A Room Full of Night

December 1, 2018
The teenage boy in Stephen King's "Apt Pupil" observes that if you start out talking about how repulsed you are by the Nazis, you're freed up to find these monsters fascinating. Kenneth's intriguing novel offers a smorgasbord of horror?we have Himmler congratulating his men for remaining "decent fellows" while they murder millions?but she has a point to make with these asides: the horror is ongoing, long after the Nazis. Genocide is "the world's dirty secret," someone says. "Fifty-five million targeted peoples have been murdered since 1945." These observations underlie a fine Ludlum-style thriller. A worn-down journalist comes across a message hidden in an old painting, along with a Berlin address. He's barely begun his search when the first murder occurs. He's led eventually to an organization loosely founded by that Nazi masterpiece of evil, the guy who frightened Hitler: Reinhard Heydrich. The novel sags a bit midway but comes right for a tense, clever, almost funny finale. Recommended for anyone who enjoys creepy history chased with adventure. And ominous observations. Given the same circumstances, Kenneth notes, "most Germans would do it all again."(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)