The Accomplice

September 16, 2019
Edgar-winner Kanon (Defectors) goes through the motions in this uninspired historical thriller. In 1962 Hamburg, Germany, Max Weill, who has dedicated his life since the Holocaust to getting justice for its victims, is hoping to convince his nephew Aaron Wiley, an intelligence analyst for the CIA, to carry on the family tradition. Max’s efforts are unsuccessful until he’s convinced that he spots Otto Schramm, a doctor who partnered with Josef Mengele and was believed to have died in a car accident. Aaron is skeptical, until he stakes out the funeral of Schramm’s wife in a cemetery near the Hamburg airport, along with a reporter friend, Fritz Gruber, and spots the doctor in attendance, complete with a hulking bodyguard who destroys Gruber’s camera and film. Schramm escapes to Buenos Aires, followed by Aaron, who gets close to the Nazi’s attractive daughter by pretending to be conducting a research project on the children of the architects of the Holocaust. Readers looking for a nuanced look at the impact of the sins of the parents will be disappointed. This is a low suspense outing from a writer capable of much better. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM Partners.

Jonathan Davis gives an unparalleled performance of Joseph Kanon's exciting, thought-provoking, and highly satisfying novel set in 1962, after the capture and execution of Adolf Eichmann, the infamous Nazi. Max Weill, an Auschwitz survivor and famed Nazi hunter, spots Otto Schramm in a Hamburg park. Schramm, a high-ranking Nazi and Mengele co-worker, was presumed dead. Aging and ill, Max insists that his nephew, Aaron, an office worker with a safe, comfortable CIA desk job, find the elusive Nazi. Aaron finds himself out of his depth as he becomes entangled in both the search for Schramm and his feelings for Hanna, Schramm's daughter. Davis effortlessly becomes all the actors, everyone from Israeli Mossad and CIA field agents to Hanna and to Schramm himself. The shocking conclusion will leave listeners reeling. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine