Greg Dinallo

A vintage suitcase is pulled from the trash by a young New York advertising executive brainstorming a campaign on her way to work. The account is Steinbach Luggage, the German answer to Louis Vuitton and Hermes. There is only one problem with the vintage bag—like Steinbach’s CEO, it is a Holocaust survivor, as evidenced by the name and other personal data painted on it.

The suitcase is hallowed memorabilia, and no one dares open it until it is determined if the owner is still alive. The show more Holocaust survivor turns out to be an eighty-nine-year-old member of New York’s Jewish aristocracy, a prominent philanthropist and surgeon. When he gives his consent, the documents inside the suitcase pique the interest of a New York Times reporter—whose investigation begins to unravel a devastating secret that has been locked away since the day Dachau was liberated show less

Concurrent Stories Run for a Dramatic Conclusion

When a young New York advertising executive pulls a vintage suitcase from a trash pile to use in a new advertising series, she pulls a string that links the Holocaust to a prominent New York doctor. Then her boyfriend, a journalist who agrees to write a story for the times, spots some idiosyncrasies in the artifacts pulled from the suitcase and the Doctor’s story. Attempting to discover the facts without alerting the Doctor or smearing his show more reputation becomes a suspenseful walk through history. As a young man, the doctor fell in love with a Jewish doctor in Germany, so when an SS officer came, demanding that two Jews must go to a camp, the doctor tries to help them escape, endangering his family in the process.

Anything that has a connection to Germany and World War II, has the potential to be exciting, but when I realized that two of the characters where Jewish and likely headed to a concentration camp, I tried to slow down my fascination. I knew it would be emotional. I have a fascination with stories of this era because it was such an incredibly difficult time to live through. Once I read a few chapters, I could not put it down. What seemed to be the likely conclusion from the beginning kept twisting and kept me guessing.

One of the themes gave me much thought for contemplation, when a good Christian man had to make life and death choices for the people arriving at Dachau, or have his family killed. Somehow, I believed that the people in those positions chose those positions of their own free will, something very naive on my part. After I finished the book, this kept my mind busy for hours, with thought of, “What would I do?” Life is never as simple as we believe. The story reinforces my opinion that evil exists.

This is the first Greg Dinallo novel I have read, but it will not be the last. It took me a couple of days to surface from this deeply suspenseful and emotional novel. This is a well-researched novel, with many compelling facts, including people and dates, both contemporary and historical. If you enjoy the era, suspense, and romance, you should pick this one up today.

Received from NetGalley. show less

Warning, Spoilers!!! When a New York advertising executive finds a vintage suitcase in the trash, she immediately comes up with an advertising campaign for Steinbach Luggage. Her boss immediately recognizes the information painted on the bag and identifies it as he suitcase of a holocaust survivor. They immediately try to track down the survivor, Jacob. The book alternates between the present day and the story of Jacob, Kleist, Eva and Hannah.

I don't really understand why Eva decided to show more change her identity to Hannah. I thought that this took away from Jacob's sacrifice and Kleist's life. I think the book would have been more powerful without this detail. I also thought the book was a bit predictable. As soon as they took the passport photos, it became clear to me that present day Jacob was really Kleist. Overall, it wasn't a bad book, I just wished it had been more of a mystery. show less

The chapters in The German Suitcase alternate between present day New York and World War Two Germany. There is an old suitcase found in the garbage in NY, which turns out to have come from Germany with a Holocaust survivor many years before. It's an interesting premise for a novel, but both time periods in the story are filled with highly unlikely (well, all right...downright silly) situations and unnatural dialogue. I found the book a real chore to read and gave up after forcing myself show more through the first hundred pages or so. show less