The Night of the Generals

by Hans Hellmut Kirst

Book Overview

A Polish prostitute is murdered in Warsaw in 1942. The possible suspects are narrowed down to three German generals, but the investigation eventually comes to nothing. A similar crime happens in Paris... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0007FF5M6
• Release Date: January 1965
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

thanks MR . Asiner for ruining the plot

I am am currently reading the novel. I came to the review section to see what others were saying. the FIRST review I read gives away the ENTIRE plot line. Thanks for ruining a good book.

awakening, Vincent in flames

Gabler, Kahlenberge, Tanz. A cold blood trail from Warsaw to Paris, and later on back to Fatherland. The inner demons eclipse the surreal nightmare that created them.

Thank you Mr. Asiner

Would someone please explain to Mr. Asiner that the point of a review is to give one's opinion as to whether or not the book is good; not to give away ever single bit of the plot, including the ending! No reason to buy this book now after reading his "review". I bet the author and publisher are happy about that.

Night of the Generals: Out of Time--Out of Place

The Second World War has produced many different kinds of novels, but the detective novel has not often been the case. In NIGHT OF THE GENERALS, Hans Hellmut Kirst tells of a German general who uses his position to kill women as if he were a Teutonic Jack the Ripper. The problem with writing a murder mystery using the deaths of millions as a backdrop is that the reader is forced to face an unsettling question: what is the value of one human life taken in murder when millions more are taken during battle? General Tanz is the Nazi general who likes to slice up [hookers]. After he commits a few murders, one police officer, Major Grau, begins to suspect him, but lacks the proof needed to accuse a general. When Grau does get the proof, Tanz has him arrested and executed. All this detective work takes place before and after the plot on Hitler's life in 1944. Tanz survives the war only to continue his killing in the Soviet bloc countries. Another policeman, a friend of Grau's, picks up the chase, and brings with him a witness to Tanz's murders. Faced with the publicity of being accused a serial killer, the general commits suicide. This book is the classic cat-and-mouse novel, with the suspect revealed from the very first chapter. The power of the book lies in whether the general or the police will triumph. However, it is unavoidable to consider how one life figures into the bigger scheme of things while a world war is raging. Concepts such as truth, justice, personal responsibility, and accountability form the philosophical underpinning. By the time, the reader gets to the end, he can see that the death of one woman still counts for something even while mass craziness is being perpetrated on millions of others.

REVIEW OF A FIRST RATE THRILLER

AN EXCELLENT CRIME THILLER WHICH FOR A LONG TIME REFUSES TO LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS.A FIRST RATE MOVIE OF THE SAME NAME WAS MADE A FEW DECADES BACK.THE BOOK GRIPS YOU FROM THE BEGINING AND THE READER ASKS FOR MORE OF THE SAME.THE WRITER HAS EXCELLENT UNDERSTANDING OF MILITARY ADMINISTRATION SPECIALLY WHEN IT HAS TO PASS THROUGU THE TURBULANCE AND STRESS & STRAINS OF WAR.