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Tom Wilde #6
The Man in the Bunker
WHAT IF HITLER HAD SURVIVED?
In the gripping new spy thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Hitler's Secret, a Cambridge spy must find the truth behind Hitler's death. But exactly who is the man in the bunker?
________________
Germany, late summer 1945 - The war is over but the country is in ruins. Millions of refugees and holocaust survivors strive to rebuild their lives in displaced persons camps. Millions of German soldiers and SS men are held captive in primitive conditions in open-air detention centres. Everywhere, civilians are desperate for food and shelter. No one admits to having voted Nazi, yet many are unrepentant.
Adolf Hitler is said to have killed himself in his Berlin bunker. But no body was found - and many people believe he is alive. Newspapers are full of stories reporting sightings and theories. Even Stalin, whose own troops captured the bunker, has told President Truman he believes the former Führer is not dead. Day by day, American and British intelligence officers subject senior members of the Nazi regime to gruelling interrogation in their quest for their truth.
Enter Tom Wilde - the Cambridge professor and spy sent in to find out the truth...
Dramatic, intelligent, and brilliantly compelling, THE MAN IN THE BUNKER is Rory's best WWII thriller yet - perfect for readers of Robert Harris, C J Sansom and Joseph Kanon.
In the gripping new spy thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Hitler's Secret, a Cambridge spy must find the truth behind Hitler's death. But exactly who is the man in the bunker?
________________
Germany, late summer 1945 - The war is over but the country is in ruins. Millions of refugees and holocaust survivors strive to rebuild their lives in displaced persons camps. Millions of German soldiers and SS men are held captive in primitive conditions in open-air detention centres. Everywhere, civilians are desperate for food and shelter. No one admits to having voted Nazi, yet many are unrepentant.
Adolf Hitler is said to have killed himself in his Berlin bunker. But no body was found - and many people believe he is alive. Newspapers are full of stories reporting sightings and theories. Even Stalin, whose own troops captured the bunker, has told President Truman he believes the former Führer is not dead. Day by day, American and British intelligence officers subject senior members of the Nazi regime to gruelling interrogation in their quest for their truth.
Enter Tom Wilde - the Cambridge professor and spy sent in to find out the truth...
Dramatic, intelligent, and brilliantly compelling, THE MAN IN THE BUNKER is Rory's best WWII thriller yet - perfect for readers of Robert Harris, C J Sansom and Joseph Kanon.
453 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 20, 2022
281 people are currently reading
882 people want to read
About the author
Rory Clements
35 books540 followersRory Clements has had a long and successful newspaper career, including being features editor and associate editor of Today, editor of the Daily Mail's Good Health Pages, and editor of the health section at the Evening Standard. He now writes full-time in an idyllic corner of Norfolk, England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
April 18, 2022
**Should Read as 4.5 Stars!**
This eventful WWII thriller is the 6th volume of the magnificent series about the history Professor of Cambridge and unwilling spy called; "Tom Wilde".
Storytelling is of a superb quality, the atmosphere of post-war Germany comes splendidly off the pages, and all characters, especially the real historical along with the great fictional, come vividly to life in this tale about events in post-war Germany, and the frosty time we're entering which will be known as the Cold War between West and East.
At the end of the book you'll notice a wonderful revealing documentation about important German witnesses, such as Walter Schellenberg, Hanna Reitsch and a few others, ending with Kurt Diebner.
The book starts off explosively with the deaths of Collingham and Harper of the CIC in southern Bavaria in August 1945 at the hands of the German twins, Siggy and Hildy, and these two will certainly make some more appearances later on.
Professor of history in Cambridge, Tom Wilde, happy now with family life, is visited and asked by Thomas Eaton of MI6 and Allen Dulles of the CIC and later on persuaded by his his wife, Lydia, to go in search of Adolf Hitler, because certain people, British and American, but especially the Russians with Stalin at the forefront, believe that he's still alive and hiding somewhere.
In his quest to find the supposed dead but now seemingly alive Adolf Hitler, the reluctant Tom Wilde will get help from the avenge seeking Dutch Jew in the British army, Lieutenant Mozes Heck, and together they will be confronted with many setbacks, horrors, but also with progress and hope in their attempt to find the supposedly elusive Adolf Hitler.
What is to follow is a very entertaining WWII thriller with only one minus point in my view, being the finding of the supposed senile Opa Adolf Hitler by Tom Wilde, but compared to that there are many positive factors that will make this tale so great, and that's the inclusion of the interrogations of various Germans who played a certain active part in this horrible war by the Nazis, while also other historical details are wonderfully interwoven in this tale, and last but not least the Sovjet Union will let itself known in the figure of Boris Minsky aka Sergei Borisov of SMERSH by intruding him as their master-spy for the Russians, who along the way has fooled the good-natured Tom Wilde but not his suspicious wife Lydia.
Highly recommended, for this is an excellent addition to this great series, and that's why I like to call this wonderful episode: "A Very Engaging WWII Thriller"!
This eventful WWII thriller is the 6th volume of the magnificent series about the history Professor of Cambridge and unwilling spy called; "Tom Wilde".
Storytelling is of a superb quality, the atmosphere of post-war Germany comes splendidly off the pages, and all characters, especially the real historical along with the great fictional, come vividly to life in this tale about events in post-war Germany, and the frosty time we're entering which will be known as the Cold War between West and East.
At the end of the book you'll notice a wonderful revealing documentation about important German witnesses, such as Walter Schellenberg, Hanna Reitsch and a few others, ending with Kurt Diebner.
The book starts off explosively with the deaths of Collingham and Harper of the CIC in southern Bavaria in August 1945 at the hands of the German twins, Siggy and Hildy, and these two will certainly make some more appearances later on.
Professor of history in Cambridge, Tom Wilde, happy now with family life, is visited and asked by Thomas Eaton of MI6 and Allen Dulles of the CIC and later on persuaded by his his wife, Lydia, to go in search of Adolf Hitler, because certain people, British and American, but especially the Russians with Stalin at the forefront, believe that he's still alive and hiding somewhere.
In his quest to find the supposed dead but now seemingly alive Adolf Hitler, the reluctant Tom Wilde will get help from the avenge seeking Dutch Jew in the British army, Lieutenant Mozes Heck, and together they will be confronted with many setbacks, horrors, but also with progress and hope in their attempt to find the supposedly elusive Adolf Hitler.
What is to follow is a very entertaining WWII thriller with only one minus point in my view, being the finding of the supposed senile Opa Adolf Hitler by Tom Wilde, but compared to that there are many positive factors that will make this tale so great, and that's the inclusion of the interrogations of various Germans who played a certain active part in this horrible war by the Nazis, while also other historical details are wonderfully interwoven in this tale, and last but not least the Sovjet Union will let itself known in the figure of Boris Minsky aka Sergei Borisov of SMERSH by intruding him as their master-spy for the Russians, who along the way has fooled the good-natured Tom Wilde but not his suspicious wife Lydia.
Highly recommended, for this is an excellent addition to this great series, and that's why I like to call this wonderful episode: "A Very Engaging WWII Thriller"!
April 14, 2022
Superb and exciting read.
