A Killer Strikes at Home During WW2...

THE GERMAN by Lee Thomas (2011 Lethe Press / 277 pp / tp)
Set in a small Texas town during World War 2, THE GERMAN twists racial and sexual prejudices into a tightly woven thriller that had me guessing until the end.
A couple of young men are found dead, one disembowled and the other hanged, both with snuffboxes stuffed in their mouhts that contain messages written in German. Naturally, the German citizens of the town are suspect, especially Ernst Lang, a quiet yet authoratative man who lives across the street from young Tim Randall.
Tim's father is overseas "fighting the good fight," while his mother works the night shift at a factory. Tim sneaks out when she's gone with his best friend, Bum, and one night they decide to spy on Mr. Lang. A few older teenagers catch Tim peeking through Lang's window and when they see him having sex with another man, they become convinced Lang must be the murderer.
On the case is Sheriff Tom Rabbit, continually attempting to give the German suspects the benefit of the doubt while trying to keep the increasingly rowdy, blood-thirsty natives at bay. He's a likeable enough character who shines during the surprising finale.
Thomas paints a dark portrait of paranoid small-town ideology and of man's refusal to allow logic to rule over his self-imposed passions. In doing so he skillfully builds the reader's liking for both the young, patriotic Tim as well as the former socialist, Nazi party leader, Ernst. Ernst is a gay man who doesn't fit gay stereotypes: he's a rugged, tough ex-soldier who can take just about anyone in a bar fight and defends his personal choices in ways that confound all he speaks to. His reasons for leaving Germany make it difficult for Sheriff Tom to view him as a suspect, which increases the mystery and gives the novel a sense of "it could truly be anyone."
Like any memorable thriller, there's plenty of tension and a pace that makes it hard to put down. Thomas also (as with his novel, THE DUST OF WONDERLAND) weaves homosexuality purposefully into the story, not as a means of exploitation. There's also a grim torture scene reminiscent of Jack Ketchum's THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, making THE GERMAN a bit more horror-edged than your standard mainstream thriller.
I've been watching Thomas grow as a writer since his debut novel, STAINED, was released back in 2004, and in a relatively short period of time his chops have become slick and his prose poetic and smooth, yet always able to genuinely chill the spine. THE GERMAN is a fine example of an author who handles his craft like a seasoned vet, and is able to blend genres in a way that should appeal to different audiences.
(This book is officially released TODAY, March 15, 2011).