Where God Does Not Walk is the fourth novel to feature German Army Officer Gregor Reinhardt. This is a prequel to the other books in this series and we see Gregor Reindhardt as a young Lieutenant on the Western Front.
THE WESTERN FRONT, JULY 1918. Gregor Reinhardt is a young lieutenant in a stormtrooper battalion on the Western Front when one of his subordinates is accused of murdering a group of officers, and then subsequently trying to take his own life. Not wanting to believe his friend could have done what he is accused of, Reinhardt begins to investigate. He starts to uncover the outline of a conspiracy at the heart of the German army, a conspiracy aimed at ending the war on the terms of those who have a vested interest in a future for Germany that resembles her past.
The investigation takes him from the devastated front lines of the war, to the rarefied heights of Berlin society, and into the hospitals that treat those men who have been shattered by the stress and strain of the war. Along the way, Reinhardt comes to an awakening of the man he might be. A man freed of dogma, whose eyes have been painfully opened to the corruption and callousness all around him. A man to whom calls to duty, to devotion to the Fatherland and to the Kaiser, ring increasingly hollow…
I love any historical fiction novel and this one is not the exception. The atmospheric writing of Luke McCallin really placed me there in Gregors traumatic past. His depictions of the trenches, hospitals and the attacks were all so believable. Even the soldiers and their mental exhaustion.
Gregor Reindhardt is an intriguing man and a character I was eager to find out more about. As the story unfolds, we learn he has seen way too many men who have had their lives cut short. He is disillusioned with the war and the people who are giving the orders. He is just fighting for his men not his country.
A sometimes brutal depiction and the author pulls no punches in telling it the way it really was and how the men suffered. Alongside this horrific war Gregor is given a below the radar investigation into a man who is assumed to have committed suicide but found alive and shot dead for being a traitor by General Hessler. Gregor doesn’t believe he was guilty but his naivety and youth are about to be shown the much larger picture of the machinations of these who already know they have lost the war and are already planning the future of Germany after it.
A novel that drew me in and had me in the palm of its hand, so to speak. The pure horror of war and scenes that just make you want to cry makes this such a realistic read. The research that Luke McCallin has done is exceptional. The twists and turns as Gregor still fights alongside his men in some of the biggest battles of World War One while also using his investigational skills to discover why the body count keeps rising.
A brilliant historical fiction novel that will appeal to the reader of this series anyway and also readers who love historical fiction too.
Thank you to No Exit Press for inviting me on this tour for this excellent book and gifting me the book also.
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