The Taster by V.S. Alexander: A Review

"It's a dangerous job.  I was nervous at first.  You never know which meal will be your last."

It is Germany in the middle of World War II.  Magda Ritter's father is worried about Magda's safety in Berlin and sends her to live in Bavaria with her uncle and his Spanish wife.  She can't seem to please her aunt, who wants her to find a job to pull her weight as soon as she arrives.  Her police officer uncle pulls some strings to get her a job working directly with the Fuhrer.  She has been awarded a job as a taster.  She must be able to find poisons in food meant for Hitler by smell, sight and taste.  This new position has enabled Magda to learn things about the Reich that has been hidden from most of the citizens of Germany.  Soon, she finds out that the SS has been doing horrible things.  Will she participate in brining down the man who rules the Reich?

This is a historical fiction about Nazi Germany from a different perspective.  And it was quite different from any other fiction I have read about the time.  There was very little about the concentration camps or escape attempts by dissidents or any of the other common themes.  Instead, it is about the employees of Hitler, some of whom hate him for what he has done to their country and families, in addition to what he did to the Jewish citizens of Germany.  I appreciated being able to see the story from a different perspective.  At first, I was a bit upset that the author did not spend a lot of time on those who were most hurt by Hitler and Nazi Germany but then I took a step back and realized that there were quite a few books from the perspective of concentration camp survivors (the author suggests some of this reading at the end of the book) and that there should be room for the German victims, too.  The book did, sometimes, drag but I still enjoyed it a lot.  I enjoyed the characters.  Magda was very likeable.  She is the all-around nice girl.  I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially if the reader is open to new perspectives about history.

My rating:
★★★★☆

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