Read For Free Lumen Envisioned By Ben Pastor Made Available In Paper Copy

plot of this, the first in the Martin Bora series, would probably work well in any setting a Nun, a famous mystic, is shot dead in her own cloister.
No one hears the shot, the convent is locked, no weapon is found, Who killed her, how and why are puzzles enough for any detective, But Martin Bora is not a detective, He's a German Army Captain, assigned to Intelligence, And this is Poland, just after the German invasion, It's a difficult time, and Bora has not only to solve a potentially sensitive murder, but has to negotiate delicate relations with the SS as well, not to mention a difficult superior officer.
Part of Bora's problem is that he is an honourable man in what is an increasingly dishonourable war, As the brutality shown by his own side becomes and evident, Bora's moral code may put his own life at risk, And then the officer he is sharing quarters with apparently commits suicide, A well paced, absorbing and sometimes harrowing mystery, which shows people facing terrible moral dilemmas without attempting any trite answers, Set just after the German invasion of Poland in, this is a well written, intelligent

thriller, Captain Martin Bora is a young officer who wants to make his mark, while being uncomfortable about many of the things he witnesses and also takes part in.
The author makes us both aware of Bora's complicity and yet also his humanity, "His eyes burned and ached with smoke, and he wouldn't wipe them for fear of appearing moved, because he wasn't," as one passage puts it so well.
His troubled encounter with a previous piano teacher and his complaints about shootings leads to his superior office, Colonel Schenck, stating, "We're all in it, If it's guilt, we're all guilty", When Bora first arrives in Poland, he is billeted with Retz, who is out to enjoy life and relishes the advantages of uniform, He is also working with Colonel Hofer, who has been visiting an Abess, Mother Kazimierza, claimed to be a saint, This leads to Bora visiting the convent with Hofer, where he comes into contact with Father Malecki, a priest and American citizen, who has been given the task by the Church of investigating the unofficial cult surrounding the Abess.
When Mother Kazimierza is shot, Father Malecki unwillingly has to help Bora investigate, Was she a saint Was she involved in the underground or working with the GermansEverything about this book works well, drawing you in and demanding to be picked up and read.
Bora is a very human character and you feel both for him and Father Malecki and the difficult positions both find themselves in, Colonel Schenck, with his obsession about reproduction, and Retz and his complete selfishness, bring depth to the book, Everyone has something to hide and even Bora and Malecki cannot be open with each other, even if investigating together, I highly recommend this book and hope that in the series will become available soon, If you enjoy this novel and you will! you may also like The Warsaw Anagrams and Zoo Station, No, I didn't like this, It was, frankly, a bit weird, The story is set in Poland Cracow, not Krakow as I think it should be in lateimmediately following the German invasion, Captain Martin Bora is a Wehrmacht officer who although not any kind of investigator or military policeman gets assigned to solve the murder of a Polish nun in a local monastery.
How unlikely is thatBora seems not a very nice character I suppose a German officer of the occupying forces wouldn't be but also something of a cipher.
We learn little about him, He is surrounded by an equally odd cast, Most of the text is dialogue that didn't further very much my understanding of whatever story is there, On the "life's too short" principle, I abandoned this half way through, Congratulations to the publisher for reissuing this fine novel and making it available to a new readership, When I read the first Martin Bora novel some years ago, I was really impressed and looked forward to of the series, The series is available in Italian, French, German, Dutch, Polish and other languages but up to now not in English, the language the books were originally written in! In Lumen Pastor has created a wonderful evocation of a time and a place, Krakow and its hinterland shortly after the German occupation, and before the Germans are fully settled in.
The edginess and brutality on the streets and in the countryside provide a counterpoint to the claustrophobic world of the convent where the murder of the abbess takes place.
The investigator, Captain Martin Bora of the Wehrmacht, like all the characters in the book, is deftly and convincingly drawn, a soldier with duty, obedience and the army in his blood, a cultured man who denies his aristocratic background, a lapsed Catholic nevertheless affected by decency and conscience, a husband who has made a bad marriage.
Part of what is fascinating about this novel is how the reader can observe Bora's growing disillusion and disengagement with the Nazi authorities he serves, Another noteworthy aspect is how Pastor draws those Nazis, They are by no means caricatures and it is thought provoking to consider their own mindsets and justification of behaviour, I suppose what is at the heart of this novel is the question of the value of focusing on an individual murder when mass murder is taking place all around.
Read it. If you want to be made to think, you will not be disappointed, I fervently hope that of the Bora novels will now become available in English, Otherwise, I will just have to learn Italian! Je suis déçue car il ne faut pas le prendre comme un polar comme je l'ai fait.
L'intrigue n'est pas captivante et avance lentement, Par contre, les personnages sont attachants et l'ambiance historique très bien décrite mais il manque d'action à mon goût, Malgré un scénario original et intéressant, je suis très déçu par ce livre : intrigue qui se termine en queue de poisson, vocabulaire très pauvre.
Dommage, l'idée de départ était intéressante et la documentation bonne, Lecture d un polar passionnant , qui nous prend au tripe , difficile de le lâcher, Un vrai regal Martin Bora is a young, highly intelligent and idealistic officer in the German Army, A professional soldier in their Intelligence Corps, an honorable man, and a catholic, he believes the army he is proud to serve in should embody decency even while occupying Czechoslovakia.
He is also a catholic, Ben Pastor deploys all these elements, on the whole intelligently, while dealing with a complex who done it plot, the murder of a possibly saintly nun and Bora's gradual realization that the war he is in isn't going to be a honorable affair but full of horrors.
It's an intriguing book, well plotted and gripping, though personally I would have enjoyed it if it had been 'Graham Green' and less 'Agatha Christie' but that's possibly unfair.
I think it pretty well delivers what it sets out to do and I shall very probably check out her Ben Pastor is a female Italian Academic living in the U.
S other Martin Bora books, Pedro.