THE BOOK FAIR

THE ONE MAN

For one who loves historical fiction, “The One Man,” proves to be a well-written, fast action thriller.  For history buffs however, the novel, though full of facts, contains many inaccuracies.

The story begins with interesting characters, both real and fictitious who converse in believable dialogue and maneuver in realistic scenes.  Accurate descriptions of Krakow enhance the story.  However, unrealistic, almost casual scenes depicted at Auschwitz and the implausible subplots diminish the believability of the story.

Further, Germans trained Hitler Youth to kill their pets as a training exercise, not Americans and Brits.  Similarly, the author made a glaring mistake related to the Mishna, from which he quotes.  The Mishna, the heart of the Talmud is comprised of rabbinical stories, explanations and commentaries, and is not a separate book from the Talmud.

Setting the criticisms aside, the author based the thesis of the novel on facts, and the plot, full of likeable characters, reads smoothly.