We are in Prague, in 1942. Two men have been enlisted to kill the head of the Gestapo. This is Operation Anthropoid: two Czechoslovakian parachutists sent by London plan to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich - head of the Nazi secret services, 'the hangman of Prague', 'the blond beast', 'the most dangerous man in the Third Reich'.
Heydrich works for Hitler's most powerful henchman, Heinrich Himmler, but in the SS they say 'HHhH': 'Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich' - Himmler's brain is called Heydrich.
All the characters in HHhH existed then or still exist now. All the events depicted are true. But alongside the nerve-shredding story of the preparations for the attack runs another story: when you are writing about real people, how do you resist the temptation to make things up?
HHhH is a panorama of the Third Reich told through the life of one outstandingly brutal man, a story of unbearable heroism and loyalty, revenge and betrayal. It is improbably entertaining and electrifyingly modern. It is a moving, tense, and shattering work of fiction.
This book is magnificent. I have read many books on WW2, and Heydrich in particular, but Binet still manages to give the subject new life for me. The writing style is one I haven't come across before. It's hard to even pinpoint what genre it is. At points it's a novel, but infused with Binet's thoughts and feelings about his writing. It's strange, but he makes it work. I could also see myself in the author in these moments, which was nice. One of the best books I have read in awhile.
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