Ratlines, by Stuart Neville
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Ratlines, by Stuart Neville
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Dublin, 1963: When a German national is murdered just before President John F. Kennedy’s scheduled trip to Ireland, Lieutenant Albert Ryan, Directorate of Intelligence, is assigned the case. The German is the third foreigner to die within a few days, and Minister for Justice Charles Haughey wants the killing to end lest a shameful secret be exposed: The dead men were all Nazis granted asylum by the Irish government in the years following World War II.
A note from the killers is found on the dead German’s corpse, addressed to Colonel Otto Skorzeny, Hitler’s favorite commando, once called the most dangerous man in Europe. The note simply says: “We are coming for you.”
As Albert Ryan digs deeper into the case he discovers a network of former Nazis and collaborators. But as Ryan closes in on the killers, his loyalty is torn between country and conscience as he is forced to protect the very people he fought against twenty years before. Soon Ryan learns that while Skorzeny might be a dangerous ally, he is a deadly enemy.
“Ratlines is thrilling and historically informed.…Albert Ryan is a formidable yet damaged hero.” ―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Ratlines, by Stuart Neville - Brand: Neville, Stuart/ Smyth, Alan (NRT)
- Published on: 2015-06-09
- Formats: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.75" h x .50" w x 5.25" l,
- Running time: 10 Hours
- Binding: MP3 CD
Ratlines, by Stuart Neville Amazon.com Review Q&A with Stuart Neville and James R. Benn
Q. In one sentence, tell us what Ratlines is all about.
A. Ratlines is about Dublin intelligence officer Albert Ryan, tasked with finding the killers of several Nazis granted sanctuary in Ireland after World War II.
Q. Ratlines is your first foray into historical fiction. What was the different about writing a novel so heavily based on historical characters? Did your research or writing process vary from earlier works?
A. The research process was entirely different for Ratlines than for any other novel I’ve written. With a present-day thriller, your research focuses on how things work; with a historical thriller, your focus is on how things were. For example, in my previous books, if I wanted to know how many rounds a Glock 17 can hold, I just downloaded the user manual from the manufacturer’s website. Or if I need to get the layout of a part of town right, I can use Google Maps.
Not so with Ratlines. Maps are of limited use because the layout of any given street can change, buildings can be renamed, and so on. There are events to get straight – for example, the Irish bus drivers’ strike of 1963 is referenced in the book, as is JFK’s visit to Ireland – but there are also societal issues to think about. For those, it really helped to talk to people who were around Dublin in the early 60s. For example, I described the book’s leading lady as wearing an off-the-shoulder dress in an early draft. Two beta readers pulled me up on that – such a dress would have been scandalous in 60s Ireland. Now she keeps her shoulders covered.
Q. Irish Justice Minister Charles Haughey is a real-life character who appears in Ratlines. What should American readers, and others who have not heard of him, know about Charles Haughey? It seems that Irish and English readers have a reaction to the name. Is there a comparable American politician that might help us Yanks put him in context?
A. Charles Haughey is probably the most controversial figure in 20th Century Irish politics. He was a charismatic man, loved by many, but also hated. He was Irish prime minister three times, but ended his career in scandal when decades of corruption were exposed. I guess the nearest equivalent in American politics I can think of is a cross between Richard Nixon and Joseph P Kennedy Sr.
Haughey was Minister for Justice at the time Ratlines is set, and as such was responsible for asylum seekers, including the Nazis and Axis collaborators who were in Ireland at the time. He’s also known to have had an strange love-hate relationship with the British. He had the hatred of Britain that one would expect from an ardent Irish republican like Haughey, but he also seemed to regard himself as part of some imagined aristocracy, despite his lowly background, and identified himself with the English gentry.
Q. Otto Skorzeny—a real-life scar-faced Nazi commando—also has a major role. I wonder if this larger-than-life character ever threatened to take over the story. He's a guy you couldn't make up.
A. Otto Skorzeny was a real-life Bond villain, and truly larger than life. He could very easily have been cartoonish, and I couldn’t help but play up some of his more theatrical quirks, including a fencing duel with the novel’s protagonist. He was really a gift of a character.
Q. Breton nationalists in Ireland? Who knew? Célestin Lainé is another remarkable, if unbalanced, real-life character. How did you find out about him, and are there still such guys living out their old age in Ireland?
A. I learned about Lainé initially through a documentary called Ireland’s Nazis by journalist Cathal O’Shannon. I dug further into him through Daniel Leach’s book, Fugitive Ireland, also about Nazis and Axis collaborators harboured by the Irish state. The Célestin Lainé in Ratlines is only very loosely based on the real life figure. When Lainé came to Ireland, he lived under his Breton name, Neven Henaff, but because the character in my book only really shares his history, I kept his original name. Similarly, the character of Catherine Beauchamp is based on Breton nationalist Francene Rozec, but only loosely, so I used one of her pen names for the book.
