Steven Godin's Reviews > HHhH

May, 4th, 1942 - the Heydrich residence. After filling their bellies with Venison steaks, Heydrich, Himmler and Goebbels are sat around the table playing cards, Lina Heydrich brings in a tray on which sits a large bottle of brandy, three glasses and a box of cigars. 'Don't wait up for me Reinhard dear, I am off to the theatre, Have fun boys'. Heydrich switches on the gramophone, and Schubert is a feast on the ears, the evening is in full swing. Both Himmler and Goebbels are blind drunk within the hour and start to wind up Heydrich on his marital problems. 'So, Reinhard, word is your old lady has been seeing the Führer behind your back'. 'What is it, can't get it up!' (laughter). 'That's a damn lie I tell you! how dare you smear my name! HOW DARE YOU!!, Sometimes I struggle to perform in the bedroom, it's the stress of this bloody war!, but me and my wife couldn't be happier. 'OK calm down, we were only having a little fun'. 'Fun?, you call that fun, us Nazis were not put on this earth to have fun, get out!, get out the pair of you!. Lina returns in the early hours and enters the bedroom, and hears what sounds like a little girl sobbing, she turns on the light, 'my darling, what is the matter, why are you shaking?'. 'Lina, I had the most horrible nightmare!, a month from now I am going to die at the hands of assassins!', Lina moves closer, her eyes avert from the tearful Heydrich to the sheets, 'Oh Reinhard, you wussy, you have only gone and wet the bed!'

Historically accurate?, of course not, I just made it up, I couldn't resist the temptation after learning just how evil a man Heydrich actually was. That's the great thing about fiction, when dealing with the facts, in this case WW2, the little things can't be 100% certain unless you were there in person, how do you go about filling in the gaps?, easy, you just guess, but make it seem believable, that's the problem Binet faced in writing this genius book. It's based on a true story, real names, real facts, but still reads like a suspense thriller after he adds his own interpretations on the finer details of history.

Back to Heydrich on a more serious note, I forgot what he looked like (not that it's a face I want to remember) so googled him, to think what this man did!, and what he witnessed with those cold and calculated eyes. Hope he eternally burns in hell. Now on to the book...

A brilliant novel!, with a great story that also happens to be true, by a gifted French writer amusingly anguished over the question of how to tell it. There's nothing not to like about Laurent Binet's acclaimed debut, and HHhH is certainly a thoroughly captivating performance, the last 50 or so pages...wow! Whether you find it something more than that will depend on how you feel about the application of a book about the Nazi security chief Reinhard Heydrich, who must be one of the most unfunny, truly evil, and hated figures in recorded history. But I like to think of this book more for it's hero's than for it's Nazi villains, two brave souls who knew there was a great chance of not returning alive from their daring mission to take the bastard Heydrich out. It's about his assassination, specifically, and the undersung Czech resistance heroes who carried it out; an angle that licenses a certain jauntiness in the tone. Heydrich's icily demonic character dominates the book, until the Czech heroes are slowly woken in to the story. Heydrich and his pivotal roles in the key atrocities of the era, from Kristallnacht to 'the final solution' itself, take up a substantial part of the narrative. And it's chilling stuff. The narrative is enlightened by Binet's playful anxieties about his girlfriend, mulling over his dreams, or even by his more obviously pertinent struggles over whether to invent the dialogue, or imagine the inner thoughts of his characters. And there are outbursts of opinion which really bother him, when trying to tie up lose ends. Was Heydrich's Mercedes black or green? Where about's did the parachutists land?, Which side of the train did the head of Czechoslovak secret services sit on during his clandestine trip through Germany? Etc...

Included there are nods to films and books that inspired Binet along the way, this work wouldn't have been the same without them, adding a freshness to a WW2 novel, as it's one of the most written about subjects ever. A subject that can sometimes be boring, not this. The book builds up to it's climactic Operation Anthropoid scenes involving our heroes Gabčík and Kubiš, that the best thriller writers would have been proud of. It's a plan that doesn't go according to plan, but still ends up getting results. There are crucial logistical points to be reckoned with, such as the topography of Prague streets or the disconcerting jamming tendency of the British-built Sten gun, which got stuck at the vital moment. Binet manages it all with stunning lucidity, and by the time I reached the devastating finale, the deepest of feelings had set in, I felt like lighting a candle for the incredibly brave men that risked all to take down such a huge figure in the Third Reich.

As for the 'Butcher of Prague' or the 'Blonde Beast' as he liked to be known, I hope he died in a lot of pain. He thoroughly deserved it.