January 29, 2022
Rory Clements’ books featuring Cambridge professor turned spy, Tom Wilde, have become one of my absolute favourite series. I’ve devoured every one of them and The Man in the Bunker was no exception. (I’m also a fan of his John Shakespeare series set in Elizabethan England.)
Who do the intelligence services in Britain and the United States call on when they’ve a tricky problem to solve? Why Cambridge professor of history turned spy Tom Wilde of course – much to the exasperation of his wife, Lydia, in this case.
The brilliantly dramatic and chilling opening chapter is a prelude to everything you could possibly want from a spy thriller: plenty of action scenes, car chases, narrow escapes, assassins waiting in the shadows, wily and ruthless villains, double-crosses galore. There are also a host of interesting secondary characters, such as the colourful Boris Minsky, Jerzy ‘the boy with the camera’ and the dedicated Dr. Angie Gray. The skilfully crafted plot means there are plenty of side stories the reason for whose inclusion remains deliciously intriguing for a large part of the book.
Wilde is assigned a companion in his investigation, Lieutenant Mozes Heck. Heck is a wonderfully drawn character. Whilst, as readers of the previous books will know, Wilde has his own share of traumatic memories, Heck’s are beyond imagining. His first-hand and very personal experience of the atrocities committed by the Nazis has given him a deep-seated hatred of those Nazis who survived the war and ‘an overpowering hunger’ for revenge. As a result he is utterly ruthless – shoot first, think later – meaning at times he is difficult for Wilde to control. ‘Heck was in a blood-red world of his own, and no amount of reasoning was going to alter that.’ On the other hand, Heck’s sharp-shooting skills, physical resilience and ability to pass unnoticed are definitely things you want in a difficult situation, and Wilde and Heck experience plenty of those.
Wilde’s investigation into whether Hitler remains alive takes him to the heart of post-war Germany giving the reader a vivid insight into the destruction visited upon cities such as Berlin by Allied bombing and the advance of the Russian army. ‘This is real life, this is the detritus of war, right here.’ Berlin has become a place of ruined buildings, piles of rubble and people trying to eke out a living in the shattered remains of their city. It’s a dangerous place as well. ‘The problems start after dark when the desperate and the dispossessed come out and defy the curfew. It’s kill or be killed.’
There also unsettling scenes in the makeshift camps for people displaced by the War including those who survived the concentration camps. And a visit to a particular site in Berlin brings Wilde a chilling reminder of the evil of the Nazi regime. ‘He did not believe in the occult, nor even an afterlife, yet he could hear the children’s cries.’
I can’t say much more about the plot without giving too much away. But, I hear you ask, does Wilde discover if Hitler survived the Berlin bunker? Sorry, not telling. Read the book and find out.
I thought The Man In The Bunker was absolutely fabulous, another masterly spy thriller from the pen of Rory Clements. A few loose ends left subtly dangling at the end of the book leaves me hoping this is not the last outing for Tom Wilde. In the meantime Tom, Lydia deserves her holiday.
Who do the intelligence services in Britain and the United States call on when they’ve a tricky problem to solve? Why Cambridge professor of history turned spy Tom Wilde of course – much to the exasperation of his wife, Lydia, in this case.
The brilliantly dramatic and chilling opening chapter is a prelude to everything you could possibly want from a spy thriller: plenty of action scenes, car chases, narrow escapes, assassins waiting in the shadows, wily and ruthless villains, double-crosses galore. There are also a host of interesting secondary characters, such as the colourful Boris Minsky, Jerzy ‘the boy with the camera’ and the dedicated Dr. Angie Gray. The skilfully crafted plot means there are plenty of side stories the reason for whose inclusion remains deliciously intriguing for a large part of the book.
Wilde is assigned a companion in his investigation, Lieutenant Mozes Heck. Heck is a wonderfully drawn character. Whilst, as readers of the previous books will know, Wilde has his own share of traumatic memories, Heck’s are beyond imagining. His first-hand and very personal experience of the atrocities committed by the Nazis has given him a deep-seated hatred of those Nazis who survived the war and ‘an overpowering hunger’ for revenge. As a result he is utterly ruthless – shoot first, think later – meaning at times he is difficult for Wilde to control. ‘Heck was in a blood-red world of his own, and no amount of reasoning was going to alter that.’ On the other hand, Heck’s sharp-shooting skills, physical resilience and ability to pass unnoticed are definitely things you want in a difficult situation, and Wilde and Heck experience plenty of those.
Wilde’s investigation into whether Hitler remains alive takes him to the heart of post-war Germany giving the reader a vivid insight into the destruction visited upon cities such as Berlin by Allied bombing and the advance of the Russian army. ‘This is real life, this is the detritus of war, right here.’ Berlin has become a place of ruined buildings, piles of rubble and people trying to eke out a living in the shattered remains of their city. It’s a dangerous place as well. ‘The problems start after dark when the desperate and the dispossessed come out and defy the curfew. It’s kill or be killed.’
There also unsettling scenes in the makeshift camps for people displaced by the War including those who survived the concentration camps. And a visit to a particular site in Berlin brings Wilde a chilling reminder of the evil of the Nazi regime. ‘He did not believe in the occult, nor even an afterlife, yet he could hear the children’s cries.’
I can’t say much more about the plot without giving too much away. But, I hear you ask, does Wilde discover if Hitler survived the Berlin bunker? Sorry, not telling. Read the book and find out.
I thought The Man In The Bunker was absolutely fabulous, another masterly spy thriller from the pen of Rory Clements. A few loose ends left subtly dangling at the end of the book leaves me hoping this is not the last outing for Tom Wilde. In the meantime Tom, Lydia deserves her holiday.
May 17, 2022
7.5/10
What if Hitler didn’t blow his brains out in the bunker in those final days of WW2? There is only one person to work this tricky conundrum out, that’s right. A history professor from Cambridge University, Tom Wilde…
This is the 6th outing in the series and I’ve come to enjoy these adventures during this time period. They’re not too heavy but provide enough atmosphere and intrigue that they fly by and feel quite authentic.
The plot feels slightly different to the others in the series, perhaps more to the timeframe and being at the end of the war, but this keeps things ticking along as it would be easy to just rehash similar events until the well is dry. Tom Wilde is smart but it never comes across that he’s infallible making him a believable and relatable character and not inducing eye rolling at every other page (I’m looking your way Dan!).
I enjoy this series and hope there will be more although now we’ve got to the end of the war I’m not sure what will come next but I’ll be happy to find out.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy for review
What if Hitler didn’t blow his brains out in the bunker in those final days of WW2? There is only one person to work this tricky conundrum out, that’s right. A history professor from Cambridge University, Tom Wilde…
This is the 6th outing in the series and I’ve come to enjoy these adventures during this time period. They’re not too heavy but provide enough atmosphere and intrigue that they fly by and feel quite authentic.
The plot feels slightly different to the others in the series, perhaps more to the timeframe and being at the end of the war, but this keeps things ticking along as it would be easy to just rehash similar events until the well is dry. Tom Wilde is smart but it never comes across that he’s infallible making him a believable and relatable character and not inducing eye rolling at every other page (I’m looking your way Dan!).
I enjoy this series and hope there will be more although now we’ve got to the end of the war I’m not sure what will come next but I’ll be happy to find out.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy for review
January 29, 2022
What a fabulous book this was! I had not read the previous books, but it didn’t spoil the story. The opening is shocking, with the intense chapters never losing pace throughout the book. It has brilliant characters and a great storyline. I could not ask for more.
Once the second World War came to an end, Hitler was high on the list to be found and brought to trial for the atrocities that he had instigated through the 1930s and war years. But rumour had it that Hilter had committed suicide in his Berlin Bunker, although his body, could not be identified. The news didn’t sit well and felt all too convenient, so an investigation began to try and prove or disprove this report.
Tom Wilde, a Cambridge Professor and spy in the war, was sent for. Two British spies who had been looking into the theory that Hitler had escaped, had been murdered. Now Tom is asked to go the finish the job they had started. Tom is paired with Lieutenant Mozes Heck, not a choice of partner that he would have made. Mozes is a Dutchman serving in the British Army and brings his own heavy-handed investigating that is dangerous for them both.
They travel far and wide to investigate the high ranking officers that had close connections with Hitler to find out if any of them had seen Hitler dead. There are heartbreaking stories of what happened to collaborators after the war and the justice the townspeople dealt out to them for their betrayal.
This is one sit on the edge of your seat story that you don’t want to miss. The story centred around a true historical event, but it has gained some additional artistic flare. Tom Wilde is one top bloke who works with logic, although he can take care of himself.
In the last quarter of the book, he comes across some pretty fanatical characters that brought me out in goosebumps, time and time again. Excellent writing! These were scary people that had warped ways of thinking. The thing is, it was always in my mind that some of these are still out there.
Highly recommended reading!
I wish to thank Net Galley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book that I have reviewed honestly.
Once the second World War came to an end, Hitler was high on the list to be found and brought to trial for the atrocities that he had instigated through the 1930s and war years. But rumour had it that Hilter had committed suicide in his Berlin Bunker, although his body, could not be identified. The news didn’t sit well and felt all too convenient, so an investigation began to try and prove or disprove this report.
Tom Wilde, a Cambridge Professor and spy in the war, was sent for. Two British spies who had been looking into the theory that Hitler had escaped, had been murdered. Now Tom is asked to go the finish the job they had started. Tom is paired with Lieutenant Mozes Heck, not a choice of partner that he would have made. Mozes is a Dutchman serving in the British Army and brings his own heavy-handed investigating that is dangerous for them both.
They travel far and wide to investigate the high ranking officers that had close connections with Hitler to find out if any of them had seen Hitler dead. There are heartbreaking stories of what happened to collaborators after the war and the justice the townspeople dealt out to them for their betrayal.
This is one sit on the edge of your seat story that you don’t want to miss. The story centred around a true historical event, but it has gained some additional artistic flare. Tom Wilde is one top bloke who works with logic, although he can take care of himself.
In the last quarter of the book, he comes across some pretty fanatical characters that brought me out in goosebumps, time and time again. Excellent writing! These were scary people that had warped ways of thinking. The thing is, it was always in my mind that some of these are still out there.
Highly recommended reading!
I wish to thank Net Galley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book that I have reviewed honestly.
July 19, 2023
Rory Clements does these war time spy thrillers well, and while this isn’t my favourite of his Tom Wilde series, it’s certainly evocative and well done.
Set largely in Germany in the months after World War 2, you certainly get a sense of the broken country, broken Europe and broken people. He very well articulates the sense of hate and suspicion in the aftermath of years of horrors.
Not always an easy read, the plot almost felt a bit secondary at times. Will be interesting to see if Clements does more of these post-war.
Set largely in Germany in the months after World War 2, you certainly get a sense of the broken country, broken Europe and broken people. He very well articulates the sense of hate and suspicion in the aftermath of years of horrors.
Not always an easy read, the plot almost felt a bit secondary at times. Will be interesting to see if Clements does more of these post-war.
December 1, 2021
Absolutely superb. This series now moves to the end of the war and the mystery that occupies the minds of intelligence services of the superpowers - did Hitler survive the war? Thoroughly exciting, ingenious and page-turning. Review to follow shortly on For Winter Nights.
January 20, 2022
This is Book 6 in the Tom Wilde series, and my first! So that shows how it can be read as a standalone! And now I've got the enjoyment of the rest of the series to catch up with as I found this to be such an intriguing and fascinating subject to have a story based around! The What If subject is one of those conspiracies that still does the rounds now, so the author has done a brilliant job within this series of using that as the backdrop for a new adventure!
This is set just after the war, so the world is waking up again and trying to move on but life is still pretty brutal in many parts of the world with unresolved anger. Tom Wilde is trying to live a normal life again, but that is blown out of the water when 3 men show up on his doorstep wanting his help in finding out just what happened in 'that' bunker where no body was ever found.
So he has to travel to Germany, interrogate those close to Hitler and others at the top to find out if they know more than they are letting the world believe.
You get a real sense from the story that many people are still on edge after what they've been through for the past few years, and many want revenge for what has happened to them or those they love. Wilde has a tough job ahead of him getting through to people and trying to work out who he can trust and who is telling the truth.
There's also a side story featuring the character of Lilly too, a woman who had a fling with a german officer and has been shunned by her own family, and it really hit home how the war had split family and friends.
As I said, this was my first book in the Wilde series and I just loved the whole feel and pace of the storytelling so I'm eager to go back and see where the rest of the series took the character! It is a smart and dramatic piece of historical fiction.
This is set just after the war, so the world is waking up again and trying to move on but life is still pretty brutal in many parts of the world with unresolved anger. Tom Wilde is trying to live a normal life again, but that is blown out of the water when 3 men show up on his doorstep wanting his help in finding out just what happened in 'that' bunker where no body was ever found.
So he has to travel to Germany, interrogate those close to Hitler and others at the top to find out if they know more than they are letting the world believe.
You get a real sense from the story that many people are still on edge after what they've been through for the past few years, and many want revenge for what has happened to them or those they love. Wilde has a tough job ahead of him getting through to people and trying to work out who he can trust and who is telling the truth.
There's also a side story featuring the character of Lilly too, a woman who had a fling with a german officer and has been shunned by her own family, and it really hit home how the war had split family and friends.
As I said, this was my first book in the Wilde series and I just loved the whole feel and pace of the storytelling so I'm eager to go back and see where the rest of the series took the character! It is a smart and dramatic piece of historical fiction.
October 28, 2023
I have been enjoying this series of books about Tom Wilde, the professor turned reluctant spy. This one is set a few months after the end of WW2 and he is once again persuaded to help MI6 determine whether Adolf Hitler really committed suicide or escaped. He is very reluctant at first but even his wife tells him he must do it, so he sets off. He is paired with a trigger happy Dutch Jew, Mozes Heck, who hates the Nazis with a vengeance and Tom has to calm him down on several occasions. They interview many people to try to discover Hitler's hiding place which they believe to be somewhere in Bavaria. Some of these people are real characters and others invented for the plot. As Tom and Mozes edge closer to the truth the tension builds but somehow the denoument seemed very unrealistic and as all the loose ends were tied up I felt a little disappointed with this story. For me, not as good as the earlier ones I have read, or maybe I am tiring of this format.
