Official Review: The Odessa Legacy by Dr. Richard Bend

[djr6090]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Odessa Legacy" by Dr. Richard Bend.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Odessa Legacy by Dr. Richard Bend, Jr. is a fictional account of the activities of the Nazi escape organization known as ODESSA, from the German, Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehorigen (Organization of Former Members of the SS.) The saga starts over a century ago, with Kaiser Wilhelm’s construction of a secret U-boat base in the Caribbean, and ends with the modern-day effects of the monstrous cruelty and hatred that characterized Nazi Germany.

The premise of the book is that, in the months ending World War II, Hitler’s SS amassed an immense treasure in gold bullion, which they transported to the Kaiser’s secret base, in anticipation of restarting Hitler’s war. An intricate web of former Nazi officers formed a clandestine organization whose purpose was to assure the escape and protection of highly placed German officers and sympathizers. To safeguard the treasure’s location, all but the most elite were kept in the dark. Ultimately, the few who knew of the gold’s location were captured, executed, or committed suicide, and the wealth became the stuff of legends. Just the same, the organization continued and became a sinister criminal enterprise that used extortion, bribery, and terror to gain control of the world’s leaders.

Dr. Bend uses a wealth of characters to help the reader discover the gold and follow its history. There is the unsuccessful chiropractor who takes a vacation on the island containing the hidden bullion. We meet his unfaithful wife, and her lover, an estate lawyer of doubtful honesty. There is the preacher/curator of the island’s museum, a former agent for the British secret service. Next is the preacher’s unlikely best friend, who was active in the black market during the War. We also get to know the villains, the mad SS general who operates “The Organization,” and his henchman who will be a likely successor and future Fuehrer. We enjoy the company of the expert lady administrator of the criminal group who is slowly awakening to the insanity of her superiors, and who now wonders how long she will live if she goes along with their plans.

I enjoyed the writing style. The author moves about in time, telling the same story from different perspectives, and taking us into the past of the characters. We see the war effort from the point of view of the genteel remnant of Hitler’s regime, as well as from the single-minded perspective of the Nazi hunter who just can’t quit. The time shift is done well, and it colors the main story with interesting subplots. Naturally, there is some wartime romance with some steamy eroticism worked in. There is also a fair amount of bloody violence and cruelty, not entirely from the antagonists.

The Odessa Legacy is almost eight hundred pages long. As much as I enjoyed this fantastic, implausible story, it needed to be tightened up a little. Parts of the narrative repeated prior action almost word for word. A good editor could shorten it considerably and remove some of the redundancies. This shortcoming does not obscure the unique imagination of the book, and I would love to award it a four-star rating. However, it also needed to have another round of proofreading. Simple word choice errors such as, “he was threw with this,” and “they should not waist their lives,” illustrate a lack of professional editing. For this reason, I must withhold one star and rate it three out of four stars. I recommend it for a mature audience, for those who love historical adventure, and definitely for enthusiasts of the World War II period.

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The Odessa Legacy
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[Mercy119]

This is a captivating story about the search for gold allegedly hidden during WWII. The grammatical errors and awkwardly-worded sentences, however, will dampen the reading experience.

[djr6090]

This is a captivating story about the search for gold allegedly hidden during WWII. The grammatical errors and awkwardly-worded sentences, however, will dampen the reading experience.

I normally love long books, but this one was LONG! But I had to hand it to the author for imagination. Dampened reading experience is adroit.

[Yulisa Sanchez]

Very good, thorough summary of the book. I especially like how the author wrote the story from various characters' point of view and moving through time. Thanks for the great, detailed review!