Book Blurb:
This book is inspired by real events: Kurt is a good-looking Lutheran boy from the slums of Berlin. An orphan of WWI. He is taken in and raised by a wealthy Jewish couple, Mamma and Papa Kaufmann, who give him not only a loving home, but the best advantages money can buy. Educated at a prestigious gymnasium, where he first discovers his sexuality and love for his best friend Sascha. Amidst the political turmoil of the late 1920s, Kurt is seemingly uninterested by the radicalism of the Bolsheviks and the Nazis. In fact, he hates all politicians equally and trusts none of them. After Gymnasium, Kurt is accepted into the Prussian War Academy as an officer cadet. Over the next two years, Kurt proves himself to be an exceptional cadet and soon comes to the notice of Oberst Count Max von Wallenberg, head of Abwehr Counterespionage, who is impressed by the boy and decides to keep an eye him as a potential counterintelligence agent. Max recognises the growing popularity of the Nazis pose a clear threat to democracy and is resolved to do everything in his power to stop Hitler from becoming Chancellor of Germany. On the eve of Kurt’s graduation and commissioning, Papa Kaufmann is gunned down by Nazis outside his office. It’s a devastating blow for Kurt, and an epiphany. Max starts the process to recruit Kurt into the Abwehr and Kurt is sent from the academy to the Bavarian Alps to undergo months of gruelling and top secret “special training”. When he returns to Berlin as a commissioned Leutnant, he is recruited by the Abwehr. 1932, Max meets an old war friends from the Austrian police, Oscar Schmidt, who has a very interesting story to tell about a male prostitute, blackmailer, art forger and old friend of Hitler’s, Philip Beck, back in Vienna when they lived at a flophouse together; a place well known for rent boys. Beck is in Germany and was arrested and detained until Oskar arrived to take him back to Vienna, where he is wanted for murdering his landlord and lover. Only someone let him go and now Beck is on the run. Oskar tells Max that while investigating Beck, he discovered there is a police dossier on Hitler, a dossier that mysteriously went missing in 1923. Oskar tells Max that the dossier was taken by Major Burgamann, head of the Austrian Secret police and contains information that would destroy Hitler’s credibility. Hitler’s friend and chauffeur, Julius Schreck sends the homicidal maniac Bruno Metz to Austria to find the missing dossier. But the dossier has been taken to safety by Burgamann’s secretary Simon Hrach, and the Major suffers a heart attack and dies before Bruno can find anything out. In France, Hrach is hiding out, waiting for his old friend, Marcus Wolff a professional blackmailer from Munich, who has promised to buy the Hitler dossier from him, so Hrach can escape from Europe. The Abwehr’s, a step ahead of Bruno Metz, learn that Wolff has a secret address in a boarding house run by a lesbian opera singer, Fräulein Georg , where Wolff’s gay lover lives. Max realises that they have to get an agent into the house to intercept the dossier as soon as Marcus Wolff shows up with it. There’s just one problem: The house on Türkenstrasse is no ordinary boarding house; the tenants are all gay young artists. Boris, who suspects that Kurt is gay, suggests that Kurt would be ideal for the mission. He even has a talent for drawing, Boris tells Max. In the Türkenstrasse house, Kurt soon falls into the Bohemian lifestyle and falls deeply in love with Wolff’s lover, Xavier Knopp, who is autistic. Soon, Kurt will not only have to fight for his own life, he’ll have to fight to save the lives of his friends and lover and a deadly and bloody duel ensues that will leave many people dead, and Kurt’s true skill as a marksman comes into its own…
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/Zzut
Author Bio:
Chris Black is a multi-genre author of contemporary, historical and science fiction/horror novels. Chris grew up in South East London, UK, the son of a truck driver and bookkeeper. Chris developed a love for storytelling and writing from the age of ten, when he was given his first typewriter. Also at a young age, he developed a passion for history and space exploration and is a keen believer in the existence extra-terrestrial life.
Chris lived for four years in France, travelling extensively through Europe working as a photographer and videographer, but writing has always been his true calling, along with an eclectic range of interests from Ancient History to quantum physics and much more in between, which give his novels an often poignant and sometimes scary realism such as the Chameleon books set in pre-war Nazi Germany, a subject Chris has studied since he was a schoolboy.
Editorial Review:
Chameleon is a powerful novel set in Nazi Germany, during World War II. The author depicts the harrowing events, bone chilling fear, inhumane violence and senseless cruelty which was rampant during that time with skill and heartfelt emotions. This can be a difficult read and certainly comes with a fair share of trigger warnings. However, this is due to the nature of the content of the novel as opposed to the writing itself.
