| Title | : | The Letter Writer |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1101875062 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781101875063 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 384 |
| Publication | : | First published March 15, 2016 |
What he left behind in a small North Carolina town was a wife who’d left him, a daughter in the care of his sister, and a career as a police officer marred by questions surrounding his partner’s murder. When he gets a job with the NYPD, he wants to believe it’s the beginning of a new life, though he suspects that the past is as tenacious as "a parasite in the bloodstream."
It's on the job that Cain comes in contact with a man who calls himself Danziger. He has the appearance of a "crackpot," but he speaks five languages, has the manners of a man of means and education — and he appears to be the one person who can help Cain identify a body just found floating in the Hudson River. But who exactly is Danziger? He's a writer of letters for illiterate immigrants on Manhattan’s Lower East Side — "a steadfast practitioner of concealing and forgetting" for his clients, and perhaps for himself: he hints at a much more worldly past. What and whoever he really is or has been, he has a seemingly boundless knowledge of the city and its denizens. And he knows much more than the mere identity of the floating corpse. For one thing, he knows how the dead man was involved in New York City's "Little Deutschland," where swastikas were proudly displayed just months before. And he also seems to know how the investigation will put Cain — and perhaps his daughter and the woman he’s fallen for — in harm's way. But even Danziger can't know that the more he and Cain investigate, the nearer they come to the center of a citywide web of possibly traitorous corruption from which neither of them may get out alive.
The Letter Writer Reviews
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An enjoyable 3.5 star book.
"The Letter Writer" in this multi-level police drama of murder, corruption and espionage. The book is based on true events in NYC during World War II. Many familiar names are interwoven like politicians, corrupt cops, and Nazi sympathizers.
I am not a fan of multiple characters being developed simultaneously can be confusing at times. Like other books of this style, it was a bit difficult to pull together until about 1/4 into the book. The story starts out slow and continues but it steadily moves along. Later, the author was wrapping things up.
I mildly recommend. -
“Nothing awakens the conscience like a lot of money.”
----P. Sainath
Dan Fesperman, an award-wining American author, pens his new historical crime fiction, The Letter Writer that narrates the story of a newly appointed detective in NYPD who gets tangled up in a murder investigation and that is when he meets a mysterious, strange and highly knowledgeable man. Set in the post World War II New York, the author composes an intriguing as well as thrilling tale of lies, money scam, murder, scandal and corruption laced with an unusual friendship.
Synopsis:
The first thing Woodrow Cain sees when he steps off the train in New York City on February 9, 1942, is smoke from an ocean liner in flames in the harbor. It's the Normandie, and word on the street is that it was burned by German saboteurs. "Ten lousy minutes in New York and already his new life felt as full of loss and betrayal as the one he'd left behind."
What he left behind in a small North Carolina town was a wife who’d left him, a daughter in the care of his sister, and a career as a police officer marred by questions surrounding his partner’s murder. When he gets a job with the NYPD, he wants to believe it’s the beginning of a new life, though he suspects that the past is as tenacious as "a parasite in the bloodstream."
It's on the job that Cain comes in contact with a man who calls himself Danziger. He has the appearance of a "crackpot," but he speaks five languages, has the manners of a man of means and education — and he appears to be the one person who can help Cain identify a body just found floating in the Hudson River. But who exactly is Danziger? He's a writer of letters for illiterate immigrants on Manhattan’s Lower East Side — "a steadfast practitioner of concealing and forgetting" for his clients, and perhaps for himself: he hints at a much more worldly past. What and whoever he really is or has been, he has a seemingly boundless knowledge of the city and its denizens. And he knows much more than the mere identity of the floating corpse. For one thing, he knows how the dead man was involved in New York City's "Little Deutschland," where swastikas were proudly displayed just months before. And he also seems to know how the investigation will put Cain — and perhaps his daughter and the woman he’s fallen for — in harm's way. But even Danziger can't know that the more he and Cain investigate, the nearer they come to the center of a citywide web of possibly traitorous corruption from which neither of them may get out alive.
Cain arrives in the New York City as a detective in the NYPD and that is when he meets a mysterious, challenging man, named, Danziger, who helps him to solve a murder investigation as his side kick. Eventually, this simple murder investigation reveals a lot of for bidden secrets about the then American government, it's corruption, money laundering and conspiracy between the Nazi and the Americans. What they stumbles on, reveals a hidden and unspoken past about American history right after the World War II where greed became too important for some.
