Jeffery Deaver's Garden of Beasts introduces anti-hero Paul Schumann, a notorious rubout man for the New York Mafia known for his cold and professional approach to his job. But the jig is up when he is duped by high-ranking feds who give him a choice--prison or one more impossible job: assassinate the man who's running Hitler's plan for rearming Germany. The hard-nosed German-American lands on the streets of Berlin where immediately the best-laid plans of the United States Government go awry. Schumman finds himself in a city living in fear, tracked by Berlin's best homicide detective. As the intricate chase wears on, both men will discover that the greatest evil is the ascendant Nazi party.

Deaver's novel, equal parts noir thriller and historical extrapolation, is a page-turner that offers a twisting visceral experience of the tension in Berlin during that fateful summer. He draws sympathetic portraits of everyday Germans caught between duty to country and their consciences. Into this mix, Deaver drops his coldly dangerous hitman who brawls with brownshirts, chums with Olympic athletes, collaborates with criminals, fraternizes with poets, and discovers the hero inside his hardened soul. --Jeremy Pugh

Amazon.com Interview
When starting a new book by author Jeffery Deaver, expect to have the wool pulled over your eyes. His plots twist and turn and juke and jive like no others, never ending as expected and always including a jaw-dropping plot development. His latest effort, Garden of Beasts, is no exception. Amazon.com caught up with Deaver to discuss plotting, characters, and the perils of soap opera acting.


From Publishers Weekly
Deaver fans expect the unexpected from this prodigiously talented thriller writer, and the creator of the Lincoln Rhyme series and other memorable yarns (The Blue Nowhere, etc.) doesn't disappoint with his 19th novel, this time offering a deliciously twisty tale set in Nazi Berlin. The book's hero is a mob "button man," or hit man, Paul Schumann, who's nabbed in the act in New York City but given an alternative to the electric chair: to go to Berlin undercover as a journalist writing about the upcoming Olympics, in order to assassinate Col. Reinhard Ernst, the chief architect of Hitler's militarization, seen as a threat to American interests. A German spy onboard Paul's transatlantic liner grows suspicious and sends a warning to Germany before Paul discovers and kills him. Then in Berlin, Paul, en route to meet his contact, kills a second suspicious man who may be a storm trooper, setting Insp. Willi Kohl of the Berlin police, or Kripo, on his trail. Deaver weaves the three manhunts—Paul after his target, Kohl after Paul and the Nazi hierarchy after Paul—with a deft hand, bringing to frightening life the Berlin of 1936, a city on the brink of madness. Top Nazis, including Hitler, Himmler and Göring, make colorful cameos, but it's the smart, shaded-gray characterizations of the principals that anchor the exciting plot. An affecting love affair between Paul and his German landlady goes in surprising directions, as do the main plot lines, which move outside Berlin as heroes become villains and vice versa. This is prime Deaver, which means prime entertainment. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From School Library Journal
Adult/High School - Paul Schumann, professional hit man, is arrested by the U.S. government. He is offered a deal: he can go to prison or he can take on the job of assassinating the man who controls Hitler's rearmament. Schumann leaves for Germany. He is hounded by the German police even as he is watched or chased by every kind of control group, including the Gestapo and Hitler's Youth. He gets some help from locals as he focuses on his target, Colonel Ernst. After complicated and unforeseen events, the story leads to an ending filled with surprises. Filling the tale with historical facts skillfully woven into the fiction, Deaver deftly places the characters into the chaos of 1936. American slang, German-language translations, food, and clothing are among the details used to create the setting. Individual characters clearly serve as examples of typical people caught up in the confusion and fear felt by the general population as they witness the rise of Hitler. Fans of action, adventure, or history will enjoy this fast-paced, tightly plotted story. - Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile
Jeffery Deaver provides a visceral experience of the tension in Berlin when German citizens lavishly hosted the 1936 Humanitarian Olympic Games while, simultaneously, Hitler secretly prepared for war and the extermination of Jews. Jefferson Mays presents a wide range of characters with distinction and aplomb. There's Paul, a hit-man for the New York Luciano Mob; Willi Kohl, a senior investigator in the Kripo, the Berlin criminal police; Reinhard Ernst, Hitler's rearmament czar; Leisel, a barmaid with a secret; Kathe, who helps Paul discover the hero inside his hardened soul; and the Fischer brothers, caught up in the abominable Waltham Study. With Mays's reading, this story becomes a caustic tale of the dangers of ambivalence and appeasement in the face of evil. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Here's a real change of pace from the author of the Lincoln Rhyme series: a thriller set in 1936, the year of the Berlin Olympics. Paul Schumann, born in Germany but living in the U.S., is a hit man for the mob. Apprehended by government agents, he's given a tough choice: spend the rest of his life in prison or go to Germany and assassinate a key member of Hitler's Third Reich. Although not known for historical fiction, Deaver takes the new genre in stride, subtly and plausibly working real people into the tale while delivering his signature sense of story, depth of characterization, and sharply rendered dialogue. Readers looking for the author's usual startling plot twists will not be disappointed, either. Deaver's audience will be pleased with this one, but it will be an equally big hit with fans of such Nazi-era thrillers as Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy or Robert Harris' Fatherland. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In the most ingenious and provocative thriller yet from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver, a conscience-plagued mobster turned government hitman struggles to find his moral compass amid rampant treachery and betrayal in 1936 Berlin.

Paul Schumann, a German American living in New York City in 1936, is a mobster hitman known as much for his brilliant tactics as for taking only "righteous" assignments. But then Paul gets caught. And the arresting officer offers him a stark choice: prison or covert government service. Paul is asked to pose as a journalist covering the summer Olympics taking place in Berlin. He's to hunt down and kill Reinhard Ernst -- the ruthless architect of Hitler's clandestine rearmament. If successful, Paul will be pardoned and given the financial means to go legit; if he refuses the job, his fate will be Sing Sing and the electric chair.

Paul travels to Germany, takes a room in a boardinghouse near the Tiergarten -- the huge park in central Berlin but also, literally, the Garden of Beasts -- and begins his hunt. In classic Deaver fashion, the next forty-eight hours are a feverish cat-and-mouse chase, as Paul stalks Ernst through Berlin while a dogged Berlin police officer and the entire Third Reich apparatus search frantically for the American.

Garden of Beasts is packed with fascinating period detail and features a cast of perfectly realized locals, Olympic athletes and senior Nazi officials -- some real, some fictional. With hairpin plot twists, the reigning "master of ticking-bomb suspense" (People) plumbs the nerve-jangling paranoia of prewar Berlin and steers the story to a breathtaking and wholly unpredictable ending.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Deaver fans expect the unexpected from this prodigiously talented thriller writer, and the creator of the Lincoln Rhyme series and other memorable yarns (The Blue Nowhere, etc.) doesn't disappoint with his 19th novel, this time offering a deliciously twisty tale set in Nazi Berlin. The book's hero is a mob "button man," or hit man, Paul Schumann, who's nabbed in the act in New York City but given an alternative to the electric chair: to go to Berlin undercover as a journalist writing about the upcoming Olympics, in order to assassinate Col. Reinhard Ernst, the chief architect of Hitler's militarization, seen as a threat to American interests. A German spy onboard Paul's transatlantic liner grows suspicious and sends a warning to Germany before Paul discovers and kills him. Then in Berlin, Paul, en route to meet his contact, kills a second suspicious man who may be a storm trooper, setting Insp. Willi Kohl of the Berlin police, or Kripo, on his trail. Deaver weaves the three manhunts-Paul after his target, Kohl after Paul and the Nazi hierarchy after Paul-with a deft hand, bringing to frightening life the Berlin of 1936, a city on the brink of madness. Top Nazis, including Hitler, Himmler and Gering, make colorful cameos, but it's the smart, shaded-gray characterizations of the principals that anchor the exciting plot. An affecting love affair between Paul and his German landlady goes in surprising directions, as do the main plot lines, which move outside Berlin as heroes become villains and vice versa. This is prime Deaver, which means prime entertainment. Agent, Deborah Schneider. (July) Forecast: S&S is betting big on this title, with a 250,000 first printing. A 14-city author tour and Deaver's increasingly hot rep should ensure a solid sell-through. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Narrator Jefferson Mays's polished performance amplifies the suspense in both the abridged and unabridged versions of this historical thriller by the author of the popular Lincoln Rhyme series. Paul Schumann, a German American living in New York City in 1936, is a conscientious Mafia hit man known for agreeing to dispose of only the true dregs of society. When he is captured by the Feds, he is given an alternative to prison-travel to Berlin to assassinate Reinhardt Ernst, the man behind Nazi Germany's rearmament. Getting to know many of the locals while posing as a reporter covering the Olympics, Paul glimpses firsthand the horrors perpetrated by Hitler and his National Socialist Party. Finding himself the victim of a double-cross, Paul must choose between saving himself and completing his mission. While the abridgment includes most of the important plot lines in this fast-moving tale, the listener misses out on Deaver's poignant characterizations of the ordinary German citizens sickened at what their beloved country is becoming under Hitler. The unabridged program is recommended for all public libraries.-Beth Farrell, Portage Cty. Dist. Lib., OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

Set in Berlin 1936 at the start of the Olympics, Deaver's story tells of deceit, murder, and the early years of Nazi Germany. Paul Schumann, a New York City hit man who speaks flawless German, is recruited by the U.S. government to kill Reinhardt Ernst, who is in charge of Hitler's rearmament. But nothing goes right from the moment Schumann sets foot in Germany. Jefferson Mays reads this fast-paced book with slow tones that reflect the story's high level of detail. While Mays doesn't create accents, he follows all the twists as Schumann hunts Ernst while being hunted by the Berlin police. There's never a dull moment when murder and intrigue are afoot. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews