The Fugitive

Captain Jose Da Silva Mystery #1

by Robert L. Fish

The award-winning first in the series. It is about the Nazi underground in contemporary Brazil, and one man's noble but clumsy attempt to smash it. He runs up against not just neo-Nazis, but the Jewish underground and Interpol as well. Da Silva emerges as a competent, compassionate, interesting character.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Robert Lloyd Fish was an American writer of crime fiction. His first novel, The Fugitive, gained him the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first novel in 1962, and his short story "Moonlight Gardener" was awarded the Edgar for best short story in 1972. His 1963 novel Mute Witness, written under the pseudonym Robert L. Pike, was filmed in 1968 as Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen.

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of the following Kindle edition
Product Details
ASIN: B00TRP4ZK0
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road (April 7, 2015)
Publication date: April 7, 2015
Language: English
File size: 7004 KB
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported
Enhanced typesetting: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Sticky notes: On Kindle Scribe
Print length: 212 pages
Amazon.com Sales Rank #980,367 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
#4,834 in International Mystery & Crime (Kindle Store)
#9,047 in International Mystery & Crime (Books)
#13,845 in Crime Thrillers (Kindle Store)

Fine first novel.

This is not just the first Captain Jose Da Silva mystery but is also Robert L. Fish's first novel. Published in 1962, it won an Edgar Award for Best First Mystery.

The story is about a Nazi war criminal, a Brazilian Nazi group, an elderly Jewish concentration camp victim hunting them, revenge and justice. Mr. Fish lived in Brazil for several years and used his experience and knowledge of the locale to good effect in this novel. Da Silva was one of my favorite literary detectives when I was in high school. I was happy to find that he still appeals.

There are a number of obvious editing errors in this edition. At the end of this edition there is a substantial free sample of the second Da Silva mystery, THE ISLE OF THE SNAKES. It is not a stand alone story without a plot as some have claimed.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was published in 1962, during the time period that former Nazi officers were being hunted and tried for their crimes. Set in Brazil, it's the story of such an event. I had never heard of this book before, but it won an Edgar Award in 1963.

With such a horrific event as the Holocaust as a background story, there is no possibility of this being a light or cozy book; but neither is it a dreary one. The protagonist is something of a mystery, but we do know that he is a man who spent time as a Jewish prisoner during WWII. He's quite human, with a sense of humor and he feels fear and anxiety about the task he is trying to perform. He is ultimately interested in justice, along with a healthy dose of revenge.

I liked this book better than I thought I would. The conclusion was satisfactory, if somewhat bittersweet. I would think that readers of historical fiction, as well as spy novels and mysteries, would enjoy this book.

[A Reader's Heaven · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

In 1939 Erick Von Roesler was spreading Hitler's gospel in Brazil when duty to the Reich called him home. He distinguished himself during the war, organizing slave labor camps, overseeing executions, and manning the gas chambers of Buchenwald, but in 1945 he felt it necessary to leave the land of his birth. His enthusiasm for the German cause undimmed, he returned to South America to remake the continent in the image of the fallen Reich.
For help, he calls on Hans Busch, a master propagandist who comes south from New York with $2 million earmarked for the Nazi revival. But this squat, unkempt little man is not the Nazi he claims to be. Hans Busch is merely a nom de guerre for Holocaust survivor Ari Schoenberg, who has come to take his revenge. With the help of Interpol's José Da Silva, he will dismantle the new Reich from the inside out.

I seem to have run into a series of books that had so much more potential than execution. This one is the same - there isn't actually anything necessarily wrong with it, just it wasn't what I had hoped for / expected.

The blurb sounds very good and, for the most part, the plot lives up to those expectations. The story of Ari is captivating and certainly the highlight of this book. Jose was pretty good, too, but the supporting cast was pretty non-existent on the "memorable"scale.

The biggest issue I had was the age of the story. Originally released in the 1960's, the story reads like a 50-year-old book. For some people, that's not a problem. For me, it just isn't what I like to read much.


Paul
ARH

[Joshua Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just entertaining enough to keep you turning the pages, and short enough that it’s myriad deficiencies don’t have time to cause too much of a complaint. I’m a sucker for book series and when I discovered one with this many entries, I had to give this a read. The premise is fine, but it is indeed quite thinly drawn as other reviewers have mentioned. I also didn’t notice anything particularly special about the detective for INTERPOL is apparently the main character of the series. He was for the most part a peripheral character in most of this tale. Worth a read if you’re looking for something quick and distracting, but lots of other harbors to dock at if you’re looking for something with more substance.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the movie Bullitt starring Steve McQueen several times before I realized it was a book-to-movie conversion. I found the book well written. It was a bit confusing as the locale and names changed from the book "Mute Witness" published in 1963 under Fish's nom de plume Robert L. Pike.
Anyway, I learned Robert L. Fish wrote a series of books referred to as the Captain Jose Da Silva mysteries set in Brazil (where Fish worked as an engineering consultant in the 1950s)
This encouranged me to take a look at Robert L. Fish and start with The Fugitive.
Fish has been honored with many writing prizes, and now is the inspiration for the Mystery Writers of America's Robert L. Fish Memorial Award - given annually since 1984 to the author of the best first short story.

[Ivan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poor story

I don’t like to write bad reviews, but this one deserves it,
The book consists of 2 stories that have nothing in common.
Many typos (or bad English).
The first story has certain merits as it has a bit of a plot and drew my interest as it’s about a possible Neo-Nazi group in Brazil.
The second story does not have a plot and leaves you hanging.
Total waste of time

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to enjoy it but the plot was very thin, as if I were reading the Reader's Digest condensed version of a much better story. Lots of plot holes and frankly very tame for the subject matter, though it was probably a product of the time.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many Nazis escaped following World War II – but where? South America seemed like a good bet – Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil – and there the Nazis, feeling safe, began planning the rise of their Nazi party.

But how to find them? A secret Jewish organization has created a anti-Semitic propagandist – really, a former death camp inmate, and thinking that the main part of the soon to be new Nazi party was based in Brazil, sent him there with – supposedly – two million dollars – money the Nazis needed to make their cause known.

Ari, the former death camp inmate, arrives in Brazil, and there follow as only Robert Fish could imagine, a complicated set of adventures shadowed by Captain Jose da Silva.

This is a richly imagined and suspenseful tale based on the Nazi hunters following the Second World War – a tale not to be missed – and a warning to those who think they can escape from their brutal past.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the book they based the movie on. A story involving Nazi war criminals and retribution.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A fairly light novel—indicative of its age perhaps—about a serious subject: a neo-nazi movement in Brazil.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: about the Nazi underground in post-war Brazil, and Captain Jose da Silva's noble but clumsy attempt to smash it.