This book is Conroy’s fifth alternate history novel, yet in many respects it reads like his third one, [b:1945|134261|1945|Robert Conroy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320488645s/134261.jpg|129350], given how much he borrows from it. Though the setting is different – with the premise being a clash between Soviet and American forces in Germany at the end of the Second World War in Europe – the elements are all too familiar to anyone who has read Conroy’s earlier work. As in the earlier novel, they will encounter green lieutenants, beleaguered but determined generals, men trapped behind the lines cooperating with OSS agents, a duplicitous Soviet Union, and a plucky man from Missouri attempting to address it all. Even the ending is essentially the same, though this is less of a surprise as all of Conroy’s novels seem to conclude with an “in-the-end-the-world-was-left-a-better-place” sort of wrapping up.

This is not to say that this is not an enjoyable book, as fans of Conroy’s alternate novels will find the author firing on every cylinder that he has within these pages. But it seems that with the fifth novel (and his third consecutive one set in the Second World War) Conroy’s creative well is running dry and he is beginning to recycle earlier ideas in a slightly refreshed setting. In his “Acknowledgments” section at the end of the book he expresses his hope that this will not be the last alternate history novel he writes; while I'm sure it wasn't, I hope that he put more time into giving readers something new and different, rather than just warming over his earlier work. ( )

3 stars.

As purely an entertaining read, it met that goal, but as an alternate history, it fell incredibly flat. There were simply too many wild assumptions that didn't make sense.

First, the author stated several times that Germany invaded Russia in 1940 (in actuality, it was 1941). Not an egregious error, but it showed that there wasn't any sort of research was conducted in preparation to writing this book. An editor should have caught this one.

Second, the way that the author portrays the American military as being stretched thin to the point of being unable to provided any backup to the troops already in Europe was completely wrong. The American military was gearing up to invade Japan in 1945 (in case the atomic bomb didn't work), and these troops could have easily been redirected. This was a major error in the book, and hard to overlook.

Third, I find it highly unlikely that American troops would have taken the Germans in as allies so soon after the atrocities they found in the concentration camps. I just don't see this happening, even against a greater military force such as the Soviet Union.

Aside from these errors, it was an entertaining read. Just don't take it as an alternate history that "could have" happened. ( )

Credible scenario of what might have happened if the Allies took on the Soviets at the end of WW2.

Although appears to be thoroughly researched it did keep mentioning the German invasion of Russia as occurring in 1940 not 1941.

Other than that a good holiday read. ( )

The 'What if?' premiss of Red Inferno is a good one and given the state of affairs in the final months of WWII, one that was entirely possible.

What if, Conroy wonders, while they rushed to capture Berlin, hopefully capture Hitler alive and at the same time exact the maximum possible revenge for the atrocities committed against them - both real and imagined - the Russians had decided the chance and opportunity was there to continue on past Berlin? What if they had decided to continue the war past the shut-off date we all know and continue onwards to take the whole of Germany, then continue on even further into Holland, Belgium and ultimately France? What if they had decided the Eastern European countries they captured were not enough of a buffer zone and that the chance was actually there to 'export' the Communist revolution to the whole of Europe? How might that have unfolded? What might have happened to the (mostly) US forces who were already a long way in to Germany at the time (even though their leaders were duped by Stalin into holding back from a full-power rush to Berlin themselves)? How might the US have reacted and how might the Russians have been stopped (presuming of course, our sympathies lie with the West here, shall we say)?

That's the set-up and a good one it is at that.

However, while I enjoyed reading the book and at no time found it poor reading, I did feel that it was one of missed opportunities. One which, in better hands could have been a lot more satisfying. Conroy is an entirely competent writer, it seems, but the story deserved someone better. He shows the broad picture, the big plans, the leaders and the generals deciding policy, but he also manages to focus in on the soldiers and the (German) civilians caught at the sharp end and paying in their own blood, the price of the generals' broad strategic sweeps.

As I say, there's no shortage of interesting ideas, but perhaps my problems with the book can be pretty much traced back to the fact that it just isn't long enough. This can't be a short story and with so many different elements necessarily having to be involved, it really needed to be (at least) twice as long to fully do the story justice. To fully develop the ideas, possibilities (and not least) the characters, but also the ethical questions raised and the psychological possibilities he begins, but hasn't space or possibly ability, to develop properly. So, not deep enough, not broad enough and not long enough. A 'what if?' alternative history that was entertaining enough, but left me wondering 'what if, it'd been written by Max Hastings or Anthony Beevor?' ( )

Truman decides to take Berlin instaead of letting the Russians have it triggering a war between the US and Russia. A really interesting book ( )