‘Three Days In Vienna’ by John Steinberg

Synopsis

Elizabeth McCreary’s mother Lillian Frankl was a child of the Kindertransport – but she refuses to speak of the past. Determined to learn more, Elizabeth flies to Vienna on the start of a life-changing journey.

At home in London, her lawyer husband Anthony is facing disgrace. Vast sums have been siphoned off from his firm’s client account to support the far right British Independent Party of which his father, William, is Treasurer. William’s close links with the Crediton Trust in Devon, a pharmaceutical company of prestige and power, are helping to make his political ambitions a reality. However, behind the big-business façade of Crediton lies a dark past rooted in Nazi Germany, of theft and the sinister use to which its drugs were put during World War Two. 

For the McCrearys, one astounding revelation follows another. Nothing can ever be the same – and all roads lead inexorably back to Vienna.

My Review

Anybody who knows me well, knows that not only am I a book geek, but I am a history nerd too.  Combine the two and you get a book geek nerd.  I particularly enjoy reading historical fiction and so you can probably appreciate why the synopsis of ‘Three Days In Vienna’ appealed so much to me.  Although the book is set in modern times, a large part of the story has to do with actions and decisions taken during the Second World War.   I couldn’t wait to start reading and so without further ado I grabbed a cup of tea, grabbed my Kindle and settled down for what proved to be an interesting afternoon of reading.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Three Days In Vienna’ but more about that in a bit.

It took me no time at all to get into ‘Three Days In Vienna’.  In fact as soon as I got to the bottom of the first page I knew that I was in for a treat and then some.  When I started reading, I had only intended to read a couple of chapters but I became so wrapped up in the story and in the lives of the different characters that I was still sat there reading over half a dozen chapters and an hour later.  The more of the book I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn.  I had my own suspicions as to what was going to happen and of course I had to keep reading to see if I was on the right track or if I had the wrong end of the stick.  I soon got to the end of ‘Three Days In Vienna’.  I found ‘Three Days In Vienna’ to be a tense, dramatic and gripping read, which kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

‘Three Days In Vienna’ is extremely well written.  The author has a writing styles that grabs the reader’s attention and then draws them into what proves to be one heck of a story.  The story is made up of sub plots and to start with I wasn’t sure how they all linked in.  The sub plots do eventually tie together and all becomes clear as the saying goes.  I loved the way in which John makes Vienna come alive in the sense that it would be easy for me to imagine that I was there if I closed my eyes.  I loved the fact that part of the story is set during a time in which I actually did find myself in Austria and so I appreciated the concerns that some people felt at the surge in popularity of the Far Right parties.  Whilst reading this book, I did feel as though I was on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster as I found myself sharing some of the feelings that the different characters were experiencing.  I love the way in which John makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story themselves and at the heart of the action.

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Three Days In Vienna’ and I would definitely recommend it to other readers.  I will certainly be reading more of John’s work in the future.  The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.