Where God Does Not Walk (2021) by Luke McCallin.
Good Reads meta-data is 583 pages rated 4.32 by 313 litizens.
Genre: Krimi; Species: period; Sub-species: war.
Verdict: intriguing.
July 1918 on the Western Front all is not quiet. While training his company of stormtroopers a young German Lieutenant (YL) finds one of the men accused of fragging a group of officers. While the line officers involved try to intervene, they are brushed aside by staff officers who execute summary (in)justice.
Not satisfied with this rush to the firing squad, three line officers —the lieutenant, his captain, and the colonel commanding the trench regiment, each in a different ways question the result. The regiment’s colonel obliquely encourages YL to dig up facts, while – when he steps on toes – Captain shields him as best he can.
The unofficial and secret investigation is delayed and then advanced by a raid on a French strongpoint. The description of the combat is gruelling, and the outcome quite unexpected.
The machinations are many, the red herrings travel is schools, the descriptions of trench warfare are exhausting, depressing, and harrowing. The body count is large. The characters are varied, as always it is the least likely that become the most likely. Guess that is a spoiler. Rewind and delete.
More importantly I found the plot too deep and dark. The omniscient conspiracy is a tired cliché and it creaks on these pages. What’s worse is that there were two or was it three conspiracies tripping over each other. I needed a scorecard to keep track. Further it seems quite surplus to explain the villainy.
Yet without a doubt it is compelling to read.
====