What do readers think of Jacob's Oath by Martin Fletcher? Write your own review.

This book is another Holocaust story but with a different twist. Instead of being focused on the horrible conditions Jacob Klein endured within a concentration camp or on the sub-human conditions faced by Sarah Kaufman who survived by hiding out for years fleeing from one safe house to another, this story is about these two Jews in the days immediately following the victories of the Allied armies. I believe the difficulties involved in trying to survive as free people who have lost everything have been pretty much overlooked in novels about this era. So the concept was intriguing for someone who loves historical fiction. The cover of the book announced that the author is a master storyteller, but I am sorry to report that it somehow seemed to lack true emotion and did not measure up to what I was anticipating.

I am not sure what it was lacking. In some ways, it seemed to be as if the author stands back and reports the facts without being invested in the characters being described. I never lost the feeling I was reading about these people rather than being enveloped and living in their shoes.

I would not recommend the book.

This book mostly held my interest and was reasonably well written. The plight of concentration camp victims during WWII and Jews in Germany is a worthy subject--we should never forget. That said, the plot felt a little contrived to me and just a little "soap opera-ish". I think there are better novels on the subject