The author's writing style is fantastic and is laced with suspense. The narrative is thoroughly engaging and that kept me glued to the story till its very end. The mystery is laid out pretty strongly as there are few twists and turns that will only make the readers overwhelmed and keep them anticipating till the very end. This is a fast paced thriller, which is filled with adrenaline-rushing action scenes which are projected with lots of depth and strikingly.
The location of New York city and that too in the 1940s has been painted quite vividly. The author has captured the city life in the post WWII era with proper detailing of the streets, buildings, fashion, culture, politics, people and everything. Yes I felt I was easily transported as well as teleported in that era near the Statue of Liberty in NYC.
The characters are interesting, flawed and sharp. Both the characters of Cain and Danziger, are painted with lot of backstory that justifies their current demeanor and yes the readers can easily be able to comprehend with them. The negative characters are also quite well-developed and are convincing enough in their demeanor.
Overall, this is an engrossing as well as enlightening novel that unveils a lot about American and Nazi involvement in corruption and money scam during the post WWII era.
Verdict: Crime fiction fan s must watch out for this upcoming novel.
Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Dan Fesperman, for giving me an opportunity to read and review an ARC of his book. -
Promising concept but I got confused and disinterested as it played out. (I don’t recommend the audiobook. The narrator’s rendition of Danziger is an over-the-top impersonation of Fyvush Finkel—too comical to be taken seriously.) But leaving aside the audio, the story itself didn’t measure up.
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5/10.Barely
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So I'm not a mystery/detective reader at all, but I really enjoyed this book. Interesting characters and story that moved along at a fast pace, and I enjoyed the post-WWII setting in NYC. I read the advance copy because Curious Iguana is hosting author in April. Looking forward to event and to recommending this book to others.
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Heaven help me, I have been devouring books based in the various war times over the past year and loved them. Not this. Slow as molasses in January in Antarctica- zzzzzz. I forced myself to finish but blah blah blah thank God it’s over. Do not recommend.
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This is my first reading of a book written by author Dan Fesperman. I found it sometimes slow going, sometimes tedious, sometimes hard to believe, yet always rewarding if I stuck with the job. We have two very unlikely characters joining efforts to expose some underworld schemes and keep secret some government schemes - mostly true events in New York City relating to Nazi Germany and American gangsters.
If I say more about that I would ruin the book for others. I can say the action follows a "hayseed" Southern cop named Cain who starts his new career in NYC trying to solve the murder of a corpse, freshly pulled from the Hudson. Cain is very much out of place and is not welcomed to his assigned precinct. An older gentleman visits him to check him out and see if he can possibly utilize his authority as a a policeman to accomplish a thing or two. His narrative, mostly identified as Danziger "the letter writer," alternates with Cain's activities.
There is a lot to follow or keep track of. Danziger's story in itself could have been a book, but this is how the author delivered the information to the reader, so one must put their concentration hat on and figure out what Danziger's purpose is in helping initiate this misfit cop.
Events of the book take place in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the SS Normandie in 1942 at Pier 88, NYC.
There are a great many characters in this book with a complex structure mixing fact and fiction, but it is worth the effort. -
Clairement pas une lecture d'été. Beaucoup de noms (de personnages secondaires) qui rend la compréhension des détails difficiles. À un certain point je ne savais plus qui étaient les bons et qui étaient les méchants!! Ça se déroule au début de la deuxième guerre mais à New York. Il y a la police, la pègre, les mafioso, les juifs, les allemands pro Hitler, et les allemands contre. Et la vie d'un policier nouvellement arrivé à New York qui va se rapprocher d'un traducteur juif pour mener ses enquêtes. Je ne me suis pas sentie satisfaite de ma lecture quand j'ai tourné ma dernière page...
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In his afterword, Dan Fesperman reveals the inspiration for his book: a passage from a 1932 book called "The Real New York" by Helen Worden, describing a letter writer who "is wise and knows much". A basis in reality — a time, a place and the people who lived, struggled and died there — that's the ingredient that makes this somewhat noir novel work so well. Merging a work of fiction seamlessly into a real historical setting, incorporating a large cast of real people and events, is a tricky undertaking and Festerman pulls it off quite well.
The driving force of this novel stems from the depth and impact of corruption that pervaded NYC in that era, especially the unholy alliance of the authorities (both federal and municipal) with the prevailing criminal organizations. The aura of corruption makes for compelling reading while also leaving me with a degree of disquiet. One wonders if it's possible (in 1942 or today) for police forces to avoid being infected and sidetracked by the powerful forces of big money, big crime and political chicanery.
