Book Review: The Winterhaven Solution

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Winterhaven Solution     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Beth Asher
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller   Espionage
ibooks, Dec 2005, $22.95

In Los Angeles Miriam Benjamin is getting married. She wants her sister twenty-two year old concert pianist Rebecca Benjamin and her grandmother Lilli to attend her big day so she sends to them and the long term family retainer Herta tickets to fly in from Vienna. As they prepare to go they observe Neo-Nazis deface the entrance to the Freud Museum.

In Los Angeles, a Neo-Nazis group leader octogenarian Magnus Von Winter has plans for a fourth Reich. Perhaps the last living survivor of Hitler’s inner circle, he envisions his son Bruno as the Fuehrer of the United States. His plans include using Miriam as the next step in his the WINTERHAVEN SOLUTION where his followers will soon kill all the Jews in the United States. They have started with a rabbi at a gravesite in Staten Island and now with Miriam. Rebecca’s still has hopes to rescue her sister but time is running out for Miriam. She needs a professional to help her and Horne, who knows first hand the atrocities of war even in a good cause, reluctantly agrees to help the distraught yet haughty Austrian.

This is a terrific thriller that paints a gloomy cold background that fits so well in this tense drama. The action-packed story line grips the audience with dread as slowly the WINTERHAVEN SOLUTION starts to focus on the rabbi buried alive at the cemetery and the abduction of Miriam. Rebecca is a fabulous protagonist, who turns into an annoying fly gumming up the diabolical seemingly smooth Neo-Nazi plan with her need to know who and why. Coupled with the battle fatigue syndrome Horne, they make a formidable team as they skirmish with Magnus and his minions in Beth Asher’s excellent thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner