Katastrophe

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Hank Thorwald is a seemingly ordinary Indiana junior professor. As part of a faculty parlor game, he agrees to be hypnotized, and while in a trance—and in plain view of both his university peers and a tabloid journalist—he reveals a horrifying secret even he does not know: in a past life he may have been Adolf Hitler. Within hours the journalist has made Thorwald's reincarnation story front-page news, information that instantly makes Thorwald an internationally hunted man—by those who want him dead and those who want to anoint him. Confused, desperate, and on the run, Thorwald grapples with the moral weight of this unbelievable revelation. He and his wife set out to clear his name and in the process uncover a bizarre and shocking conspiracy.

Katastrophe is at once a mesmerizing portrait of the devastating effects of the media gone mad and an ingenious breathlessly paced thriller that builds to a stunning conclusion.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Believers of reincarnation, what are the odds that Adolf Hitler is alive, in a new form, somewhere? It's a killer premise, and Boyll rides it for all it's worth in this engaging debut novel of mistaken identity and media frenzy--until the tepid conclusion flatly dissipates the intrigue. Hank Thorwald, a professor in Terre Haute, Ind., agrees to undergo hypnosis at his friend Perry Miller's party, but the gag turns ugly when Hank is led to reveal that he is the incarnation of Adolf Hitler. Thanks to the presence at the party of TV personality Alan Weston (Indiana's version of Howard Stern), Hank becomes a tabloid sensation and soon the hub of catastrophes both tragic and ludicrous, ruining the Thorwald family's life. Hank's wife, Rebecca, is a sharp-tongued, believable heroine who tries mightily to clear Hank's name and to protect 11-year-old daughter Sharri. A f hrer fanatic pays a visit to the Thorwalds, convinced that Hank knows the secret whereabouts of Hitler's corpse. Boyll, author of several Darkman series paperbacks, keeps the action going, and his plucky characters deliver whip-smart dialogue, even as the plot grows more convoluted. But there are too many blind alleys in what should be a straight-shot plot, with much action occurring offstage and a muddling subplot involving an aged group of ex-Hitler Youths and a dubious lawyer. The first half of this hefty book delivers all it promises of a spiraling mystery and a frightening conundrum, complete with voracious reporters, double-crossing academics and neo-Nazi subcultures, but the ultimate solution to Hank's identity crisis is apt to elicit a "Huh?" from discerning readers rather than a spellbound "Wow!" Agent, Lisa Bankoff. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

Professor Hank Thorwald and his wife, Rebecca, attend a faculty party where a parlor game has disastrous consequences for them and their daughter in Boyll's hardcover debut (after ten paperback novels--all horror or movie tie-ins). Under hypnosis, Hank reveals that he is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler and offers what appears to be convincing proof. This leads to a tangle of perilous and ultimately unbelievable complications involving the Thorwald family, a corrupt investigative reporter, a wily academic with a secret past, neo-Nazis (and their opponents), remnants of the Hitler Youth, and others in search of the F hrer's bones. As the story ranges from the American heartland to Germany and back, multiple plot lines slowly begin to intersect, but the increasingly violent action becomes almost cartoonish in its excessiveness. This is all the more disappointing given the beautifully developed characters. Still, Boyll's work will interest readers who enjoy suspense. Recommended for public libraries.--Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Edward Bryant - Locus

Katastrophe is strong, disquieting stuff. No one writes weirdness quite like this man, and that's good reason to read him right there.

Kirkus Reviews

Deadpan satire, a first hardcover packaged as a serious effort from thriller writer Boyll (Chiller, etc.), featuring an absent-minded academic who fears he's the reincarnated spirit of Adolf Hitler. The morning after perpetually befuddled Indiana State University junior prof Hank Thorwald accompanies his nicotine-addicted wife Rebecca to a quit-smoking-by-hypnosis seminar at a comfortingly bland Terre Haute motel, he discovers he's fluent in German and doesn't care much for Jews. In distant Deutschland, Karl-Luther von Wessenheim, a fanatical collector of Nazi memorabilia, becomes intrigued when a rival collector tells him of a cabal hoping to clone Hitler from bones (his remains were never identified at the end of WWII) or a DNA extract from a dandruff flake clinging to the sweatband of Adolf's old top hat. Back in Indiana, Alan Weston, a sleazy (and Jewish) tabloid TV host who fabricates his Jerry Springer-like exposés, frequents biker bars, wondering if he'll ever find the big scoop that will bring back his dwindling TV audience and help him atone for a botched marriage. Weston finds his scoop when he attends a party and sees mesmerizing ISU Professor Perry Wilson hypnotize Thorwald again. After performing a few silly stunts, Thorwald states in German that his real name is Adolf Hitler. An appearance on Weston's TV show proves the fame can be a drag when people Thorwald never met—including von Wessenheim's crackpot crew—assume that that evil is what evil says and that Thorwald's sudden celebrity is the fulfillment of Hitler's promise: the Third Reich shall rise again. Bilingual puns, madcap plotting, pop culture send-ups anddelightfullydreadful dialogue may annoy readers expecting another Boys from Berlin. "This whole thing is not only preposterous," one character laments, "but an obvious setup." Indeed.