October 7, 2023
A classic war time spy thriller from Rory Clements. Historical fiction at its best!
August 24, 2022
First book I’ve read in a few years and I found myself wanting to read this every chance I had - I didn’t realise until afterwards that it is part of a series of books which just shows that it can be read as a standalone. Will be reading another from this series.
April 8, 2025
The hunt for Hitler post WW2. It's not a spoiler since that's the whole premise of the book. 2 stars for 2-dimensional characters, bland prose, the lack of suspense and a rather simple, predictable story-line. Another recommendation from my friend. I should have learned my lesson after his first recommendation. We just have different likes. Still a great friend though.
April 5, 2025
So boring,
all the slow build up for an old man who doesn't even know who he is.
Sigh
all the slow build up for an old man who doesn't even know who he is.
Sigh
January 27, 2022
The Man in the Bunker is the sixth book in Rory Clements' Tom Wilde series but the first I have read and although I would like to go back and read the previous novels now to understand more about the past between some of the characters featured here, there was nothing that prevented me from thoroughly enjoying and recommending it as a standalone thriller.
The storyline takes place shortly after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and so with the war finally over, Tom Wilde is keen to return to a normal life with his wife and young son. However, the stunning opening chapter has already revealed that there are still people in Germany prepared to go to any lengths to keep their secrets and Tom's plans to prepare for the Michaelmas Term at Cambridge are about to be interrupted. Senior MI6 member, Philip Eaton, a man he knows well, pays him a visit with Allen Dulles from the Office of Strategic Services and Colonel John Apache of the Counter Intelligence Corps in Garmisch to inform him that there are strong indications that Hitler's suicide in his bunker was faked and that he's still alive. They want Wilde to find out if the rumours are true and if so, to bring Hitler to justice. It's a fascinating premise for a thriller and though obviously fiction, I think most of us who grew up in the decades after the war will remember questioning whether there was any truth to the claims that the Nazi leader escaped to Buenos Aires – or as suggested here, perhaps he stayed closer to home and found a hiding place in the mountains of Bavaria...
Wilde is accompanied by Mozes Heck, a Dutch Jew who escaped to England and joined the British Army. Heck seethes with visceral hatred for the Nazis and holds ordinary Germans culpable for not doing anything to stop them and consequently proves to be a difficult partner for Wilde. However, his presence proves to be vital, particularly as The Man in the Bunker is so much more than an historical mystery. It's also a searing examination of the immediate aftermath of the war and how a country ravaged not just by bombs but by the fascist brutality that ripped a civilised country apart, can begin to adjust to life afterwards.
A number of Nazis, both prominent and otherwise have been captured and are being interrogated prior to trial. Some are keen to denounce Nazism and claim they knew nothing of the atrocities that were carried out as part of the Final Solution but Wilde doubts how truthful they are and Heck is a tinderbox just waiting to ignite. As they travel around Germany and into Austria, following the various leads they are given which may reveal what really happened to Hitler, the vivid descriptions of the country emphasise just how confused and arduous life was for this broken nation. The depiction of the black market economy trading in cigarettes and dollars contrasts with the suffering of many Germans, now susceptible to punishing retribution from their new occupiers, particularly the women who are raped and violated in a seemingly never-ending cycle of brutality. Meanwhile, some are still loyal to their Führer and though they may hide their allegiance, there are some sickening moments in the book which reveal just how precarious peace was and how the anger of those worst victimised by National Socialism was both understandable and often remarkably restrained.
Nevertheless, there is hope found here too and even though the graphic description of a displacement camp movingly evokes the severely challenging conditions for the millions of people left homeless and without their families, it also recognises that this was where people were able to look to the future and where life began again.
For a historical thriller to really shine, it has to have an authentic sense of place – which The Man in the Bunker has in spades – and include a compelling mystery, and of course, the search for Hitler, and all the intrigue and danger that presents is exactly why this novel is so successful. Yes, it's fiction but the research necessary to write something so believable is obvious throughout; I loved the inclusion of a number of real-life figures and I'm grateful to Rory Clements for including a potted history of what happened to some of these people afterwards at the end of the book.
By the end of The Man in the Bunker, it's become ominously clear that Russia is still the West's ally in name only and with the Cold War looming, it looks as if Tom Wilde's hopes for a return to normal life may yet be on hold and it's with a sense of delicious foreboding that I note he lives and works in Cambridge...
Compulsive, exciting and convincing; The Man in the Bunker is a first-rate thriller and I highly recommend it.
The storyline takes place shortly after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and so with the war finally over, Tom Wilde is keen to return to a normal life with his wife and young son. However, the stunning opening chapter has already revealed that there are still people in Germany prepared to go to any lengths to keep their secrets and Tom's plans to prepare for the Michaelmas Term at Cambridge are about to be interrupted. Senior MI6 member, Philip Eaton, a man he knows well, pays him a visit with Allen Dulles from the Office of Strategic Services and Colonel John Apache of the Counter Intelligence Corps in Garmisch to inform him that there are strong indications that Hitler's suicide in his bunker was faked and that he's still alive. They want Wilde to find out if the rumours are true and if so, to bring Hitler to justice. It's a fascinating premise for a thriller and though obviously fiction, I think most of us who grew up in the decades after the war will remember questioning whether there was any truth to the claims that the Nazi leader escaped to Buenos Aires – or as suggested here, perhaps he stayed closer to home and found a hiding place in the mountains of Bavaria...
Wilde is accompanied by Mozes Heck, a Dutch Jew who escaped to England and joined the British Army. Heck seethes with visceral hatred for the Nazis and holds ordinary Germans culpable for not doing anything to stop them and consequently proves to be a difficult partner for Wilde. However, his presence proves to be vital, particularly as The Man in the Bunker is so much more than an historical mystery. It's also a searing examination of the immediate aftermath of the war and how a country ravaged not just by bombs but by the fascist brutality that ripped a civilised country apart, can begin to adjust to life afterwards.
A number of Nazis, both prominent and otherwise have been captured and are being interrogated prior to trial. Some are keen to denounce Nazism and claim they knew nothing of the atrocities that were carried out as part of the Final Solution but Wilde doubts how truthful they are and Heck is a tinderbox just waiting to ignite. As they travel around Germany and into Austria, following the various leads they are given which may reveal what really happened to Hitler, the vivid descriptions of the country emphasise just how confused and arduous life was for this broken nation. The depiction of the black market economy trading in cigarettes and dollars contrasts with the suffering of many Germans, now susceptible to punishing retribution from their new occupiers, particularly the women who are raped and violated in a seemingly never-ending cycle of brutality. Meanwhile, some are still loyal to their Führer and though they may hide their allegiance, there are some sickening moments in the book which reveal just how precarious peace was and how the anger of those worst victimised by National Socialism was both understandable and often remarkably restrained.
Nevertheless, there is hope found here too and even though the graphic description of a displacement camp movingly evokes the severely challenging conditions for the millions of people left homeless and without their families, it also recognises that this was where people were able to look to the future and where life began again.
