Review Detail

Gretchen’s father lost his life protecting a friend, a friend who has become so dear to her family that Gretchen calls him uncle and he absolutely dotes on her. Her ‘uncle’ is none other than Adolf Hitler and Gretchen has always obeyed his orders without thinking about them. Until she meets a Jewish reporter named Daniel who makes her start questioning the events of her father’s death. She must decide if learning the truth about her father is worth giving up the safety of being her ‘uncle’ Dolf’s little pet.

This was a highly impressive debut novel from Anne Blankman. There were so many facts about what was happening at this time in real life woven into the plot without it coming across as dry or simply stuffed in to seem impressive. It gave a great perspective on how easily it can be to get sucked in by someone who has firm beliefs and who’s passionate and charismatic, make you believe you want what they want.

I love Gretchen as a character. The slow progression from her believing everything Hitler has taught her to discovering who she really is was well-written and believable. It wasn’t instant, there were some slips backwards, and that was what made me believe it. She fought through everything that was trying to keep her an agreeable little girl and became a young woman with her own thoughts and her own beliefs.

The romance was sweet and I like that it never became the focus. The story was always Gretchen’s journey and Daniel was someone who could help her discover herself and discover the truth about her father. He was supportive and caring and everything he needed to be for her.

The first half of the book was a little slow but things picked up around the halfway mark, and tension really picked up in the last quarter. It was clear the author did her research before writing about this time and these events. Plenty of real events were mentions, real people were present, and there was an author’s note and a bibliography packed with more information along with each part of the book containing a quote from Hitler.

This was a book that was hard to put down with lots of tension and action, great characters(both good and evil), and well-researched.