Q. Your previous books feature Jack Lennon, a Catholic detective in Northern Ireland. Ratlines features Albert Ryan, a Protestant cop in Dublin. What draws you to the outsider as main character?
A. That’s a difficult question, and it might take a psychologist to answer it properly! I guess one theory might be that the reader is always an outsider to the world they’re reading about, so it helps if the character whose eyes they’re seeing through is also an outsider. It allows them to move through the story in a more dispassionate way, with a more objective view. I’m not sure if that’s really true, though…
From Booklist Students of history and readers of historical-crime fiction are used to finding Nazis in the unlikeliest places—but Ireland? That’s one refuge many of us may have missed. It’s 1963, and Lieutenant Albert Ryan of the Directorate of Intelligence is tasked with solving a string of murders. The dead were all Nazis and collaborators, and on the eve of JFK’s presidential visit, their identities could prove embarrassing to his hosts. The investigation proves a minefield, with Ryan unsure whether he’s reporting to the minister of justice, Charles Haughey, or Otto Skorzeny, a renowned Nazi commando now living quite comfortably on the Emerald Isle (Slorzeny obviously has a personal interest in the case). Neville writes wonderfully, setting the scene in precise, economical prose; pitting well-defined, historically inspired characters in opposition to each other; and tangling the plotlines tantalizingly. If he goes astray at all, it’s after a gruesome plot turn that renders Ryan helpless, with nearly all of his subsequent action passive or reactive. With a character this strong, we want to see him fight to the finish. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Given the acclaim for Neville’s prize-winning Belfast Trilogy (Stolen Souls, 2011; Collusion, 2010; The Ghosts of Belfast, 2009), Soho is betting big on this one with a $150,000 marketing campaign, a national tour, and big pushes at BEA and ALA. --Keir Graff
Review "Ratlines is a belter: fast, furious, bloody and good" -- Ian Rankin "Stuart Neville's books just get better and better and Ratlines is simply superb. A shocking moment in history is the backdrop to a hugely gripping thriller" -- Mark Billingham "Wildly entertaining, Ratlines is a superb mystery but in addition, a spotlight on a slice of Irish history largely ignored. This is a complex mystery told in the exceptional style that Stuart Neville has made his own. Jameson and Nazis, Irish rebel songs and Charles Haughey, it's a bold and brilliant blend" -- Ken Bruen "Skilfully paced and absorbingly constructed, Ratlines is another carefully wrought, condemnatory blast of cold air aimed at Irish complacencies that makes for a cracking read" -- Siobhan Murphy Metro "Stunning... a first-rate story that seizes the imagination, and never lets go" -- Geoffrey Wansell Daily Mail
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful. "No law will stop him." By E. Bukowsky Stuart Neville's "Ratlines" opens in 1963, shortly before President John F. Kennedy is scheduled to visit Ireland. The book's premise may surprise the uninitiated: Nazi thugs found safe haven in Ireland after World War II. Among them was Otto Skorzeny, the infamous scar-faced commando and SS man who had previously enjoyed the hospitality of Franco in Spain and Peron in Argentina (it is even rumored that Skorzeny had an affair with Eva Peron). In 1959, Skorzeny purchased Martinstown House, a shooting lodge and farm in County Kildare.Irish officials are disconcerted to learn that someone is targeting former Nazis living in their country. If news of the murders were to become widely known, it would embarrass a government whose leaders welcomed anti-Semitic killers with open arms while "the bureaucrats at the Department of Justice did their best to block Jewish refugees [from] entering Ireland before and after the war." What did Irish nationalists have in common with Hitler's henchmen? Many Irishmen hated the British; the Germans promised that after England was defeated, Ireland would be free of her British rulers.The novel's hero, thirty-six year old Lieutenant Albert Ryan, works for the Directorate of Intelligence. At the behest of his boss, Ryan meets with Justice Charles J. Haughey, who orders him to identify and track down the perpetrators before they execute their main target, Otto Skorzeny. Ryan is conflicted. Why should he cooperate with Haughey in order to save the skin of a vicious war criminal? "Ratlines" refers to a secret network that served as an escape route for fleeing Germans after Hitler's defeat. Skorzeny is knowledgeable about the ratlines and has become filthy rich by siphoning off a portion of the money set aside to help his former compatriots.Neville's revelations about the link between Irish nationalists and the Nazis are eye-opening. It is shocking that in order to advance their own cause, some people turned a blind eye to the atrocities committed by Hitler and his followers. If the author had written a tighter plot with more fleshed-out characters, this could have been a first-rate thriller. Unfortunately, Ryan, presumably a battle-hardened soldier, is at times passive and oblivious when he should be proactive and alert. During his investigation, Ryan encounters a beautiful woman, Celia Hume, who attracts his attention and lust (but can she be trusted?); Célestin Lainé, a Breton patriot and collaborator; Goran Weiss, an Israeli with his own agenda; and an avaricious Brit named Carter. As the narrative progresses, alliances shift, and Ryan must come up with a clever plan if he hopes to survive. Neville generates a fair amount of suspense and keeps us invested in the outcome, but his one-dimensional and thoroughly corrupt villains (many of whom revel in acts of cruelty and sadism) and somewhat disjointed plot keep "Ratlines" from earning a wholehearted recommendation. (Three and a half-stars rounded up to four for the informative history lesson.)