For a historical thriller to really shine, it has to have an authentic sense of place – which The Man in the Bunker has in spades – and include a compelling mystery, and of course, the search for Hitler, and all the intrigue and danger that presents is exactly why this novel is so successful. Yes, it's fiction but the research necessary to write something so believable is obvious throughout; I loved the inclusion of a number of real-life figures and I'm grateful to Rory Clements for including a potted history of what happened to some of these people afterwards at the end of the book.
By the end of The Man in the Bunker, it's become ominously clear that Russia is still the West's ally in name only and with the Cold War looming, it looks as if Tom Wilde's hopes for a return to normal life may yet be on hold and it's with a sense of delicious foreboding that I note he lives and works in Cambridge...
Compulsive, exciting and convincing; The Man in the Bunker is a first-rate thriller and I highly recommend it.
February 20, 2022
I’ve read two of Rory Clements’ books in his Tom Wilde series, the first one, Corpus and the fourth Hitler’s Secret, both of which I loved. So I was looking forward to reading more of his books – The Man in the Bunker is the sixth book in the series, but fortunately they all read perfectly as standalone books.
This is a complicated novel and I am not going to attempt to describe all the details. In August 1945 an American and professor of history, Tom Wilde is preparing for the Michaelmas term at his Cambridge University college. He had spent most of the last three years in a senior advisory role with the Office of Strategic Services, America’s wartime intelligence outfit. He has quit the OSS and wants to put the war behind him, so when he sees a big American car parked outside his home where he lives with his wife and young son, he is not at all pleased. His three visitors bring news that there’s reason to believe that Hitler is alive and hiding out in Bavaria – and they want Wilde to find him.
The rumour that Hitler didn’t die in the Berlin bunker has always interested me, especially as his body was never found. I remember seeing a TV documentary about it, so I wondered what Clements would make of it and what his conclusion would be. Did Hitler live on after the war or not? His version of events is thrilling and dramatic as Wilde travels across the continent, mainly in Germany and Austria, seeing the devastation the War had brought both to places and to people. There were millions of people without homes – refugees, some living in displaced persons camps dotted around Europe. Some had been slave labourers interned in concentration camps, others were survivors of the death camps.
Wilde was accompanied by a young lieutenant, Mozes Heck, a Dutch Jew who had escaped to England and joined the British Army. Heck is desperate to find out what had happened to his family, loathes the Nazis and Hitler, and he is set on revenge. He is both headstrong and dangerous. They were both co-opted to the US Counter Intelligence Corps in Garmisch, an Alpine town in Bavaria. Wilde has a difficult job restraining Heck, but eventually they work well together in tense and extremely dangerous situations.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. The search for Hitler across Germany and Austria is fast paced, full of action, danger, and violence. Needless to say really, but I was gripped by this novel and I just had to find out what had happened, whether Hitler had died in the bunker – or did Wilde find him in hiding somewhere in the Alps? I’m not telling – you’ll have to read the book to find out.
This is a complicated novel and I am not going to attempt to describe all the details. In August 1945 an American and professor of history, Tom Wilde is preparing for the Michaelmas term at his Cambridge University college. He had spent most of the last three years in a senior advisory role with the Office of Strategic Services, America’s wartime intelligence outfit. He has quit the OSS and wants to put the war behind him, so when he sees a big American car parked outside his home where he lives with his wife and young son, he is not at all pleased. His three visitors bring news that there’s reason to believe that Hitler is alive and hiding out in Bavaria – and they want Wilde to find him.
The rumour that Hitler didn’t die in the Berlin bunker has always interested me, especially as his body was never found. I remember seeing a TV documentary about it, so I wondered what Clements would make of it and what his conclusion would be. Did Hitler live on after the war or not? His version of events is thrilling and dramatic as Wilde travels across the continent, mainly in Germany and Austria, seeing the devastation the War had brought both to places and to people. There were millions of people without homes – refugees, some living in displaced persons camps dotted around Europe. Some had been slave labourers interned in concentration camps, others were survivors of the death camps.
Wilde was accompanied by a young lieutenant, Mozes Heck, a Dutch Jew who had escaped to England and joined the British Army. Heck is desperate to find out what had happened to his family, loathes the Nazis and Hitler, and he is set on revenge. He is both headstrong and dangerous. They were both co-opted to the US Counter Intelligence Corps in Garmisch, an Alpine town in Bavaria. Wilde has a difficult job restraining Heck, but eventually they work well together in tense and extremely dangerous situations.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. The search for Hitler across Germany and Austria is fast paced, full of action, danger, and violence. Needless to say really, but I was gripped by this novel and I just had to find out what had happened, whether Hitler had died in the bunker – or did Wilde find him in hiding somewhere in the Alps? I’m not telling – you’ll have to read the book to find out.
October 4, 2022
I love this series featuring American Cambridge History Professor Tom Wilde, and always look forward to a new book at this time of year.
Mostly set in Germany in the summer of 1945, the Allies are on the hunt for Hitler believing he is still alive somewhere in the mountains. Tom Wilde is called in to join the search, partnered by Lieutenant Mozes Heck, a Dutchman in the British Army, who detests Nazis with a passion. A real loose canon who gave me the feeling that anything could happen when he was asking the questions!
I felt very sorry for Tom at the beginning of this book when Philip Eaton of British Intelligence came calling again. As far as Tom was concerned the war was over, he was finally feeling settled at home again with Lydia and Johnny their young son. Tom’s instant reaction was that there was no way he was going to leave home again, but Lydia managed to convince him that he’d be a fool not to go looking for Hitler.
And so a hunt for the most hated man in the world begins, taking Tom Wilde already over Germany as he follows leads from former Nazis who’d been close to their leader. Was Hitler alive and hiding, or had he really killed himself in his bunker in Berlin? Their path was full of unknown dangers and twists and turns, as Wilde and Heck looked for information in the villages of the Bavarian countryside, refugee camps and the mostly obliterated cities of Germany.
I learnt so much about Germany in 1945 reading this book. I didn’t realise how devastating the Allied bombing had been, leaving people starving and homeless. I was shocked to learn that the refugee camps were guarded by Germans who’d probably been Nazis and were now in charge of Jewish refugees!! What a truly nightmarish scenario!
This was another fab book in this fantastic series, with a lovely twist at the end, that will hopefully continue the series with more adventures for Tom Wilde, and Lydia too!
Thanks to the publishers for my copy for the blog tour.
Mostly set in Germany in the summer of 1945, the Allies are on the hunt for Hitler believing he is still alive somewhere in the mountains. Tom Wilde is called in to join the search, partnered by Lieutenant Mozes Heck, a Dutchman in the British Army, who detests Nazis with a passion. A real loose canon who gave me the feeling that anything could happen when he was asking the questions!
I felt very sorry for Tom at the beginning of this book when Philip Eaton of British Intelligence came calling again. As far as Tom was concerned the war was over, he was finally feeling settled at home again with Lydia and Johnny their young son. Tom’s instant reaction was that there was no way he was going to leave home again, but Lydia managed to convince him that he’d be a fool not to go looking for Hitler.
