entries and reminiscences​ placed carefully into complicated military mystery plots involving different theatres of operations, Poland, Italy, Russia, Crete, at various points during the Second World War.

I confess this book confused me, yet I kept going, drawn, as always, by my love and concern for Bora, eagerly settling on the parts of the story most to do with illuminating his past, what made him who he is: upright, moral, conflicted, repressed, emotionally distant, self-reflective, austere, strong, courageous, self-contained, an eager and willing soldier for the Fatherland but not an unquestioning one, not blind to the darker aspects of Hitler's Reich, or human weakness in general.

“You don’t look like you know what freedom is. You’re all spick and span and ramrod, conversing in your first-rate English as you converse in your first-rate German. Don’t you think war will end up ruffling you?”

The writing is historical fiction at its best, complicated, beautifully descriptive, demanding. Nothing is simple, ambiguity and deception everywhere, as Bora, initially on a mission from Moscow to buy wine in Crete, is drawn into an investigation of the killing of several civilians in a house on the island at the time it fell to the Germans. Suspicion falls upon a group of German paratroopers led by a man with whom Bora has a past, boyhood friends from opposite sides of the social divide. He must find out what happened, helped by a canny local police officer, sending him into the hilly countryside where many dangers lurk for a representative of an occupying army. All the while Bora is champing at the bit, to get back to Moscow and preparations for the imminent Operation Barbarossa.

Reading the novel I was reminded of Dorothy Dunnett's Nicolo books, a high compliment, complicated, sometimes dubious characters placed into difficult circumstances, observed like specimens in a petri-dish, for the purpose of exploring human nature, good, bad and indifferent...or all of the above.

Crete provoked recollection. Like a memory machine, its antiquity and starkness dredged up images and feelings from the past, pieces that belonged to him and had been dismissed, or so he thought.

Poor Martin Bora. So confident, so eager for military adventure. An honourable man serving a morally reprehensible regime. Like Ulysses he is on a journey with no end in sight, a plaything of Gods who like to amuse themselves, and have no mercy, no limits. Loyalties, motivations, sympathies, duty, and fate, all tossed into play. Crete makes a fascinating backdrop for a book that requires the reader's engagement for its character study of a particular kind of German officer and his fate.

Years later, when asked about the episode, Kostaridis would observe that his first impression of Bora had been of someone still intact. As if nothing had yet touched him, and his life had unfolded within a circle of physical and psychological safety. It surprised him to hear that the German already had two military campaigns behind him. Good for him, he recalled thinking without envy. There are some who go through life unscathed. But the disenchanted earthiness of his culture suggested that – in a war that would last until the adversaries wore one another out – sooner or later the bill would be presented to Martin Bora.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Road to Ithaca is the fifth of the Martin Bora series to be translated into English (and tenth in full series published in Italian). The five are all set during World War Two, but are not told sequentially. In this outing, it is May 1941 and Bora is asked to examine a possible war crime in Crete just after its invasion. He has some knowledge of the island, having vacationed there as a child, and is familiar with Greek mythology and stories, such as Ulysses. Indeed, Ulysses permeates the book in two sense: first, he is carrying a copy of the book by James Joyce; second, he keeps recalling bits of the ancient tale as he wanders on his quest and braves various challenges. My sense was that my enjoyment of the tale would have been heightened if I’d been familiar with both stories. As it was, the story has much to like, including the stoic anti-Nazi, but by-the-book military man, Martin Bora, the detailed and somewhat convoluted plot, and the historical and geographical contextualisation with respect to Crete post-invasion, it’s longer history and archaeology, and its mythology. In the background are themes of class, politics, history and culture. The narrative is rather dense, with lots of detail, and is partially told through Bora’s diary entries. The result is a clever, multi-layered story that is as much an in-depth study of Bora as it is about solving a mass murder and wider geopolitical events.

[Jessica Bronder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Martin Bora is in the Germany army during World War II. He is a strong soldier with loyalty to his country. But he is also not blind and sees what Hitler is doing and realizes that he is not on the winning side of this war. Bora is sent to Crete to buy wine for Moscow when he is to investigate the shooting of a Red Cross representative that may have been committed by German paratroopers. Although Bora is nipping at the bit to get back to Moscow for Operation Barbarossa.

Bora might want to get this unwanted task over and done with quickly, but he is drawn into the investigation just like the reader. We bounce between Bora’s journal and a third person narrative to explain both how Bora is a dedicated soldier yet doesn’t blindly follow his leaders. He also doesn’t want to be in newly over run Crete that is filled with political tension. But when he starts digging into the murder, so many more things come to light.

This is a great story that compares to the Odyssey with the different locations and events that Bora goes through. Although some parts did get rather heavy with the Odyssey and drew a touch too far away from the heart of the story. Besides that, I did enjoy this story and am very curious at reading the other Captain Martin Bora stories.

I received The Road to Ithaca from the publisher for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.

