From Publishers Weekly
Despite its intriguing alternative premise, Turtledove's lengthy tale of Berlin's Jews hiding in the open long after the Nazis defeated all their WWII enemies plods along in a series of vignettes told from the viewpoints of six different Jewish characters passing as "good Germans": Wehrmacht analyst Heinrich Gimpel, his wife, Lise, and their precocious 10-year-old daughter, Alicia; medieval English scholar Susanna Weiss; and physician's receptionist Esther Stutzman and her husband, Walther, whose computer expertise has helped many Berlin Jews shed their "unclean" ancestry. But as the Gimpels and their friends struggle to keep their secret culture alive, all around them chinks are appearing in the very foundations of the Reich, starting with the death of Hitler's second successor and the selection of a progressive new Fuhrer. Tepid characterizations, clumsy plot devices, interminable bridge sessions between the Gimpels and their Aryan friends, even some dialogue seemingly better suited to a drawling John Wayne than a Wehrmacht panzer commander (who defies the SS with "you're going to be mighty sorry"), all dilute the author's message of hope for these downtrodden remnants of the Chosen People. Closing on a curiously inconclusive note-or is it a lead-in to an equally ponderous sequel?-this account of an unlikely political thaw dribbles off into a puddle of cliches, sentiment and unconvincing coincidence.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Another magisterial alternate-history novel from the master of the form features a modest, middle-class family in near-future Berlin: Heinrich Gimpel; his wife, Lise; and their daughters Alicia, Francesca, and Roxane. He is a middle-level, civilian bureaucrat at army headquarters, and the only wrong note to contemporary this-world ears is that Heinrich's Berlin is the capital of a world-spanning Third Reich. The Gimpels, however, are covert Jews. From this dissonance, Turtledove builds a complete symphony expressing how the Third Reich's remaining Jews hide in plain sight, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Heinrich's disguise nearly shatters when a coworker's impeccably Aryan wife tries to escape her troubled marriage by seducing him. Fortunately, the authorities soon not only lack evidence of his Jewishness but also have other fish to fry, one of them the new fuhrer, Heinz Buckliger, who remarkably resembles Mikhail Gorbachev. The countermeasures that the SS and the party hacks take against Buckliger resemble the efforts to overthrow the aforesaid Gorbachev, but even when one grasps the resemblance, the suspense of the confrontation of good and evil remains intense in Turtledove's hands. So does the impact of his handling of more cerebral matters such as the devolution of dictatorships and the survival of Jews and Jewish identity. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
In the twenty-first century, Germany's Third Reich continues to thrive after its victory in World War II-keeping most of Europe and North America under its heel. But within the heart of the Nazi regime, a secret lives. Under a perfect Aryan facade, Jews survive-living their lives, raising their families, and fearing discovery...

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Harry Turtledove, the master of the alternate history, asks a fascinating question in this novel: What if Nazi Germany won World War II and ruled over most of Europe and North America well into the 21st century?

Heinrich Gimpel is a mid-level government worker living in Berlin with his wife, Lise, and their three children. Life is good for Heinrich and his family, who are living in the capital of a world-spanning Third Reich, the heart of the Nazi regime. And life will remain good so long as no one discovers that they're Jews.

Thus far, Heinrich and his wife have been model citizens and have stayed out of trouble; but as the political landscape of the Third Reich dramatically changes when a new F￯﾿ﾽhrer comes to power, their safety is put in jeopardy. As revolutionary reforms begin polarizing the populace, Heinrich tries to fend off the advances of his best friend's wife, with disastrous results.

Although In the Presence of Mine Enemies is decidedly more cerebral than Turtledove's popular alternate history Great War and Worldwar sagas, it is by no means lacking in excitement. The last few chapters of this novel are as action-packed and emotionally charged as any in recent memory. With dozens of major characters set against an incredibly well researched historical background, In the Presence of Mine Enemies is another Turtledove classic. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Heinrich Gimpel is a respected officer with the Oberkommando Wehrmachts office in Berlin. His wife is a common hausfrau, raising his three precious daughters the same way he was raised - to be loyal, unquestioning citizens of the Third Reich, obedient to the will of the Fuhrer." "But Heinrich Gimpel has a secret. He is not, in fact, a member of the Master Race. He has been living a lie to protect his true identity as a Jew - and he's not alone. Throughout Berlin, Jews survive in secrecy... doing their jobs, caring for their families, maintaining the facade of perfect Aryans, and praying they will not be discovered." But a change is coming. And soon they will be forced to choose between safety and freedom.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Despite its intriguing alternative premise, Turtledove's lengthy tale of Berlin's Jews hiding in the open long after the Nazis defeated all their WWII enemies plods along in a series of vignettes told from the viewpoints of six different Jewish characters passing as "good Germans": Wehrmacht analyst Heinrich Gimpel, his wife, Lise, and their precocious 10-year-old daughter, Alicia; medieval English scholar Susanna Weiss; and physician's receptionist Esther Stutzman and her husband, Walther, whose computer expertise has helped many Berlin Jews shed their "unclean" ancestry. But as the Gimpels and their friends struggle to keep their secret culture alive, all around them chinks are appearing in the very foundations of the Reich, starting with the death of Hitler's second successor and the selection of a progressive new Fuhrer. Tepid characterizations, clumsy plot devices, interminable bridge sessions between the Gimpels and their Aryan friends, even some dialogue seemingly better suited to a drawling John Wayne than a Wehrmacht panzer commander (who defies the SS with "you're going to be mighty sorry"), all dilute the author's message of hope for these downtrodden remnants of the Chosen People. Closing on a curiously inconclusive note-or is it a lead-in to an equally ponderous sequel?-this account of an unlikely political thaw dribbles off into a puddle of clich s, sentiment and unconvincing coincidence. (Nov. 4) Forecast: The prolific Turtledove can't produce a winner like last year's Ruled Britannia, about Spanish-occupied Elizabethan England, every time. On the other hand, Steve Stone's striking jacket art, which features a clunky classical building that Albert Speer might have designed, with Nazi banners in front and satellite dishes on the roof, is sure to draw curious browsers. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

VOYA - Marsha Valance