The Taster by V.S. Alexander

The Book ✯✯✯✯✯

A beautifully done historical fiction, we follow Magda Ritter through her journey as Hitler's poison control and her ever-increasing hatred for the destruction he wrought in Germany. If you liked Kristin Hannah's The Nightengale, you will adore The Taster.

While at times the book slowed to a near crawl, you were ever invested in Magda's journey. Would she and Karl ever have their happy ending? Were your suspicions about how Hitler truly died be confirmed at the end of the book? Would I somehow sympathize with an evil regime while reading?

The answers to the first two are, of course, spoilers. The answer to the last, though: No. You will not, in any way sympathize with Hitler or his heads of state. They held to their evils to the very end. Magda and Karl, though, are the children of the "Good Germans" idea. They didn't like where the country was going, they fear Hitler would raize Germany to the ground with his ideals and obsession with power, and when they found out about the atrocities of the camps, the ember that was burning became an inferno. 

While this book is entirely fictional, the author drew upon true, now dead, characters to people the story. Read it as a fiction set in the WWII era, but realize that even those closest to Hitler devised Valkeryie. Let this book be a reminder of the atrocities that happened less than 100 years ago, and a warning to not allow it to happen again.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington, and V.S. Alexander for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.