[Marinho Lopes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Esperava mais deste livro. O título sugere desde logo uma das ideias que a autora quis explorar: um paralelo entre o enredo principal e a história de Ulisses. Infelizmente, as analogias são forçadas e não funcionam. Ou seja, o livro ficaria melhor sem isso. Por outro lado, a sinopse e a própria concepção do livro parecem sugerir que a autora pretendia criar uma certa profundidade psicológica na personagem principal, pelo menos quando esta se depara com conflitos entre deveres à pátria nazi e deveres éticos. Infelizmente, também essa componente está fracamente representada. Sobra, portanto, um género de policial que se lê bem, mas que fica muito aquém do que o livro prometia. (Uma nota ainda para a tradução portuguesa que me pareceu de qualidade deplorável em certas partes.)

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

" … Non è poi strano. Ogni luogo è Itaca per chi vi è nato e desidera tornarvi. Così, ogni strada verso casa è la strada per Itaca. Non vi pare? Proprio come ogni viaggiatore è Ulisse, se prende coscienza del suo vagabondare … "
Forse si tratta di un libro interlocutorio tra ciò che è stato e ciò che dovrà essere, non mi spiego altrimenti il continuo riferimento alle vicende di Spagna, al prepotente riandare con i ricordi all'infanzia e gli accenni più o meno velati a ciò che di terribile accadrà a Bora in un futuro non molto lontano quasi che l'omicidio da risolvere sia solo un mero pretesto.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

First reading of any work by Ben Pastor who, despite the name, is an female Italian writer. Takes place on Crete during WW II (an island that I have visited). Several locals and their employer have been shot. By the Germans? The English? Locals? Loyalist Spaniards (couldn't quite figure out what they were doing on Crete.). Having not read any other books in this series, I have no great attachment to Bora, the German soldier sent to figure out "who done it." But it is a gripping story and I will read others in this series.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the English translation, oddly not listed here in Goodreads. Another version of the Odyssey, complete with Sirens and cyclops. But no Penelope at the end. Bora is an interesting character; I am looking forward to the publisher coming out with more translations.

[Jim Willse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another interesting offering from Bitter Lemon Press. This one is a third too long, and while I appreciate what the author is up to with the moral and personal complexities, it really doesn’t work. Great research, although maybe too much.

[Elena Giacomini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Pastor si dimostra molto abile nella scrittura, sia un quella descrittiva ( è come trovarsi nei luoghi di cui si parla) sia in quella narrativa riferita alle vicende. Ormai le avventure o meglio disavventure di Bora si possono immaginare,ma le sorprese non mancano mai.

[Maria Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5.00

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌪 1941; The story begins with our main character Martin Bora, a German military chief, being sent on a mission to Crete (Greece). Initially, it was to pick up some cases of wine for the German Embassy at Moscow (Russia), but not long after his arrival, a terrible shooting took place on the island, and he was assigned the case.
His mission now was to find the person behind this crime.
We don't get to see just that throughout the book, though. We also get to see an inside of everything surrounding the characters in this story, and the atmosphere in an Island recently occupied by the Germans in times of WWII.
Besides the main plot, we get to dive into each character's own story, from Spanish rebels and resistance fighters, to Frances Allen, the woman who would help him around the island. (not voluntarily, though...)
But more specifically, we get to know everything that is Martin Bora, from his past, his current life, etc.
And we, in a way, get to see this other face of war that is often not shown.

What captivated me the most about this book, was that I felt apart of the story. :
When Bora was searching for clues at one of the victim's house, it felt as though I was there helping on the case. When Bora and Frances Allen begun their journey around the island, I was there too. When they were trying to hide from some soldiers that were in a plane near them, trying not to move otherwise they'd get caught, I found myself holding my breath just in case they were discovered because of me.
I was drawn to this book from the very first chapter.

The changing in the points of view between the main narrative (3rd person) and Bora's own entries on his diary (1st person) was beautiful, too. :
Getting to look at this story through the eyes of the main character as well added a more personal connection to the story and to its characters.

And, of course, I really enjoyed the comparisons made between Bora's journey and the Odyssey.
World War II and Mythology, somewhat tied as one in its occurrences.
That, I guess, is the reason behind the book's title. Odysseus wanting to go back home, to Ithaca, after a long journey of war.

The only words I have left ; Ben Pastor's style is outstanding.

[David C Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the main character, the ethical and conflicted German officer, Martin Bora, one of the better series of historical/military mystery series that I've read. This one is just a bit too long and over written because Pastor imposes too much classical detail and journeying on the narrative. The central mystery is interesting enough without all the references to the Odyssey.

[Fabrizio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mosca, giugno 1941: la missione che lo fa atterrare a Creta è quella di riportare 60 bottiglie di vino rosso pregiato nientemeno che per Lavrenti Beria. Una volta arrivato nell’isola greca, un delitto su cui sarà incaricato di indagare lo tratterrà per regalarci uno dei libri più belli del Capitano Martin Bora. Il tenebroso ufficiale sarà impegnato in un investigazione in giro per l’isola greca nelle vesti di novello Ulisse. Sotto il sole accecante, nella polvere, il sudore e la sete riporteranno alla mente di Bora il grande amore di Remedios nei giorni della resistenza spagnola. Ben Pastor non tradisce mai, personalmente consiglio i libri con protagonista il capitano della Wehrmacht come una delle più belle serie in circolazione.

