Book tour plus review: Black Fox One by Elyse Hoffman

 

Black Coffee Book Tours

November 14-17

Jonas Amsel and Avalina Keller, devoted Nazis and best friends, have a bright future in Hitler’s Third Reich. Ava, a talented gymnast, wants to serve Germany in the Olympics, and Jonas, who has loved Ava since they were children, wants nothing more than to marry her and start a family. When he is about to propose, however, Ava and her entire family vanish without a trace.

Jonas blames the Jews for Ava’s disappearance and throws himself into a career in the Nazi Party. He serves the Reich under the ruthless Chief of the Gestapo, Reinhard Heydrich. Jonas becomes particularly good at capturing members of the Black Foxes, an anti-Nazi resistance group, earning Heydrich’s respect and the moniker of “the Fox Hunter.”

Impressed by Jonas’ skills, Heydrich gives him his most difficult task yet: capture the elusive Black Fox One, the Black Foxes’ most deadly and mysterious operative. No Nazi who has pursued Black Fox One has returned alive, but Jonas is determined and confident. Capturing Black Fox One might bring him one step closer to finding Ava.

But while he is hunting Black Fox One, Jonas makes a shocking discovery, forcing him to make an agonizing decision. He must choose between his love for the Reich and his heart, torn between the lies he has been taught all his life and the new truth before him.

Black Fox One is a thrilling World War II story of lost love, bravery, and the hard road to redemption.

Check the book on Amazon here.

Book Review:

Black Fox One is an eye-opening story about Germany’s propaganda against the Jews during World War two. But it is also a love story of two people divided by war and hate.  

Lies and secrets were the foundations of this war, a war ignited and fed by ignorance and manipulation, and normal people on both sides of the coin suffered. This is the premises of Black Fox One. The author’s empathy and research can be seen on each page as the story came to life and you get to know the SS officer, the “Fuchsjager”.  

Ava and Jonas were ripped apart and found each other once more at the height of the war. The chipping down of lies came at a cost, and the questions of which side to choose remained throughout this heartfelt story.  

“They lied to me…they lied right to my face. My teachers, my comrades, they all lied to me!” Jonas Amsel said.  

Black Fox One, the moniker of a fierce leader, brings the suffering of the Jewish people's home. The entire team of black foxes was a menace in the German army and one they void to destroy at all costs. 

“You’re a loyal SS man, an Aryan. Don’t forget your nation, no matter what happens. At the end of the day, Germany must come first. Deutschland Über Alles!” Dieter Amsel. 

With two goals on his mind, the one, to find his one true love and own a “Ehrenring”, Jona, a national socialist’s mind, was set on the task at hand. Not knowing what will happen when he continues. But when Jonas was confronted with a different truth he believed, he had to make a choice.  

Since this book is written from Jonas’ perspective alone, it was difficult to know Ava’s thoughts. Yet I could summarize that she had a difficult time in the time they were apart. Though she had to be bitter, I found her endearing character relatable. She knew who she was and made no excuse for it. Her quiet and even sometimes explosive nature was a powerful beacon for Jonas’s character. If not for her gentle tutoring on a somewhat unconventional way, Jonas would have stayed lost.  

The strong bond of love is an ever-present string that holds it together.

The writing is clear and to the point. The descriptions lively as the author shows the story in apt ways. Adding additional dimensions to a very harsh time in our history.  

“I was lied to, he thought, and in the name of that lie he had killed. Murdered. Nausea took hold of him, and he almost collapsed. He was angry. Angry at his father who had lied to him, at the nation which had lied to him, at the lying system he had served.”

About the author

Elyse Hoffman is an award-winning author who strives to tell historical tales with new twists. She loves to meld WWII and Jewish history with fantasy, folklore, and the paranormal. She has written six works of Holocaust historical fiction: the five books of The Barracks of the Holocaust and The Book of Uriel.

Website  / Goodreads / Bookbub