The author has significant skill in getting to the heart of many of the issues during that time. One of the protagonists, Kurt, is acting as a double agent working both for the Nazi’s as well as engaging in vigilante justice against them. His perspective about the Nazi movement is on point after being accosted to constantly show his identity papers, “The Nazis were masters at the art of incrementalism, picking away at the threads of liberty one at a time so the unenlightened masses would hardly blink at it and even excuse it. But the noose was tightening, and the enlightened such as him could not only feel it, they could see it happening all around them every day, and some of the stories he had heard of torture and unspeakable brutality, turned even his seasoned blood cold.” This is a powerful statement about the extensive brainwashing campaigns which were occurring all over Germany and the susceptibility of the masses to this bombardment. It perfectly reveals the gradual process of indoctrination that the Nazi’s meted out and how people’s freedoms were plucked away bit by bit without them even realizing.
As well as Kurt, another protagonist who plays an important role within the novel is Victor von Ritter. He is the son of a high ranking Nazi and is forced into the party. However, a well kept secret is the fact that he is homosexual. This was an extremely dangerous orientation to have during this time as gay men and women were thrown in concentration camps and usually received the worst treatment from the guards. The fear that homosexuals faced during this time is palpable throughout the novel. The emotions stirred within Kurt depict this state, “Kurt took a drag from his cigarette. Watching them abusing and arresting his priapic brothers and not being able to help them was tearing him apart. It filled him with a murderous rage – and fear, such hideous fear, all the time, stemming from being terrified someone would find out that he was a One-SevenFiver too, and that he too would be dragged off by the Gestapo to be beaten, tortured and thrown into a concentration camp. It didn’t matter who he was. Jews and Homosexuals were Himmler’s and Heydrich’s pet hates, and they were on a crusade to eradicate both from Germany.”
Chameleon is well-paced and keeps the readers on their toes as to what will happen next. Chapter’s end on cliffhangers keeping readers on tenterhooks. The suspense, espionage, plot twists and subterfuge are skillfully implemented, completely entrenching readers in a different, more horrific world. The author’s descriptions of key authority figures within the Nazi regime is nothing short of chilling. This is captured when Victor meets SS-Standartenführer Nikita Solberg, “Solberg looked up from his chair, his pale blue eyes so bright they were almost incandescent like sea ice backlit by the sun. There wasn’t a single glimmer of meekness or humanity to be found anywhere in those cold, glowing beads of ice. They might have been vacant windows hiding a machine of cogs and springs that, like Heydrich, knew nothing of the human condition or of empathy. He existed purely on the basest of predatory instincts, always looking for the jugular before he looked for anything else.” The lack of humanity truly is the most horrifying aspect behind all that occurred during this time, which the author retells perfectly.
Moreover, the author captures the atrocities faced by the concentration camp prisoners in heartbreaking detail. Through his descriptions, readers truly get a sense of the total loss in freedom and brutality the prisoners were forced to endure. This is evident through one of his descriptions of Dachau, “The horrors and daily hell of life in the camp were simply too much for some, breaking not only their bodies, but their minds too, and they withdrew into an inner world. And could not or would not be retrieved. Nothing, not even the threat of being shot would make them endure any more. They were soon taken away to be quietly murdered by the SS.”
Although Chameleon is a work of fiction, the author includes notes at the end of the chapters pertaining to information relating to some of the true historical figures. This adds a layer of depth to the story as well as anchors it into reality. It is too easy to read these sorts of stories and feel a sense of separation, as if the horrors enacted couldn’t possibly be true or committed by real people. However, the author emphasizes the point that the atrocities were real, committed by real people. This is such an important element to include as it reminds readers that we must collectively learn from our mistakes, value other human beings unconditionally, prize our personal and collective freedoms and not let these be taken from us under any circumstances.
Additionally, the author is particularly talented at developing the main characters. Readers truly get a sense of knowing who they are, their motivations and their values and ideals in life. Readers get extensive insight into the mental and emotional landscapes of their minds. The only potential weakness may be that there are many characters introduced throughout the course of the novel which resulted in a hefty mental load for readers to remember. Nonetheless, this did not interrupt the flow of the story nor the strong emotions and connection it evoked.
Chameleon could be perceived as a difficult read due to the powerful nature and emotions evoked within the story. However, it is crafted with such skill and interweaves noble themes such as freedom, love, humanity, truth and sticking to one’s ideals which this reader found made it an important read. The author obviously engaged in what must have been meticulous and extensive research to bring about this highly informative and heartrending story.
*****
“Chameleon” by Chris Black receives four stars from The Historical Fiction Company
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