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful. It Doesn't Have To Be Tolstoy To Be A Good Read By Scott E. High This is an interesting story loosely based on the historical fact that Ireland became a sanctuary for German war criminals after World War II. Actually it became more of a temporary sanctuary for many of them, allowing them a way station to plot out and pay for their further escape and disappearance into the Americas. The relative simplicity of the process was threatened by various interested parties involving themselves for their own (and often conflicting) reasons. These parties included blustering members of the Irish Government, a Nazi "war hero", a paramilitary group, a lowly government agent, and the Mossad.Aside from the historical interest, I was mainly drawn in by the author's character development of the imperfect hero, Albert Ryan, the afore-mentioned Irish government agent. He was not portrayed as another James Bond but rather as a seasoned and experienced combat veteran who made the lateral move into government service and found himself physically challenged and not quite as smart as his oponents who played the game at a higher level. When was the last time you read about the hero getting the crap kicked out of him? Or being captured and tortured?All that being said, I was disappointed that there was no true conclusion to the story. In fact the ending appeared to set up another book to follow that would continue the story of our hero again facing the "de-Nazified" Nazi. Looking over the author's bibliography, it appears that he has written a previous series, so this would not be a surprise.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful. Dreary Dublin and JFK By Jim Tenuto Add another writer to the pantheon of Celtic Noir. Stuart Neville belongs in the same roll call as Benjamin Black and the fine Quirke series, set in 1950s Dublin, the late Bartholomew Gill's masterful McGarr mysteries, and Adrian McKinty's promising new series set in 1980s Belfast. Lump in the usual suspects from Scotland (Rankin, MacBride, Mina, et.al.) and you'll understand what a fine book RATLINES truly is.Lieutenant Albert Ryan of the Directorate of Intelligence is seconded to Minister for Justice Charles Haughey (an historical character as are many others) to look into a series of murders of foreign nationals. All are tied in some form to Colonel Otto Skorzeny, the commando hero of Nazi Germany who counted, among his many exploits, the rescue of Mussolini in 1943.Ryan is an institutional man. A non-com who served in World War II in the British Army, despite the neutrality of the Republic of Ireland. When he finally leaves the Army in the 1950s he is out of sorts, until he is recruited by the Directorate of Intelligence. He continues to live a barracks existence, living meanly, and celibate. He is phlegmatic, practical, ruthless, and has no fear of bucking the status quo.If torture leaves you a bit squeamish then you would do well to avoid the book. The violence in this noir novel is not gratuitous though it is graphic. Celestine Laine, a Breton who threw in with the Nazis during the war in anticipation of true independence for Brittany, is a churlish satellite in Skorzeny's orbit, and a master of "enhanced interrogation."Ryan's investigation takes him into the world of Skorzeny, a gentleman farmer on 200 hundred acres. Ireland has become home to many of his former Nazi cohort. Skorzeny has access to a vast fortune and he uses that money to create ratlines, the escape routes for these not-so-ex-Nazis. Ryan's work takes him into the path of the Mossad and a violent cell of former SAS operatives who are stalking Skorzeny for a share of the money.Well-paced, thoroughly believable, with well-wrought characters and a strong sense of place and time, RATLINES is one of best mystery/thrillers I have read this year. The urgency of Ryan's investigation the anticipated visit of United States President John F. Kennedy to Ireland, and the fear that this spate of murders could result in the trip's cancellation. (There were many in our own government who did not want Kennedy visiting the land of his ancestors.) Parenthetically, this is the Dublin that was so dreary that it actually stood in for East Berlin in the movie "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold".The weaving of actual historical characters and the opportunity to either rewrite or slightly alter history adds to the book. As a young grammar school child I remember reading Skorzeny's autobiography, a chronicle of derring-do and bold commando raids. In RATLINES Skorzeny, though tough and capable, is a bit of a puffed-up propaganda job, busy burnishing his bona fides.A great novel in what I hope will grow into another "Belfast Trilogy."
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