The German Suitcase

A good kernel of a story but too much restating of the obvious made this a distracting read.

This author didn't trust his readers enough to follow the story carefully. I'll admit to a little confusion, but kinda figured out the exchange of identities pretty early on ( when the handwriting analysis exposed the differing tattoos). This was pretty much confirmed when the tattoo artist was introduced in the bordello. I was hoping there might be a more unpredictable plot twist but I was wrong.

Also, the dialog was poorly written. The scene in which Max ( Jacob) finally meets Eva in the hospital after all those many miles and weeks was horribly and dismissively understated. " Oh Max is that you?" was simply unbelievable.

Sent from my iPad

I tracked this novel for over a year. I had never heard of it nor the writer...but the "reviews" were always quite positive.
Finally I purchased it and sadly could not believe how disappointed the novel is. The characters and dialogue were sub par. No sign of development and frankly very cliche. The "bad guys" wore black leather of course and the protagonist was paper thin.
I am curious and ask the question: Is this book SELF PUBLISHED? I am suspicious as well as to who wrote the reviews on the back cover. Reader/buyer beware. Way over priced as well.

Poorly written. Have read many books about the holocaust. Very disappointed. By comparison Moonglow by Chabon was an example of masterful writing.

It is early 1945 in war-torn Munich and the medical school is trying to churn out doctors to support the Nazi war machine via accelerated programs while also functioning as a full-fledged hospital treating the wounded resulting from the aerial bombing campaign. Three of the doctors working in the hospital are close friends including two who are romantically involved. The problem is that two of them are also Jewish doctors and the SS is on their trail. A series of vignettes, alternating between the hectic days of the closing of World War 2 and New York City almost 60 years later, tells their story. The connection is the suitcase in the title.

We read about the desires of the doctors to save lives, even as they live through the horrors of Nazi Germany. We read about the Nazi SS doctor who ends us assigned to the Dachau concentration camp as punishment and eventually assigned to Ramp duty. We also follow the other two doctors, the Jewish ones, who attempt to escape, and follow their routes as they end up in Auschwitz. In between these chapters, we read about a modern woman who is a brilliant copywriter, working for an advertising agency, who comes up with an idea for a campaign involving this suitcase that she finds in a trash heap. This leads her, and her boyfriend, to investigate the origins of the suitcase and its owners, unravel the story of the holocaust, and come across the trail of the three doctors. Eventually, the whole story is revealed and the tragic elements of it all are laid out for everyone to peruse.

While I liked the general premise, there were several problems with the storyline. For one, too many coincidental connections made no sense. How, for instance, does Major Steig find Eva in Venice after the war? Supposedly some sort of SS network that survives the war and is prevalent in Italy immediately after the war is over? That is one of the minor ones! The whole survival, untouched, or the suitcase itself is a major fault – 20 years after the family leaves the building it is disposed of at the exact moment that our heroine is looking for a sample of that exact type? And she happens to live across the street? Really???

There are also many technical problems with the book. Sentences that are cut off and resume on the next line. Whole pages that end in the middle (see page 127 for a particularly bad example) and then continue on the next page. Typos galore.

The biggest problem though was the predictability. I figured out the identity switching scheme within the first few chapters and the only detail that remained until the final third of the book was the female name.

For all these reasons, I cut down my rating to a three star.

Very good! Loved it

The book has a fantastic ending. It will generate a lot of discussion for a book club. It is very well written.

Dinallo is the consummate adventure/mystery writer. He is very thorough when it comes to research and his novels - especially The German Suitcase - has the feel of authenticity. I have read three of Gregory Dinallo's novels and look forward to reading others.

Suspensville and gripping!

Just when readers think they've read every possible view of the Holocaust, out comes another book featuring a "good" SS doctor, who uses his wealth and position to aid Jewish friends. For those of us still trying to comprehend WW II through good historical novels, this is a don't-even-think-about-skipping-this-one. It's a rich story with powerful characters, enough twists for an alpine road, and a "suitcase" which is something of a Pandora's box, letting out truth and secrets rather than evil. Great plot, and even though I figured out the ending ahead of time, the story compelled me to barrel through to the conclusion. This one really shook me up in many positive ways.

A different and modern fictional telling of the situations thrust upon the German people during World War 2 .