A Place To Hide by Ronald H. Balson (2024)
I'm tempted to say how up-to-the-minute this book is, arriving in the very midst of our American election, but then.....oh well, I've already said it haven't I?
This is one powerful, ambitious historical adventure, filled with meticulous research and enough genuine real life suspense and dread to fill a dozen thrillers. For sheer terror with the sweep of world-changing history, no era could compare with Hitler's conquering Nazi hordes marching across Europe. And as they swallow the continent, they fully enforce their so-called 'final solution' to Europe's Jewish population - total extermination.
Caught in the swirl of horrendous oncoming events is Theordore 'Teddy Hartigan' a young State Department striver who found himself assigned to the thankless task of administrating refugee travel visas at the American consulate in Amsterdam. It's a heartbreaking futile effort for Teddy since the visa quotas are filled and he can do little or nothing to help thousands of desperate families seeking the sanctuary of America to avoid persecution and death at the hands of the Nazis
.
Then Teddy, who naively thought Germany would not invade the Netherlands,, comes to fully comprehend the oncoming abomination. He's fallen in love with Sara, a Jewish schoolteacher and they've both come to adore little Katy, an orphaned, Jewish refugee. With travel papers impossible to obtain as Nazis march into Amsterdam, how can he possibly save them along with thousands of others trying to escape?
Told in the form of memoirs dictated by a now elderly Teddy, "A Place To Hide' masterfully creates a full vivid picture of innocent people caught in the crush of the most unimaginable events in 20th century history. And that, for me was enough to keep me reading long into the night and eager to get right back to it the next day. Highest recommendation.
(And I'll even resist saying things like....'and if you think it can't happen here'........oops, I did it again, didn't I.....Let's just say, if you remember to vote, you can prevent books like this sounding like Previews Of Coming Attractions. )
This is one powerful, ambitious historical adventure, filled with meticulous research and enough genuine real life suspense and dread to fill a dozen thrillers. For sheer terror with the sweep of world-changing history, no era could compare with Hitler's conquering Nazi hordes marching across Europe. And as they swallow the continent, they fully enforce their so-called 'final solution' to Europe's Jewish population - total extermination.
Caught in the swirl of horrendous oncoming events is Theordore 'Teddy Hartigan' a young State Department striver who found himself assigned to the thankless task of administrating refugee travel visas at the American consulate in Amsterdam. It's a heartbreaking futile effort for Teddy since the visa quotas are filled and he can do little or nothing to help thousands of desperate families seeking the sanctuary of America to avoid persecution and death at the hands of the Nazis
.
Then Teddy, who naively thought Germany would not invade the Netherlands,, comes to fully comprehend the oncoming abomination. He's fallen in love with Sara, a Jewish schoolteacher and they've both come to adore little Katy, an orphaned, Jewish refugee. With travel papers impossible to obtain as Nazis march into Amsterdam, how can he possibly save them along with thousands of others trying to escape?
Told in the form of memoirs dictated by a now elderly Teddy, "A Place To Hide' masterfully creates a full vivid picture of innocent people caught in the crush of the most unimaginable events in 20th century history. And that, for me was enough to keep me reading long into the night and eager to get right back to it the next day. Highest recommendation.
(And I'll even resist saying things like....'and if you think it can't happen here'........oops, I did it again, didn't I.....Let's just say, if you remember to vote, you can prevent books like this sounding like Previews Of Coming Attractions. )
5 stars (*****)
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