And so a hunt for the most hated man in the world begins, taking Tom Wilde already over Germany as he follows leads from former Nazis who’d been close to their leader. Was Hitler alive and hiding, or had he really killed himself in his bunker in Berlin? Their path was full of unknown dangers and twists and turns, as Wilde and Heck looked for information in the villages of the Bavarian countryside, refugee camps and the mostly obliterated cities of Germany.
I learnt so much about Germany in 1945 reading this book. I didn’t realise how devastating the Allied bombing had been, leaving people starving and homeless. I was shocked to learn that the refugee camps were guarded by Germans who’d probably been Nazis and were now in charge of Jewish refugees!! What a truly nightmarish scenario!
This was another fab book in this fantastic series, with a lovely twist at the end, that will hopefully continue the series with more adventures for Tom Wilde, and Lydia too!
Thanks to the publishers for my copy for the blog tour.
March 2, 2022
Rating 3.5
A very entertaining post WW2 spy thriller set in the ruins of germany. The writing style was easy to read and the pages seemed to fly by, as did the time whilst reading. I think I have read one of the earlier novels in the series but since I didn’t update goodreads cannot remember which one.
The main characters were interesting and well drawn. The plot was initially a straightforward maguffin hunt, in this case finding out if hitler was still alive, with the standard amount of dead ends, interviews with unreliable witnesses etc. The pace I felt suddenly accelerated in the last quarter of the novel and the ending to the hitler hunt happened very suddenly, maybe too much so. The second plot line of the lieutenant looking for a childhood friend in the ruins of the war, meeting and suddenly wanting to marry a woman the pair had helped also felt like it came out of nowhere (and was a bit of a well seen trope).
The final story strand of Russian defector/spy going to Cambridge with help from OSS and MI6 presumably sets up the next storyline for this series when the wartime allies enter the Cold War phase - again this felt a bit predictable. Consider the main character was supposed to be an intelligence officer during the war his naïveté did seem a bit overdone to me.
Overall though a definite recommendation (only downgraded to a 3 as the minor issues were annoying for me when I thought about them and I doubt I will reread this any novel) for readers looking for a spy thriller set between WW2 and the 1950’s Cold War era
A very entertaining post WW2 spy thriller set in the ruins of germany. The writing style was easy to read and the pages seemed to fly by, as did the time whilst reading. I think I have read one of the earlier novels in the series but since I didn’t update goodreads cannot remember which one.
The main characters were interesting and well drawn. The plot was initially a straightforward maguffin hunt, in this case finding out if hitler was still alive, with the standard amount of dead ends, interviews with unreliable witnesses etc. The pace I felt suddenly accelerated in the last quarter of the novel and the ending to the hitler hunt happened very suddenly, maybe too much so. The second plot line of the lieutenant looking for a childhood friend in the ruins of the war, meeting and suddenly wanting to marry a woman the pair had helped also felt like it came out of nowhere (and was a bit of a well seen trope).
The final story strand of Russian defector/spy going to Cambridge with help from OSS and MI6 presumably sets up the next storyline for this series when the wartime allies enter the Cold War phase - again this felt a bit predictable. Consider the main character was supposed to be an intelligence officer during the war his naïveté did seem a bit overdone to me.
Overall though a definite recommendation (only downgraded to a 3 as the minor issues were annoying for me when I thought about them and I doubt I will reread this any novel) for readers looking for a spy thriller set between WW2 and the 1950’s Cold War era
March 31, 2022
I’ve read all six of the Tom Wilde stories and this is the best (I hope there’s another in the pipeline).
Did Hitler escape from the bunker? is a fairly familiar idea in Third Reich novels and I must admit that my heart sank a little in the early pages when I discovered that this was the theme of this novel. But it isn’t. The Man in the Bunker is about the horrors of the immediate post-war period, the thirst for revenge, the still simmering Nazism amongst some Germans and the beginnings of the Cold War. Hunting for Hitler is just a plot device to tackle these threads.
Apart from the ever-interesting Tom Wilde, there are a number of very well drawn new characters who light up The Man in the Bunker and, once again the author treats us to some well-constructed and exciting actions sequences.
I’ve become so captivated by the Tom Wilde tales that I’ve bought a biography of Francis Walsingham to read soon.
More please Mr Clements.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen, Two Families at War and The Summer of ‘39, all published by Sacristy Press.
Did Hitler escape from the bunker? is a fairly familiar idea in Third Reich novels and I must admit that my heart sank a little in the early pages when I discovered that this was the theme of this novel. But it isn’t. The Man in the Bunker is about the horrors of the immediate post-war period, the thirst for revenge, the still simmering Nazism amongst some Germans and the beginnings of the Cold War. Hunting for Hitler is just a plot device to tackle these threads.
Apart from the ever-interesting Tom Wilde, there are a number of very well drawn new characters who light up The Man in the Bunker and, once again the author treats us to some well-constructed and exciting actions sequences.
I’ve become so captivated by the Tom Wilde tales that I’ve bought a biography of Francis Walsingham to read soon.
More please Mr Clements.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen, Two Families at War and The Summer of ‘39, all published by Sacristy Press.
January 27, 2022
It's 1945, towards the end of the summer in Germany. The war is over and Hitler is said to have taken his own life. Is Hitler still alive ? Did he fake his death? Many people believe he is alive and in hiding.
In England, Tom Wilde, Cambridge Professor and Spy, prepares course work for his students when he is approached by his British Intelligence boss who reveals they have reason to believe Hitler is indeed alive. There begins Tom's mission to go in and find Hitler, dispelling rumour and doubt, once and for all.
A truly gripping book and wonderful story which I recommend highly.
In England, Tom Wilde, Cambridge Professor and Spy, prepares course work for his students when he is approached by his British Intelligence boss who reveals they have reason to believe Hitler is indeed alive. There begins Tom's mission to go in and find Hitler, dispelling rumour and doubt, once and for all.
A truly gripping book and wonderful story which I recommend highly.
November 6, 2022
I wanted to like this book and indeed made it through to the end - but that's not really a recommendation. I became increasingly frustrated by the author's frantic, short-lived plotting, by some of the absurd moral juxtapositions (presenting criminals like Allan Dulles and Richard Helms as benign), and by dated characterisations verging on racial stereotypes. About two thirds of the way into the book one of the characters asks, "why didn't we see this before?" Well, you might have if you'd heard the reader screaming it at you for the first couple of hundred pages.
Read
May 29, 2023Absolute garbage
I have done it again. Read an absolute rubbish book to the end. How this book got published is beyond belief. The plot was absolutely implausible. What a load of tosh.
I have done it again. Read an absolute rubbish book to the end. How this book got published is beyond belief. The plot was absolutely implausible. What a load of tosh.
August 5, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. It kept you gripped until the final pages. Great story, well written with characters you will love and those you will hate. Great read.
November 1, 2023
This sixth in the Tom Wilde series has a doozy of a premise: in 1945 Hitler did not kill himself in his Berlin bunker and is, instead, in hiding, possibly even in Germany. Wilde is at home in Cambridge, preparing to return to teaching history, when a representative of the OSS arrives to persuade him to go to Germany to investigate, with the assistance of a British Army officer, Lieutenant Moses Heck. Heck is a Dutch Jew whose entire family was killed in the Holocaust. He alone escaped being rounded up from their Dutch home, made his way to England, and lied about his age to enlist and fight the Nazis.
