'Mailer did Jesus in THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE SON; now he plumbs the psyche of history's most demonic figure in this chilling fictional chronicle of Hitler's boyhood ... a somber, compelling portrait of a monstrous soul' PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY Starred review 'The premise would be intriguing whoever the author, but with Mailer at the helm it promises to be enthralling' HERALD Books for 2007 'Fearless and fanciful' OBSERVER Books for 2007 'Mailer has become a contemporary figure of myth, a great American icon who is venerated and reviled but impossible to ignore' OBSERVER 'Having tackled historical figures as diverse as Jesus Christ, Lee Harvey Oswald, executed killer Gary Gilmore and Marilyn Monroe, Mailer now seems ready to approach the most ineffably compelling character of them all ... [A] series of eerily evocative set-pieces that pulsate with demonic prescience and Freudian menace ... perhaps, though, the strength of Mailer's artistry argues against his philosophising. However much he may expostulate about the nature of evil and the workings of the supernatural, the author's fictional images are what endure, none more than the picture of that lonely little Austrian boy shouting at the trees in the belief that he will one day be able to make the world do his bidding. We do not need a devil to tell us that, for a while at least, he turned out to be dead right' SUNDAY TIMES 'Sometimes brilliant, always compelling' THE TIMES 'One must agree with Mailer: helping us to understand this most mysterious human being of the century is indeed a timely undertaking ... Keeping the paradox infernal-banal alive in all its anguishing inscrutability may be the ultimate achievement of this very considerable contribution to historical fiction' J.M. Coetzee, SUNDAY TIMES 'Electrifying ... This unforgettable novel by a master of prose reinforces the belief that we kid ourselves if we lay the blame for hideous crimes on one single individual, even if it is the devil. We are all culpable' Beryl Bainbridge, GUARDIAN 'Mailer has hurled the products of his imagination and his research into the black sky of the past, where they swing, as on a literary gibbet, in bold and colourful relief, to horrify and entertain us ... This is a vivid, eye-popping novel' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'An intricately constructed novel ... Mailer is also an immensely disciplined craftsman and stylist who has spent the larger portion of his life working at the writer's trade...Mailer has imagined himself into a raw propinquity to evil without losing his nerve or his humanity. He uses his sense of the other to inhabit people devoid (except for the otherworldly Dieter) of his other-apprehending gift' INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE 'This is a fascinating, exceptionally dirty book that also happens to want to turn the clock of America's cosmology back 60 years' INDEPENDENT 'A startling new angle' DAZED AND CONFUSED 'Seems designed to shock ... a fresh insight into one of history's most analysed figures' GQ 'A fascinating silhouette of a character that arguably shaped the 20th century more than any other' THE ECONOMIST 'His best book for decades ... A very literary accomplishment, producing ... some of the best writing Mailer has yet achieve, certainly in fiction' SUNDAY HERALD 'What Mailer has done, and impressively, is establish a diabolical hierarchy going back through the ages, and at the same time anticipating these latter-day American years ... A reminder from an old hand that a novel can be an entertainment' SPECTATOR 'A gripping and often graphic family saga' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Fluently told' TATLER 'Mailer never rest on his laurels and never fails to shock and surprise' HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW ** 'A Compulsively readable, high-octane cocktail of historical fact and fiction, grounded in considerable research that grapples with the big idea (the nature of evil) and contrives, intermittently to cast illuminating shafts of light on the human condition' OBSERVER
