Book Review - The Swiss Courier

This Veteran’s Day, it is important to give remembrance to our men and women who serve and protect our country. During World War II, not only did the members of our armed forces help defeat the Nazi evil, but there were many other players as well including those in the resistance movement and home front both in the United States and Europe.

It has been an honor to be asked to review The Swiss Courier by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey. I thoroughly enjoyed this story of intrigue and suspense, and recommend it to readers who enjoy historical fiction.

The story takes place towards the very end of World Wart II, shortly after the successful D-Day invasion of the Normandy beaches in France. Germany was weakened but still a very dangerous foe. Our main character, Gabi Mueller, is a 24 year old daughter of an American father and Swiss mother working in the translation pool at the Basel, Switzerland office of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which was the forerunner of our present day CIA. This office was in charge of gathering intelligence about Nazi operations and was also a liaison with the German resistance movement.

In addition to her German and English language skills, Gabi came to the attention of Allen Dulles, head of the OSS because of a unique and special talent. Gabi grew up in a family of locksmiths and she had a talent for “cracking” the codes of combination safes.

Gabi was assigned to several special assignments, but none more important than the spiriting out of Germany of Joseph Engel, a German Ph.D. student working with Werner Heisenberg, recipient of the 1932 Nobel Peace Prize in physics. It seems that Heisenberg was in charge of developing a secret Wunderwaffe (wonder weapon) for the Nazis. In fact one of the reasons that we in America were working on the atomic bomb was the fear that the Nazis were developing an atomic weapon. Fortunately they were not as far along as thought, but this was not known at the time. The mission to bring Joseph Engel from Germany into Switzerland became even more dangerous when it was discovered that Joseph Engel, although raised as a Catholic, was born to Jewish parents.

There are many exciting twists, turns, and surprises in this novel which will keep you turning the pages. We see an affirmation of the characters’ faith as they embark on this dangerous mission.

We get to experience both the work and the family life of Gabi Mueller. Through this character development, we get to experience some of the hardships that people had to face in their daily lives due to war shortages. Today, we take for granted that we will always have butter on the table, gas for our cars, and nylon for our clothes and stockings. I remember my mother telling me about the ration books that were issued to every family. No doubt, these shortages were even more acute in Europe.

We also learn about the resistance movement in Europe. These brave righteous men and women risked their lives and the lives of their families in aiding Jews to escape or doing their part to help defeat Hitler. If caught, these resistance fighters faced torture and killing on the spot. Switzerland’s questionable role in not doing more to aid the Jews is also touched upon when we witness a Jewish family that takes their own lives rather than face the horror that would await them on deportment back to Germany. Switzerland was trying to avoid being invaded by the Nazis, but did this mean turning one’s back on innocent lives?

The addition of a sprinkling of Swiss German dialect throughout the book added considerably to the flavor of the novel. You will not want to miss this good read available now at your bookstore.