While far from perfect, In The Presence Of Mine Enemies is yet another example of why Harry Turtledove is the master of Alternate History Fiction.

The book itself is about life in a 21st Century in which the Third Reich won not only World War II, conquering all of Europe, including England and Russia, but also won World War III, conquering and effectively destroying as a world power the United States. Its difficult to determine what the point-of-departure for Turtledove's story is, but it seems that, in this world, the United States never entered World War II (presumably there was no attack on Pearl Harbor) and effectively sat out the war long enough for the Germans to win in both the East and the West. But the book isn't about world politics in a Nazi dominated world, its about what it would be like to be a Jew living in the heart of the Third Reich 60 years after the conquest of Europe.

Of course, these are not Jews who are living openly as such. They live in secret, pretend to be perfect Aryans, and, in an effort to keep their religion alive, share their secret with their children when they reach 10 years old. Turtledove tries to show us what it would be like to try to live in a society that had as one of its central principles the beleif that you are an enemy that must be destroyed.

The story principally unfolds as the story of the family of Heinrich and Lise Gimpel and their three children, one of whom turns ten as the book opens and thus learns her true identity as a Jew. As she struggles with this new knowledge, we learn, in bits and pieces, what is happening in the rest of the world. And, when the reigning Furher, named quite ineptly, after a certain former head of state in Europe, dies, we begin to see the beginnings of what looks like it could be reform in the Third Reich and a new birth of freedom.

In some ways, this book suffers from some of the same weaknesses as Turtledove's other books. There is far too much repetition of plot elements and character traits -- we don't need to know more than once, for example, about the pediatrician who can't operate a coffee maker, or how Heinrich's co-worker has the hots for the cute blond secretary. The most annoying parts of the book for me, though, came in the long, drawn-out bridge-playing scenes between the Gimpels and Heinrich's co-worker and his wife. They did very little to advance the plot and, quite honestly, mean nothing to me because I know next to nothing about bridge. Its obvious Harry is a bridge player, or has at least researched the topic well, but he shouldn't have assumed that his readers would have the same familiarity with the subject. More than once, the plot slows down needlessly because of this.

As the book unfolds though, the excitement builds. There is a threat to the Gimpel family that looks like it could bring their whole world crashing down. And there is a political sub-plot that is part Tiananmen Square, part the fall of Communism circa 1989, and part Gorbachev-Yeltsin. In the end, there are significant changes in the Third Reich but still not resolution for its remaining Jewish citizens who must continue passing there secret along, hoping for the day when they can live openly again.

While I wouldn't count this among Turtledove's better books, it was still an enjoyable read and painted enough of a picture of a 21st Century dominated by Nazi Germany to make me glad that this particular version of history never came to pass

sorry Harry..... this particular piece just isn't what i have come to expect of you.

i felt like i was reading a romance novel about people who like to play cards.

oh and it just so happened that these folks were "hiding inside a society that condemns them"

it was a real struggle to get thru this, and i am sorry i spent the time to read it all the way thru. i will probably be a little gunshy about picking up another Turtledove book for a while

Almost every talented science fiction writer has been unable to resist at least a short-story about the ghastly question of what the world would have been like if Hitler had won WWII.

The first chapter or so of this book was originally written as a short story, and was first published some years ago in one of Turtledove's short story collections. Turtledove has now extended the short story into a full length novel.

Until now, far and away the best "What if the nazis had won" story was "Fatherland" by Robert Harris, but "In the presence of mine enemies" is in the same class. Harris has the edge in the meticulous quality of his research and the historical detail which made his novel chillingly believable: Turtledove wins points for his grasp of the sweep of history and how a fascist regime might have had to cope with the same pressures which a changing world presented to other totalitarian regimes.

And in telling his story through the eyes of a small group of Jews who have survived by posing as Aryans, he brings home to you what it must have been like to be a Jew hiding in the 1000 year Reich, knowing that one mistake would doom not just yourself but every member of your family.

Turtledove does not forget the seriousness of the subject - the book is dedicated to people who "helped ensure that this is alternate history" - but he displays a wicked sense of humour in suggesting what positions certain real-world modern politicians might have held in a world run by the nazis. One of the characters in the story is the chairman of the British Union of Fascists, Mosley's party, which has effectively become the British wing of the Nazi party. A certain very prominent real world British politican of about the same age and description has the name of this character as his middle names. (If you don't realise who it is, Google the name of the character in the book and the name of one of George W Bush's closest allies will come up.)

He also has fun creating the Nazi equivalents of Gorbachov and Boris Yeltsin ...

One of Harry Turtledove's other books was criticised as containing the same events as real history but with different actors. There's some truth in that, and the point certainly does apply to this book. However, even though most people will spot the parallels, Turtledove leaves you uncertain until almost the last page whether things will turn out the same way as happened to a certain totalitarian empire in real history. I couldn't put this book down.

I had been getting a little tired of Turtledove's work recently, phrases repeated, similar plots, but I think he has returned to his better early works.
I loved the story of a Jewish family hiding and the many concessions they had to make to their own faith to survive.
And I also loved the way the author retold the Gorbachev/Yeltsin years. It made me realize how lucky Russia was with the way things turned out. (Too bad Russia looks to be slipping back.)

As usual, Harry Turtledove has taken an interesting premise and filled it out nicely. The characters he creates are well-developed, and he exhibits his characteristic ability to make a compelling alternate reality, with a story that opens years after the pivotal event (the success of Nazi Germany in WWII) which makes it "alternate".
This story is about an interconnected group of Jews who live in Berlin in the early 21st century, some 60 years after the end of the war. They live in secret, blending in but observing a minimal subset of Judaism to keep their culture alive. And believe me, you can't miss this point, because it's brought up every few paragraphs, in thought bubbles above every Jewish character's head.
Here's an example: Jewish character "A" is being pursued romantically by the German wife of his best friend, German character "B", neither of whom know "A" is Jewish, of course. After thinking for a moment about how nice it might be, he declines because he loves his wife too much, and because he doesn't want to lose his friend. "If 'B' found out we were sleeping together", he thinks, "he'd really do something rash". Then he goes on: "and if he found out my REAL secret, he'd do something more than rash."
We get it, A: you're walking the razor's edge as a Jew in Nazi Berlin, and every decision you make has to be weighed in light of keeping that secret.
If you can handle the repetiveness of this, the story is really quite good. The various ways the Jews keep under cover is interesting, and it's intriguing to see how even Nazi Germany can change with time, mellowing in some respects but keeping some features very alive.