Fesperman chose to tell his story from the perspectives of two protagonists: the letter writer Danziger in first person and the misplaced, damaged cop Woodrow Cain in third person. Cain arrives on the scene and is instantly swept into an avalanche of local mayhem touched off by the suspicious burning of the troop ship "Normandie" at the docks. Telling the story in this split fashion offers depth of perception at the risk of leaving both protagonists less than fully drawn. I felt that in doing so, Fesperman left Cain less concrete than I would have liked, notably in his relationship with his 12-year-old daughter. There is so much drama going on in Cain's life, threatened by hostile forces on all sides, that the kid gets short shrift in the telling.
The amusing yarns of Damon Runyon, sending up the colorful characters of the 1930s New York underworld of thieves, gamblers and gun molls make for fun reading; Frank Loesser and Joe Mankiewicz turned them into great entertainment in "Guys and Dolls". But Runyon's tales were based upon a much darker reality of murder, misery and malfeasance. Fesperman has managed to invoke Runyon while dwelling in the realities of the time and using all of that as the setting for his own crime story. -
This is a remarkable new visit to an old genre, a police noir murder mystery, set in New York City in early 1942, the first months of America's war. The story alternates between Woodrow Cain, a newly-minted NYPD detective with a troubled past in North Carolina, tasked with investigating dockside murders and precinct-level corruption, and Max Danzinger, an aging translator and letter-writer for New York's Jewish emigres. It's an intriguing way of telling the story, third-person for Cain, first-person for Danziger, a bit distrustful of each other, both concealing cloudy pasts even in their own narratives. The intrigue extends as the murders, corruption and possible Nazi espionage involve the police, the DA, the dockside unions, the German colony in Yorkville, and Cain's own high-society father-in-law. It invokes two New York maritime disasters -- the Normandie in 1942 and the General Slocum decades before. It's a tour through seedy police offices, Bowery hotels and city morgues worthy of the grand old noir genre -- indeed, this book evokes not the biblical Cain but James M. Cain's kind of writing. It is that good.
The characters are well-drawn, the New York 1942 setting seems accurate and colorful, the danger and dark backstories are compelling. Highly recommend. -
This book left me unsatisfied in both good and bad ways. Good because I wanted to learn what happened to the characters after the end of the novel; bad because there were too many coincidences and conveniences to make the story believable. Props to Mr. Festerman for exploring three separate and fascinating topics: German espionage in the US during World War II, cooperation between the mob and law enforcement, and the juxtaposition of WASP and immigrant culture in New York City. Still, I wish he'd figured out a way to braid these strands without the device of a charming but unlikely character, the titular "letter writer" whose facility with both foreign languages and organized crime makes for some oversimplified storytelling. Still, a pretty decent mystery.
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Very satisfying fact-based fictional thriller. New York 1942 is well depicted -- an era steeped in romanticism is rendered realistic and gritty without noir, taking as its impetus the attempt to secure the docks in a deal between the Navy and the Mob. There are two heroes -- Woodrow Cain, a haunted police detective newly moved from North Carolina, and the eponymous Letter Writer, only known as Danziger, who meet each other due to the murder of a "floater" in the Hudson. the narrative unspools at a fast pace, with a mixture of fiction and fact, which the author claims as being mostly true. Hopefully, we'll see both of them again.
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I can't remember how I heard of this book but it was this month's selection for my book club. Though we haven't discussed it yet, a couple of my friends said at our last meeting they were enjoying it, which made me eager to start reading it myself.
I don't share their early opinions. I found this book to be really hard to get into. We've read several WWII historical fiction novels and I kept forgetting that is when this one took place - I felt like every now and then, the author would make a reference as if he himself was also remembering that is when this story takes place.
Woodrow Cain is a police detective who moves from small town Horton, NC, to NYC after being disgraced due to questions surrounding his partner's death, arriving on the night the SS Normandie catches on fire. As his influential father-in-law had a hand in his transfer, Cain is not exactly welcomed with open arms and he is assigned to investigate the murder of a German national found near the wreckage of the ship. Shortly afterward, he is contacted by a civilian named Danziger who makes a living writing and translating letters and who claims to have information about the dead man - and another man who was also murdered but in another precinct.