The book is a riveting tale, with lots of tension and action. Some of the action feels cinematic; for example a scene of Wilde and Heck driving through a mountain pass and discovering that they are being pursued by a large truck while another is barreling at them from the front. In addition to all the action, there is enough character development for the reader to feel committed to the characters and their stories. Moses Heck is like a Quentin Tarantino character, a young man who looks much older, thanks to an intimidating unibrow, and one whose thirst for revenge is nearly uncontrollable. At the same time, he is open and friendly to anyone he doesn’t consider a Nazi or sympathizer, and has a snarky sense of humor. Wilde is his usual calm and determined self, a man of learning who finds himself playing an active part in one of the most important historical events of his time.
Clements sets his historical scene well, and makes his fictional plot entirely believable. He mixes in a number of real-life characters as bit players, mostly former Nazis being interviewed by Wilde and Heck as part of their investigation. One side character is a boy named Jerzy, a Polish orphan in a displaced-persons camp, who is obsessed with photography and helps Wilde and Heck. The Jerzy character made me think of the late author Jerzy Kosinski, who was also a young Polish Jewish survivor of the war.
I have read some but not all of the books in this series, and I don’t think a reader would be disadvantaged by not having read any of the series books before this one.
The book is a riveting tale, with lots of tension and action. Some of the action feels cinematic; for example a scene of Wilde and Heck driving through a mountain pass and discovering that they are being pursued by a large truck while another is barreling at them from the front. In addition to all the action, there is enough character development for the reader to feel committed to the characters and their stories. Moses Heck is like a Quentin Tarantino character, a young man who looks much older, thanks to an intimidating unibrow, and one whose thirst for revenge is nearly uncontrollable. At the same time, he is open and friendly to anyone he doesn’t consider a Nazi or sympathizer, and has a snarky sense of humor. Wilde is his usual calm and determined self, a man of learning who finds himself playing an active part in one of the most important historical events of his time.
Clements sets his historical scene well, and makes his fictional plot entirely believable. He mixes in a number of real-life characters as bit players, mostly former Nazis being interviewed by Wilde and Heck as part of their investigation. One side character is a boy named Jerzy, a Polish orphan in a displaced-persons camp, who is obsessed with photography and helps Wilde and Heck. The Jerzy character made me think of the late author Jerzy Kosinski, who was also a young Polish Jewish survivor of the war.
I have read some but not all of the books in this series, and I don’t think a reader would be disadvantaged by not having read any of the series books before this one.
November 12, 2025
brilliant take on the fate shbsg of Hitler
The Best Tom Wilde so far
Really worth reading
With the rise of Fascism in the US under Trump and the terrifying number of voters in thrall to the Republican Party line of AntiSemitism
Misogyny,Racism against all people of color
Belief that murder other crimes are justified to achieve their goals ( Lenin) of power over all American society with the ultra -rich on top
They are a huge threat to the World Order
Jimmy Carter said US policy shld always put Human Rights first . These people believe the opposite . From Trump on down They don’t govern if they reach positions of power they only commit crimes to enrich themselves and damage others and create chaos so it is difficult to find ways to stop them or hold them accountable
They have dismantled the Separation of powers that made our government stable for over 200 years . Rory Clement’s’ book has a teen age successor to Hitler planning to be the next Nazi Fuhrer . The fear that an actually intelligent skilled politician could follow Trump and finish the destruction of America’s democracy-
“the last best hope of mankind “ is a legitimate fear . My father , stepfather ,and uncle and my husband’s uncles all fought in WW II
Trump cldnt even understands the Arizona Memorial . No one in his family served in 5 generations They are parasites
I’m sad for the children born now whose parents -if they voted for the self -serving idiots now running the country - don’t care what kind of damaged country or planet they will inherit
No one shld be allowed to vote who cannot pass the Citizenship test or doesn’t know the dates , reasons for , and outcomes of the wars of the 20th century.
Ignorant voters will elect men who will lead us down the same destructive path
I’m glad I’m too old to see a totally unchecked Fascist regime come to power . We have one now and not enough good men like Rory Clements ‘ character Tom Wilde are fighting to stop it .
The Best Tom Wilde so far
Really worth reading
With the rise of Fascism in the US under Trump and the terrifying number of voters in thrall to the Republican Party line of AntiSemitism
Misogyny,Racism against all people of color
Belief that murder other crimes are justified to achieve their goals ( Lenin) of power over all American society with the ultra -rich on top
They are a huge threat to the World Order
Jimmy Carter said US policy shld always put Human Rights first . These people believe the opposite . From Trump on down They don’t govern if they reach positions of power they only commit crimes to enrich themselves and damage others and create chaos so it is difficult to find ways to stop them or hold them accountable
They have dismantled the Separation of powers that made our government stable for over 200 years . Rory Clement’s’ book has a teen age successor to Hitler planning to be the next Nazi Fuhrer . The fear that an actually intelligent skilled politician could follow Trump and finish the destruction of America’s democracy-
“the last best hope of mankind “ is a legitimate fear . My father , stepfather ,and uncle and my husband’s uncles all fought in WW II
Trump cldnt even understands the Arizona Memorial . No one in his family served in 5 generations They are parasites
I’m sad for the children born now whose parents -if they voted for the self -serving idiots now running the country - don’t care what kind of damaged country or planet they will inherit
No one shld be allowed to vote who cannot pass the Citizenship test or doesn’t know the dates , reasons for , and outcomes of the wars of the 20th century.
Ignorant voters will elect men who will lead us down the same destructive path
I’m glad I’m too old to see a totally unchecked Fascist regime come to power . We have one now and not enough good men like Rory Clements ‘ character Tom Wilde are fighting to stop it .
July 27, 2023
Rory Clements is the master of the Wartime spy thriller, and once again cements his reputation in this regard with this engaging yarn of the hunt for Hitler in the late Summer of 1945. Didn’t he die in the Berlin bunker I hear you exclaim ? One of history’s enduring conspiracy theories is that Hitler was somehow spirited out of Berlin at the last possible moment as the Soviet armies closed in, with his suicide being faked. It is this theory that the hero of Clements’ other novels, the American Cambridge professor and spy extraordinaire, Tom Wilde, is called upon by the Allied top brass to verify and bring the tyrant to justice.
Wilde is an understated Indiana Jones meets James Bond type hero, determined but not ruthless, liking a drink but no womanizer, suave but understated. The pursuit of his quarry tales him to Bavaria and the high Tyrol, the spiritual heartland of Nazism, a land of beautiful soaring alpine peaks, forests and meadows where Fraulines in dirndls and strapping lads in lederhosen inhabit mountain villages where ancient traditions have remained unchanged over centuries, but where the natural beauty masks a fertile breeding ground for an ideology based on mysticism, the romanticism of past glories and a passionate nationalism based on traditions of conservatism.
