The Small Boat of Great Sorrows

Gathering dust on my bookshelf for about three years, I finally turned to this novel wondering if it would match Le Carre, as the blurbs seemed to infer. And it was good, but more in the style of a Robert Harris or a Robert Wilson, leaving me wondering what it was about Le Carre that raised his novel above the ordinary? I couldn’t tell you, I just know it when I see it.
But this was entertaining enough, and kept me going with the plot through to the end because it was easy enough to follow.

Dan Fesperman's The Small Boat of Great Sorrows intertwines the horrors of World War II and the Bosnian war in this suspenseful novel of treachery in wartime and its aftermath.

Vlado Petric is an expatriate Bosnian cop, working on an excavation project in Berlin to support his wife and child. Out of nowhere, Petric is approached by an American investigator for the War Crimes Tribunal with a short-term job and a long-term opportunity: help us arrest a Serb war criminal from World War II, which will also help us arrest a Serb war criminal from the Bosnian war. In return, the way will be paved for Petric to return to Bosnia and his law enforcement career. Petric, he is told by the American, is the only one who make this justice possible. show more Intrigued, and drawn by the possibility of returning his homesick wife to Bosnia, Petric accepts the job. To his surprise and shock, Petric is confronted by ghosts of his family's past, international political intrigue, secrets, lies, and missing gold.

Fesperman, whose novels Layover in Dubai and The Arms Maker of Berlin I enjoyed, has done it again. The characters, both major and minor, are well drawn; the physical settings are evocative; and the plot is involving. Fesperman has demonstrated that the arc of terror can cross generations with extraordinary ease, that even the best governments can employ people of dubious morality, and that dedicated individuals willing to take risks can make critical differences. show less

brilliant book, the hero is a former detective from Sarajevo who is manipulated by an American working for the International War Crimes Tribunal. he finds himself not only investigating the massacre at Srebenica but Second World War crimes. The scene shifts from Germany to Bosnia to Italy. Well written and plotted, not lacking in humour a nd fascinating.

A book with great depth and history along with great sorrows. One of my favorite authors.

War crimes, Balkan's war and WW2. Last 30 pages a great ride!

uses actual situations that he ran across in his reporting

Vlado Petric, un ex policía en el Sarajevo desgarrado por la guerra, tiene que dejar su tierra para reunirse con su esposa y su hija en Alemania, donde se gana modestamente el sustento como trabajador de la construcción en las obras del nuevo Berlín. Una tarde, al volver a casa después de la jornada laboral, un enigmático investigador estadounidense le está esperando en el pequeño apartamento familiar. El investigador, Calvin Pine, enviado por el Tribunal Internacional para Crímenes de Guerra en la ex Yugoslavia, solicita a Petric que viaje a La Haya. Petric acepta sin titubeos cuando Pine le dice que están siguiendo a un pez gordo: uno de los hombres a los que consideran responsables de la terrible matanza de Srebrenica.
Lo que show more Petric no sabe es que lo están utilizando como cebo para descubrir a un asesino de la generación anterior, un hombre cuyas actividades en la Segunda Guerra Mundial hacen que los asesinos de ésta parezcan aficionados. show less