Garden of Beasts

Garden of Beasts (2004) a crime novel by Jeffery Deaver, is about a former mob hit man Paul Schumann, who is given an ultimatum by the US government – either help them to assassinate a key Nazi official in Germany or face certain death in prison. Winner of a CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award, People magazine called Deaver the "master of ticking-bomb suspense"; suspense is an integral part of Garden of Beasts.

The story takes place over the course of just a few days in the months leading up to Hitler's hosting of the 1936 Olympics. Paul Schumann is a hit man for the mob – but not just any hit man. He arrived at this strange career in a roundabout and tragic way. A third-generation German-American, Paul's family emigrated to America before WWI. His father started a printing business; his success attracted the attention of the mob. When he refused to give control of his business to the mob, they had him killed. Paul's first assassination was his father's murderer. His skill as a killer attracted the attention of other mobsters, who saw the value in his unique skill set. The Manhattan mob solicited him as a “button man,” or mercenary. For over a decade, Paul's painstaking approach to his work allows him to make a successful career. Choosy about his jobs, he only targets criminals, or as he puts it, he “corrects God's mistakes.”

After he is set up by the Feds, Paul is faced with a difficult decision: he can choose to cooperate with the government and work as an assassin for them on a special project or go straight to Sing Sing correctional facility, where he will die in the electric chair. If he accepts the mission and succeeds, he will be given the finances to start his life over and pardoned for his crimes – assuming he survives. Paul accepts the special assignment. He is provided a fake Russian passport and sent to Germany under the pretense of being a sports reporter covering the upcoming Olympic games. As a former boxer, this suits Paul well as a cover story. However, in reality, he will be tailing Nazi official Reinhard Ernst, whom it will be his task to eliminate. With his German-American background, he can speak the language, and as a talented assassin, he should have a better shot than most at finishing off Ernst. Afterward, he is to escape the country to Russia.



Unfortunately for Paul, word of his mission is leaked to Nazi officials by an anonymous Nazi sympathizer. This sets off what has inevitably been described in reviews as “a cat and mouse game,” as Paul simultaneously attempts to pursue his quarry while slipping through the fingers of those pursuing him – the tipped-off Gestapo. He is sometimes his own biggest threat. Although a fluent German speaker, Paul is very much culturally American, and many of his habits stand out uncomfortably in Germany. He must be cautioned, for instance, against using the word “Nazi,” which is not actually used by members of the National Socialist Party (as they refer to themselves). He also makes the faux pas of whistling for a taxi – something no self-respecting German would ever do. His foreign habits put Paul at risk of detection.

When an attempt to make contact with a fellow American agent goes awry, Paul is left no choice but to kill a SA (Sturmabteilung) agent. The action draws the attention of Inspector Willi Kohl, a brilliant, but unfortunately a rather lowly detective for the German civil police. The Inspector's pursuit of Paul, and his frustrating inability to get the Gestapo to share pertinent information with him, form a high-tension counterpoint to Paul's own plotline. Soon, Paul is being tailed by several different agencies with several different, often conflicting, interests in his objective.

Deaver's Garden of Beasts exists in an interesting generic overlap between historical fiction novel and crime thriller. Deaver's characters are roundly drawn, and repeatedly he resists expected stereotypes. In particular, and without in the least condoning their beliefs or trying to redeem their actions, he portrays Nazi agents as complicated and nuanced people, rather than caricatures. This unexpected treatment of the traditional bad guys doesn't detract from the heinousness of their crimes – which do feature in the novel – but makes them, rather, seem all the more chilling.



Although the target of Paul Schumann's mission, Reinhard Ernst, is a fictional character (whose name is likely derived from an early 1930s German infrastructure rebuilding program called the “Reinhardt Program”), several historical figures make appearances. These range from famed US sprinter Jesse Owens, to several top Nazi officials, including Goring, Himmler, and Hitler himself.