Review: Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman

Prisoner of Night and Fog

Author: Anne Blankman
Series: Prisoner of Night and Fog #1
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Format: ebook
Release Date: April 22, 2014
Source: egalley received from publisher via Edelweiss
Rating: 2.5 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.*** 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In 1930s Munich, danger lurks behind dark corners, and secrets are buried deep within the city. But Gretchen Müller, who grew up in the National Socialist Party under the wing of her "uncle" Dolf, has been shielded from that side of society ever since her father traded his life for Dolf's, and Gretchen is his favorite, his pet.

Uncle Dolf is none other than Adolf Hitler.

And Gretchen follows his every command.

Until she meets a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter named Daniel Cohen. Gretchen should despise Daniel, yet she can't stop herself from listening to his story: that her father, the adored Nazi martyr, was actually murdered by an unknown comrade. She also can't help the fierce attraction brewing between them, despite everything she's been taught to believe about Jews.

As Gretchen investigates the very people she's always considered friends, she must decide where her loyalties lie. Will she choose the safety of her former life as a Nazi darling, or will she dare to dig up the truth—even if it could get her and Daniel killed?

From debut author Anne Blankman comes this harrowing and evocative story about an ordinary girl faced with the extraordinary decision to give up everything she's ever believed . . . and to trust her own heart instead.

My Review:

I was so excited about this book. I love this time period and I found it so interesting to hear from a girl who thinks of Hitler as an uncle. What a great perspective, one that we never really hear from. What was it like to be close to him? What was he really like as a person? Such interesting things to be learned from this book.

I enjoyed it. I really did. But I had some pretty big issues with it. The first being how slow the story moved. It dragged in many parts and honestly felt repetitive for the vast majority. The main character, Gretchen, is trying to figure out what happened to her father. At first, she thought his death was an act of heroism, throwing himself in front of Hitler in order to save his life. But when she discovers that he may have been murdered, she sets out to discover the truth. Basically her search leads her from one person to the next which is why it got repetitive. It’s just her trying to find one person. Then her trying to find another person. Then her trying to find another person, etc. I was honestly bored in places. In addition to it being slow, I also thought that things were too easy. Pieces of the puzzle just happened to fall in place and there were many places in the book where it said things like “by a stroke of luck”. There was an awful lot of luck going on.

The other thing that really bothered me (and this was totally just a me thing) was that I felt like this story was begging to be written in first person. It was written in third. But for some reason I kept wanting it to be in first. I think it’s because I really felt like we were in Gretchen’s head, but the third person made it feel disjointed. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just crazy. But it bugged me throughout the entire book.

The romance was sweet, but it was quick. Way too fast. There was no real relationship development and because of that it felt like insta-love. I also think that Gretchen changed her entire opinion on Jews way too fast. She was brought up hearing how horrible Jews were. It was ingrained in her since she was a child, yet she gets over it pretty freaking quickly. It didn’t seem right.

On to the good things. The setting and the history were amazing. The author really did paint a picture of what it was like to live in Munich after WWI. You could feel all the political tension leading up to the start of WWII and I loved that. I also liked the picture that we got of Hitler. I don’t really know a lot about him personally. I mean, I know what the history books have taught us, but with this book we got to see a more personal side to him. He was a very complicated man and it was interesting to see some different shades of him.

So overall, the book was just okay. While I am interested in what happens next, I’m not sure if I’m interested enough to continue the series. I guess we will see how I feel when the sequel comes out. If you’re interested in this time period and learning more about Hitler as a person, then I would say give this one a try. But if you’re looking for a deeply moving historical fiction, I would maybe skip this one. Happy reading all! 

Let's talk! Have you read this book? What did you think? Did you find the parts about Hitler interesting? What about the plot line and the romance?