FATHERLAND

The year is 1964. Nazi Germany has won WWII, Hitler is alive and well, and Joseph P. Kennedy is president of the United States. Berlin detective Xavier March enters this mad world to investigate a drowning and instead finds murder, suspicion, and a terrifying secret. The listener is thrust into the plot from the start. There's no back-story, no explanations--just satisfying intimacy and immediacy, as in film noir. This BBC Radio 4 full-cast production truly creates an audio movie, saturated with spot-on sound effects. The trains, the cheap cigarettes, and the cold drizzle surround you. Excellent on the ears and provocative in the "what ifs" of alternate history. B.P. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 05]