In addition, Cain is also asked by someone hire up to investigate corruption in his precinct, keeps getting kidnapped as a means of communication, and his twelve year old daughter (who is written as a much younger child) comes to live with him sooner than expected just as he's embarking on a romance with the niece of Danziger's dearest friend, who doesn't approve.
This book, based on true events of the time, has a lot of characters and after awhile, I stopped trying to keep them all straight. I got the gist of who was a good guy and who was corrupt but as to which thread of corruption (gambling, bank fraud, etc) each character belongs to, I couldn't tell you. This story was also told in alternating views: Cain's in the third person; Danziger's story told in first person. I did find Danziger's story to be interesting but overall, I agree with the reviewer who said she wasn't really sure what the main plot point of this book was supposed to be.
I found this book to be really good for helping me fall asleep at night and towards the end found myself setting daily goals to get through it. I didn't hate it - I've just read some great novels from this time period and this one just does not stack up to them. It definitely picked up at the end though I agree with other reviewers who have said they would have liked to know what happened to the characters; to me, this book seemed to end a bit abruptly and wrap up too tidily for all the strive throughout it. However, it did pique my interest enough to seek out other books about the events that took place in this one. -
Fesperman is such a great storyteller that he managed to seduce me back into reading this novel every time I was thinking of quitting. The subject matter here is not one of my favorites and not one I am usually interested in, so I found it hard to get into and to keep my interest going. I also thought the plot lacked something, not sure what, and that the pace was too slow. But I love Fesperman's writing and his characters, and he managed to make me care about what happens to them. He is one of the most intelligent popular American writers writing today, in my opinion. I also managed to learn historical facts I didn't know about Nazis in America, how the mob was involved in WWII, and more. I love it when I want to quit a book but am made to change my mind every time I open it again. It feels like a sort of courtship between the writer and me, and in this case - the writer has succeeded in winning my heart.
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3.5
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3.5 stars.
"The Letter Writer" is a very readable novel, despite the fact that is is not very convincing. The reason for the satisfaction aspect is the character of the letter writer himself, a shabby fellow who calls himself Danziger. He makes a living reading and writing letters for people in the Lower East Side who can't do these things for themselves. He has a deep understanding of people and events going on in New York in those weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Every time he narrates a chapter the story flares--he's got secrets, this guy. What can they have to do with a series of murders happening now?
The main character is a North Carolina detective come to join the NYPD after a tragic scandal back home. There's not a lot to Woodrow Cain. His backstory is not very convincing; he's given a bland daughter for some reason, and a girlfriend who is uncharacteristically careless in giving away Danziger's deepest secret.
It's full of holes, but the story will keep you going to the end. How about a novel abut Danziger? That would be grand! -
This was a nice literary mystery/speculative fiction, but left me wanting somehow. It's not that this book was not good, more that my expectations were too high. I loved reading about New York City in wartime-- it was a nice history lesson, and, having recently been to the city, made the places easy to recall. (In fact, it's one of those books I wish I'd read before my visit, so that I could look at places in modern day and say, "ah ha! I see!") I think the world of Danziger, the letter writer, also held a fascination for me because of my heritage, and my family that had to flee Europe before and during WWII. I think part of my feeling unfulfilled had to do with wanting more of that world. Woodrow Cain, the policeman from small town North Carolina, now in the big city, who ends up working with Danziger, was a sympathetic character, too, but his story doesn't touch mine quite as much. But Dan Fesperman's writing was engaging, and all I can say is the fault is mine, not his in the telling of this tale.
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The closest thing to time travel is a book that can transport you to another time. Dan Fesperman's The Letter Writer did that for me. I found myself in NYC during WWII. Maybe it helped that I am a native New Yorker whose grandfather was a NYPD lieutenant during the 1st half of the 20th century, but I sure felt that I was there. When I read the last sentence I was reluctant to let go. Now, that's a good book.
This historical fiction novel brings a Southern police officer, Woodrow Cain, to NYC and puts him on the NYPD. His father-in-law pulled some strings to make this happen, but Cain is an alien here. There are aspects of WWII sabotage, mob involvement, the US Navy, bad cops, good cops, and the mysterious letter writer of the title, Danziger. Loved it! -
Probably would make a decent gritty TV series, in the tone of Boardwalk Empire, but as a book it did nothing for me. I rarely wanted to pick it up again after I’d put it down, and only finished it because my sister bought it for me as a gift. Points for an interesting setting and a basis in historical accuracy, but I did not find the characters compelling. And our poor protagonist, Woodrow Cain. He goes through a lot, but does not develop enough strength and insight for my taste.
