CRYSTAL NIGHT

Seifer’s saga shifts between Nazi Germany and the country’s problematic present-day repercussions as a man tries to piece together his past.

Rudy Styne, a reporter for Modern Times Magazine, has always been intrigued by his past, especially because he has a relative who could be his twin. But Rudy’s doppelgänger, Rolf Linzman, is 15 years older than him. This fact takes us to the story of the Maxwells, beginning in the run-up to World War II; there’s Elias—a Jew trying to pass as Christian—his son, Abe, and their servant family, the Linzmans, Gunter and his grandson, Gunter III, aka Guntie. Elias enjoys a successful career designing and building airplanes, but because everyone knows the Maxwells are Jews, they could lose everything. Eventually (and with crushing irony) the Nazi leadership puts the Linzmans in charge of the company, and the Maxwells must flee for their lives. Casting an ominous shadow over these proceedings is the notorious figure of Hermann Göring, Hitler’s right-hand man, head of the Luftwaffe, and a flamboyant, larger-than-life character whose dress uniform had “so many colorful badges that it looked like a concession stand.” Another standout character, besides Abe himself, is his daughter, Rose, a piano prodigy who, at age 6, manages to offend the narcissistic Hitler at a concert. And then, in a loosely connected present-day subplot, there are evil genius computer hackers with names like NTroodr, T-Dan Mulrooney, and Code Breaker Morant. Sorting out the almost doppelgänger likeness between Rudy and Rolf eventually asserts itself as a major plot thread, and it is indeed a clever device. And the book also serves as a detailed historical summary of Hitler’s strategies during World War II. In an endnote, Seifer separates his fictional characters—Rudy, the Maxwells, the Linzmans, for instance—from the many well-known historical ones he includes. In the narrative itself, however, the author blends fact and fiction almost seamlessly. The subplot with the competing hackers is a tad overwhelming, and many readers will find it hard to understand their machinations. But Seifer is clearly having fun juggling so many characters, time periods, and themes, and his creative energy is infectious.

A clever, finely detailed historical mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the end.