One of Clements’ trademarks is the combination of his fictional characters with real-life figures. In this one Wilde meets not only Allan Dulles and other real US top brass, but also encounters Hitler’s secretary Christa Schroeder, his driver Eric Kempka, Hitler youth leader Baldur Von Schirach and WW2 ace aviator Hanna Reitsch. It is this element that gives Clements’ novels their authenticity and kick, combining it with the fictional element to produce a work in the wartime genre that is a combination of the best of Alastair McClean, Jack Higgins and Robert Harris.
Wilde is an understated Indiana Jones meets James Bond type hero, determined but not ruthless, liking a drink but no womanizer, suave but understated. The pursuit of his quarry tales him to Bavaria and the high Tyrol, the spiritual heartland of Nazism, a land of beautiful soaring alpine peaks, forests and meadows where Fraulines in dirndls and strapping lads in lederhosen inhabit mountain villages where ancient traditions have remained unchanged over centuries, but where the natural beauty masks a fertile breeding ground for an ideology based on mysticism, the romanticism of past glories and a passionate nationalism based on traditions of conservatism.
One of Clements’ trademarks is the combination of his fictional characters with real-life figures. In this one Wilde meets not only Allan Dulles and other real US top brass, but also encounters Hitler’s secretary Christa Schroeder, his driver Eric Kempka, Hitler youth leader Baldur Von Schirach and WW2 ace aviator Hanna Reitsch. It is this element that gives Clements’ novels their authenticity and kick, combining it with the fictional element to produce a work in the wartime genre that is a combination of the best of Alastair McClean, Jack Higgins and Robert Harris.
August 3, 2023
The war is over, and the uneasy peace begins. The four powers have split the former Reich into spheres of influence and are in a desperate race to capture anyone of use and control their populations as best they can. The British and Americans face the Soviets in an uneasy, mistrustful peace, and hundreds of thousands of refugees are fighting to survive.
Phil Eaton, MI6 spy, and long-time associate of Tom Wilde arrives at his home with news of rumours that Hitler may be alive and asks Wilde to travel to Germany to track him down. With little to go on, and a hot-headed Army Lieutenant as a partner, Wilde must navigate the ruins of Germany and determine who is a friend and who secretly (or not so secretly) still believes in the Nazis.
This is not a bad outing for Wilde. Mr. Clements vividly captures the horrors of post-war Germany, and the virtually collapsed civilisation. The vast number of people still loyal to Hitler is depressingly realistic, as the hatred felt on all sides. To an extent, this verges on alternate history, but no problem with that. I will likely read the next in the series.
Phil Eaton, MI6 spy, and long-time associate of Tom Wilde arrives at his home with news of rumours that Hitler may be alive and asks Wilde to travel to Germany to track him down. With little to go on, and a hot-headed Army Lieutenant as a partner, Wilde must navigate the ruins of Germany and determine who is a friend and who secretly (or not so secretly) still believes in the Nazis.
This is not a bad outing for Wilde. Mr. Clements vividly captures the horrors of post-war Germany, and the virtually collapsed civilisation. The vast number of people still loyal to Hitler is depressingly realistic, as the hatred felt on all sides. To an extent, this verges on alternate history, but no problem with that. I will likely read the next in the series.
March 6, 2024
Tom Wilde has a new mission, to find Hitler who the Americans, British and Russians suspect didn't die in the German Bunker in April 1945.
This action packed adventure takes Wilde from academic Cambridge to Austria and Germany in search of the former Nazi dictator. Clements uses as a counterpoint to Wilde, Mosez Heck a Jewish Dutchman out to kill as many Nazis as possible as an act of revenge. They become the good cop, bad cop of the novel.
The author uses a mixture of fictional and real characters from the time in Wilde's quest in finding Hitler.
One of the more interesting being, Hannah Reitsh a celebrity female pilot who escaped Soviet held Berlin by plane and was questioned by the Americans, accused of having Hitler as a passenger on the same flight.
Wilde doesn't shy away from the brutality of war or conditions in displacements camps across Europe. There are a couple of sub-ploys involving Wilde's wife and a soviet defector which enable the author to give more missions to Tom Wilde in the future.
This action packed adventure takes Wilde from academic Cambridge to Austria and Germany in search of the former Nazi dictator. Clements uses as a counterpoint to Wilde, Mosez Heck a Jewish Dutchman out to kill as many Nazis as possible as an act of revenge. They become the good cop, bad cop of the novel.
The author uses a mixture of fictional and real characters from the time in Wilde's quest in finding Hitler.
One of the more interesting being, Hannah Reitsh a celebrity female pilot who escaped Soviet held Berlin by plane and was questioned by the Americans, accused of having Hitler as a passenger on the same flight.
Wilde doesn't shy away from the brutality of war or conditions in displacements camps across Europe. There are a couple of sub-ploys involving Wilde's wife and a soviet defector which enable the author to give more missions to Tom Wilde in the future.
September 21, 2022
Run of the mill second world war thriller.
Lightweight and predictable but I did want to find out what happened next.
I'm a sucker for anything about the demise of Hitler so this book caught my attention. I'd read one of the earlier books in this series about the Cambridge University based spy Tom Wilde, 'Nucleus,' that was probably a slightly better read but they're obviously similar.
In this book Wilde is tasked by 'OSS' the forerunner of the CIA to investigate rumours that Hitler didn't die in the bunker and is alive and at large somewhere in an Alpine Fortress.
There's a subplot which seems only to serve the purpose of setting things up for the follow up where a Russian agent dupes Wilde into helping him defect to Cambridge so he can spy for Moscow possibly with the help of Wilde's friend/boss Phillip Eaton.
This was a very easy book to read and pick up and put down and that's it's virtue. Go into this without too many expectations and it's likely to be enjoyed.
Lightweight and predictable but I did want to find out what happened next.
I'm a sucker for anything about the demise of Hitler so this book caught my attention. I'd read one of the earlier books in this series about the Cambridge University based spy Tom Wilde, 'Nucleus,' that was probably a slightly better read but they're obviously similar.
In this book Wilde is tasked by 'OSS' the forerunner of the CIA to investigate rumours that Hitler didn't die in the bunker and is alive and at large somewhere in an Alpine Fortress.
There's a subplot which seems only to serve the purpose of setting things up for the follow up where a Russian agent dupes Wilde into helping him defect to Cambridge so he can spy for Moscow possibly with the help of Wilde's friend/boss Phillip Eaton.
This was a very easy book to read and pick up and put down and that's it's virtue. Go into this without too many expectations and it's likely to be enjoyed.
November 19, 2022
This gripped me. A real-life conspiracy played out with plausibility and told with a pace that keeps you turning the page. The characters are real, they have flaws in a world that is flawed, and you feel the emotion of the time. The raw, barbaric nature of the time, the first months of peace where some still believe in Hitler's vision while others mourn the loss of their own humanity, is portrayed brilliantly. The killing of the sick old Nazi man in the house once owned by a Jewish family simply because his daughter lived there having had the family sent to the camps is a shockingly brilliant way to bring this home. Any other time a hero shooting an old man in cold blood would shock you as a witness, yet somehow you know you would have done the same. No need for metaphors here. This story is an emotional rollercoaster where small acts of humanity can change your perception of what it means to be human.
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