The Darkest Hour: A Novel

"The Darkest Hour" is the story about a once good man who was pushed by circumstances and inertia to do some very bad things before stumbling upon a chance for redemption. The plot is the familiar trope of alternate history, what if the Nazis won the Battle of Britain and took over that country. To the credit of the author, the series of events that lead to this alternate 1946 are not explored in detail, it is more presented as a fait accompli; the Germans are in control. The protagonist is a London cop whose family was killed in a bombing by the Resistance, and after which has thrown himself into his work which (under the direction of the Occupation forces) is hunting down Jews. Not killing them, just carefully tracking them and rounding them up for deportation. It is a bureaucratic job which he does very well, not thinking about what happens to the people he rounds up. Think "banality of evil"

The meat of the story concerns what happens when our protagonist stumbles across a small Jewish boy missed by one of the round-ups, and where this child leads, and how he brings a chance at redemption. The book is beautifully written, with complex characterization, and multiple points of view, including even some of the Germans. The Nazis are certainly evil, but the author avoids cartoon villainy for the most part and accurately portrays the human nature of an occupation, the mix of collaborators, spies, enforcers, and ordinary folks trying to keep their heads down. Make no mistake, the brutality is real, but so are the people, and so is the storytelling, and in spite of everything, so is the hope.