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I was curiously unmoved by this book, which fits most of the criteria for a novel I'd enjoy: Set in NYC at the dawn of WWII, with a detective from the south trying to find his way, and a mysterious guy who writes and interprets letters for residents of the Bowery. But I just couldn't garner connection with the characters; I found the alternating first person and third person omniscient annoying.
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I wanted to like this more than I did. The main characters were quite interesting, but it was sometimes hard to keep track of the minor characters and their interactions with the main characters. It was a decent read though, and it kept my interest enough for me to want to keep reading for hours at a time.
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2.5 stars. NYC in WWII. Pace of this book was too slow for me. Totally my fault that I didn’t clue in who was the spy, who was paying off which spy or cop or mob guy. I just wasn’t invested enough in the story to care.
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Interesting how the author tied in to true historical people and events although a little difficult to follow all the characters.
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Woodrow Cain is a fugitive from disappointment in a small North Carolina town. “Wife gone, daughter abandoned. He’d forsaken all he held dear for a fresh start, only to be greeted by symptoms of mass hysteria.” Because Cain, a senior detective back home, has arrived for a job as a homicide detective in New York City in February 1942. The French ocean liner S.S. Normandie has just burned and sunk in the Hudson River off Manhattan’s West Side. And everyone is convinced that Nazi saboteurs have done the deed. Thus opens Dan Fesperman’s endlessly intriguing novel of suspense, The Letter Writer.
A MYSTERY WITHIN A MYSTERY
Detective Sergeant Cain is nominally the protagonist of this tale. But the mysterious “letter writer” of the title, Maximilian Danziger, also tells the story from his perspective. Chapters alternate between the two accounts, Cain’s in the third person, Danziger’s in the first. The two men form an awkward partnership investigating the murder of a man whose body washes up in the Hudson. Danziger identifies the man. And he hints the murder has something to do with Nazi saboteurs but is reluctant to share the information. So, now Cain confronts a mystery within a mystery.
A RELIABLE BUT RELUCTANT NARRATOR
Max Danziger is, in fact, a letter writer. He earns a modest income on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on “the translation and writing of other people’s letters . . . [in] four different tongues—German, Russian, Yiddish, and Italian.” But Danziger isn’t really his name. The man harbors a dark secret he is terrified of revealing. When he arrives at the Fourteenth Precinct to introduce himself to Sergeant Cain, he wears tattered old clothing and dark stubble on his cheeks and chin. Cain’s new colleagues think him a bum. But he is nothing of the sort, as we will soon discover. In fact, he is one of the most engaging characters to surface in all the detective fiction I’ve encountered in recent years.
A GENEROUS HELPING OF BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS
Along the way as the story proceeds, we encounter several other people who linger in memory. Cain’s inquisitive twelve-year-old daughter, Olivia. His wealthy father-in-law, Harris Euston, a partner in a patrician law firm on Wall Street. The police commissioner, Lewis J. Valentine. Danziger’s best friend and his bold, unconventional daughter, Beryl, Cain’s love interest. A couple of Nazi saboteurs. And a passel of historic figures in the New York Mob, Meyer Lansky, Albert Anastasia, and Joseph “Socks” Lanza, as well as Manhattan’s crusading district attorney, Frank Hogan.
The Letter Writer is a tale of Nazi saboteurs, the Mafia, and crooked cops. As the plot unfolds and Cain gradually attains purchase on the truth about the murdered man, he and Danziger find themselves in increasing peril. Fesperman writes exceptionally well, and his skill at plotting and character development is unexcelled. The novel is engrossing from start to finish.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dan Fesperman (1955-) is the author of thirteen novels of intrigue and suspense. He is a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun. Wikipedia notes, “The plots were inspired by the author’s own international assignments in Germany, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East.”
The bio at the author’s website adds: “Dan Fesperman first began writing about dangerous and mysterious people and places as a journalist, a newspaper career that culminated in his years as a foreign correspondent for the Baltimore Sun. Reporting from Europe and the Middle East, he covered three wars while also finding the time to write his first three novels. He then quit the newspaper biz to write fiction fulltime, and now travels on his own dime.”
“Fesperman is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is married to Baltimore Sun journalist Liz Bowie.” They live in Baltimore. They’re the parents of two adult children.
