The Priest and the Nazi
by: John LeConte
Published by: Hopewell Publications
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Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart
Sometime you know by the time you've reached the end of page one that the book you so desperately want to be a great read is gonna be a real clunker. And yet, you keep reading, sure that, for whatever reason, it will get better.
Such was the case for the John LeConte's debut novel, The Priest and the Nazi. Hopewell Publications always puts out such great work by new writers that I was confident that this book would get better. I was wrong.
The gist of the novel is that a Bavarian priest encounters a Nazi SS officer on the run after Berlin falls. Neither character is given a name at the beginning, which doesn't allow the reader to be drawn in. The priest's church is a safe house for Nazis trying to reach Argentina, where they are in the process of setting up the Fourth Reich. The priest, Father Huber, hears the Nazi's confession and they strike a deal. Huber steals a Degas painting from the Nazis and buys his way to Rome. The Nazi, who goes by several names, does his penance and is whisked to Buenos Aires where there are all kinds of cloak-and-dagger scenes involving men in black hats and coats. Along with the Nazi fleeing Europe, the book is ripe with political backstabbing that goes on at the Vatican.
LeConte is trying to make a fictional point that the Catholic Church was in cahoots with the Nazis to exterminate the Jews. That and homosexual scenes indicate his complete disillusionment with Catholicism.
The writing is preachy and the editing lacking, for example: new writers are bound to add phrases "as you know" and use the same words over and over. "Predominate" is used twice in the same paragraph on page one alone. I expected the editors at Hopewell to do a better job. Given that--and keeping the reader at arm's length from feeling connected to the characters--make The Priest and the Nazi the most disappointing book of my year.
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