Lumen (Martin Bora)

Set just after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, 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 Germans?Everything 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 more 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 .

The Martin Bora series will no doubt attract some comparisons with Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series and while there are some crossover elements to the two Ms.Pastors is I feel the more realistic and psychologically astute of the series. Kerr has transplanted an almost Chandleresque detective who happens to be German into a wartime setting whereas Martin Bora a serving Wehrmacht officer becomes a detective by default. He brings none of the traditional detective’s background to the cases he doggedly pursues instead relying on his intelligence and common sense.Fresh from service with Franco’s German contingent in Spain the newly married Martin Bora finds himself in Poland as the German army steamrolls over the unfortunate Poles. He is an intelligent and urbane man. He is a dedicated military man. While not a Nazi he wishes to do his duty and while not necessarily agreeing with the conduct of the war initially does nothing to even passively oppose it. He stands by as his men shoot animals of farmers suspected of resistance sympathies. He presides over petty acts such as ripping pro Polish hymns from a psalm book. While shocked to see his frail Jewish piano teacher in a work gang he does nothing. He is in short I feel an accurate representative of the officer class of the Wehrmacht who while the conduct of the war is disagreeable still colludes with it. The reasons for this collusion are many –in Bora’s case he might at this stage agree with Field Marshal Von Manstein’s statement that “Prussian Field Marshal’s don’t mutiny”.The murder of a Polish nun with so called mystical gifts has Martin ordered by his superiors to investigate lest the blame be attributed to the occupying forces and damage the unsteady truce between the occupiers and the Vatican. He is assisted in this by Father Maleki an American born priest who has been investigating the nun for the Vatican to assess how genuine her visions and stigmata are. The author has sly jokes in the nun’s future pronouncements as even an amateur student of World War Two will realise that what are viewed as outlandish by the characters will in fact come true. Issues of faith, belief and justice are stirred as Bora and Maleki butt heads while gradually coming to respect each other.The murder mystery and a subsequent diversion into Bora’s private investigation of the apparent suicide of his roommate are probably the weakest element of the book for me. The investigation is slow and methodical enlivened by the occasional flash of insight from Bora but for the crime fiction fan there is probably nothing too new here plot wise. That is not to say this that this part is uninteresting – far from it. For me however the real joys of this book are twofold –firstly watching the beginning of Bora’s belief in the right of his cause erode and his subsequent early attempts to do the right thing. He has a grisly encounter with an SS Action Group butchering prisoners in a wood and his subsequent attempts to bring the massacre to his superior’s attention put him very firmly on the SS radar as a man who may be in that dreaded phrase “politically unreliable”. The second area the book excels in is in the atmosphere the author creates. Details are excellent and an atmosphere of dread and paranoia infect the book. The hypocrisy of the German military are laid clear to see has German soldier rapists are ordered to be hung while down the road prisoners are shot, captives beaten and elderly Jews worked to death.All in all an excellent series debut from Pastor. I was shocked to see this originally published in 1991 in Italian and taking over 20 years to get reissued in English. My only concern was that subsequent books wouldn’t match the debut but the author was only getting warmed up with this one and subsequent efforts are even better.

This appeared at first sight to have all the right ingredients for an enjoyable read, combining detective/crime work and the early years of the Second World War. In reality, it didn't work out that well, and if I'm honest, was not very interesting. Not only was it such an interminably long process, investigating the death of the nun, with very little progress over pages and pages and pages. But I also had the feeling that the author wasn't that bothered about it; she seemed more interested in the actresses, the other German officers and the violence carried out by the SS and SD, which, in itself, is rather well-trodden ground - this book offers nothing particularly new, no new insights. Bora comes across in dribs and drabs; I never had a strong sense of who he was or what he was about, or found some of his actions totally justified (such as going to confession). I certainly didn't find this a riveting book - I actually struggled to get to the end, aware that it wouldn't really matter if I gave up.

Bora is awesome

... que nunca foi contada. E as construções de ambiente são ótimas. Enfim, vale a pena ler!

Ms. Pastor has created an honorable character possessing conflicting loyalties of duty, honor and faith with moments of self-doubts. While it is a murder mystery, the plot also focuses on Bora’s growing awareness of the Nazi regime he has chosen to support. The well-written book also contains interesting supporting characters ranging from ardent Nazis to sympathetic soldiers and civilians unfortunately caught up in the war. Lumen was an excellent and well-written book launching the Martin Bora series. The series is not in chronological order, but I recommend reading the books by order of publishing date. The subsequent books in the series continue to develop Bora’s character while revealing more of his personality along his fears and conflicting emotions. A true gem of a series.

Can a good man serve an evil state? History says that it can happen: Seneca at the court of Nero; Botticelli painting for the Medici; Stonewall Jackson in the army of the Confederacy. But can a good man serve an evil state and still preserve his soul? That is a much harder proposition and the problem that faces Wehrmacht Captain Martin von Bora as he sees duty in German-occupied Poland in 1939.Bora is an eager soldier of an old military family drawn from Catholic nobility. An intelligence officer, he is delegated to investigate the mysterious death of a Polish abbess famed for her mystical predictions and revered as a saint. Before too long, more killings come to light. Bora is appalled at the ruthless massacres of Polish civilians and is puzzled by the apparent suicide of his room-mate, a higher-ranking German officer given to sexual escapades with local actresses. Can he testify truthfully to what he has seen and learns despite pressure from his superiors in the Army and the S.S.?As a mystery "Lumen" presents the usual array of clues and red herrings though the culprits are rather easy for the reader to unmask. It is the grim setting and the moral and/or spiritual problems that make this book well worth reading.

Lecture d un polar passionnant , qui nous prend au tripe , difficile de le lâcher .Un vrai regal