[Francesco Zampa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il capitano della Wehrmacht Martin Bora, attaché presso presso l'ambasciata tedesca a Mosca per conto dell'Abwehr alla vigilia della rottura del patto Molotv-Von Ribbentrop, viene all'improvviso spedito a Creta con il poco patriottico compito di rimediare due casse di vino pregiato per il viziato vice-presidente dell'URSS Lavrentij Pavlovic Berija. Nel clima infido delle due settimane precedenti l'attacco di Hitler, si capisce solo che non c'è scelta e così Bora parte con ogni mezzo a disposizione.
Ma, appena arrivato sull'isola, il suo collega, il maggiore Busch, gli appioppa lo scottante caso di un ricco archeologo svizzero massacrato insieme alla sua servitù nella sua villa, secondo le accuse, da un manipolo di paracadutisti della Luftawaffe; scottante perché Himmler in persona è direttamente interessato a conoscere cosa è successo.
Desideroso di tornare a casa, cioè a Mosca, il prima possibile, Bora si darà da fare tra tranelli evidenti e altri meglio mascherati, riuscirà a risolvere l'arcano e perfino a portare il vino in tempo per il party all'ambasciata, quando tutto sta crollando.
Ma pagherà un prezzo inatteso.

Non è una storia che sono abituato a leggere, nel senso che l'ho trovata un po' lenta e troppo narrata per i miei gusti. Ma è questione di gusti perché la trama è ben articolata e minuziosamente costruita, direi con vocazione archeologica e mitologica visti i continui riferimenti ai reperti delle antiche civiltà minoiche e a Ulisse.
I personaggi sono costruiti in maniera perfetta a partire da Bora, ufficiale di nobili discendenze per questo inviso al nazismo e per questo capace di attirare la collaborazione anche dei suoi nemici o alleati forzati, per non parlare dei suoi commilitoni devoti all'ideologia. Anche le simpatie del lettore sono attratte da questo nazista anomalo e coscienzioso, le cui motivazioni sono così ben spiegate non solo nei parallelismi con l'itinerante Ulisse.
Anche l'assassino è infine spiegato fino in fondo, e anche qui la motivazione è più plausibile.
L'ambientazione è del pari accurata in ogni particolare, sia che si parli di resti archeologici che di vino come di armi e di aerei.
E l'astuzia sovietica, capace di sopravvivere a se stessa, è dipinta così come è entrata nella leggenda: pragmatica, spietata e pressoché imbattibile.

[Martina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wehrmacht Officer Martin von Bora #5. Publication date March 14, 2017. So excited. The Mystery Book Group read 'Lumen' in August 2011. Such a good read and a good discussion. This time Bora is sent to Crete to investigate the murder of a Red Cross representative.

This book is set in 1941. Begins with Bora in Moscow before he is sent to Crete. I loved this part as it reminded me of experiences I had in the late 1970s in that city. Ben Pastor writes this series with a focus on the history/military history. The books have not been published in chronological sequence and I first thought it was the intention of the author. But looking at the original publication dates I think they might just be published in English in this out of order sequence. It can be frustrating to read a book and the next one is in a time two years before or after, yet the focus is always on Bora and how he balances his morality with the behaviors and politics of war. The best part is that you can pick up any book in the series and not worry about needing to know what came before.

Fascinating blend of ww2 history and Archaeology in Crete and Bora's personal history and morality. both the historical background and the archaeology overlap with my interests. I was constantly drawn by some seemingly tiny thought or comment to think about something specific from my own past. This slowed down the pace of the reading, but much increased the pleasures from the book. Pastor writes beautifully, creating word images that transport me to this other time and place.

[Edmond Dantes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nuova puntata delle avventure di Martin Bora, ripreso dalla Pastor con nuove avventure, questa, Il cielo di stagno, che coprono i buchi delle precedenti avventure. Qui in una, a mio parere, come Sergio Leone fece ne il Colosso di Rodi, con la scusa di una "vacanza", ma è veramente tale, in terra cretese, in attesa dell'imminente Barbarossa, il Capitano Bora deve investigare su un "facile" delitto di guerra, ma che tanto facile non è ...... Giocgi di specchi ed inganni ad ogni svolta per Martin... 500 pagine che scorrono come un treno.... in attesa della prossima storia.

[Sergio Rodrigues · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Pastor, transforma o terror em algo dócil de se ler...
Um livro que vale a pena ler, para quem gostar de cenários de guerra e com um enredo a desafiar a autenticidade em relação a realidade. Um crime uma investigação, Ben Pastor coloca-nos uma vez mais e como muito bem o faz, não só os dados nas nossas mãos, mas da-nos a opção de os rolar, juntamente com Martin Bora, colocando-nos sempre dentro dos seus pensamentos.
Assim como os anteriores é um livro que nos agarra de forma fácil e dócil... 

[Manouvelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Piaciuto molto questo strano Ulisse. Non si riesce ad essere dalla sua parte, in fondo è un soldato della Germania nazista, però lo si comprende e lo si accompagna fino alla fine nel suo viaggio verso la verità.
Magica Creta!