The German Suitcase by Greg Dinallo

3 Stars

An old suitcase is pulled from the trash by a young, female marketing agent. Wanting to use the suitcase to launch a new ad campaign, she sets out to find the owner. What she finds is that the owner and the luggage are Holocaust survivors. Giving permission to open the suitcase, the owner relives some of his harshest memories. With a shocking twist at the end, the story makes us question what it means to really be a war criminal and what one person would do to save another.

I thought the idea behind this story was really good. I enjoyed the storyline itself, however...the editing left much to be desired. There were many grammatical errors and punctuation errors that drove me bananas. If the writing and editing had been a little better, I may have given this 4 stars.

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

Set in Paris during World War 2, the story explores how far one human will go to save another human. Lucien is an architect who is offered a nice commission by the German's to design factories for them. At the same time, Lucien is approached by a well-to-do Frenchman requesting hiding places to be designed for Jews. This offer also comes with a lot of money. Lucien accepts both jobs and is now hiding his secret from the German officer that he is quickly becoming a friend. The story reveals unexpected plots and unlikely friendships and shows how far the human spirit will go to do the right thing.

I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was well written and the plot kept moving really well. It was a nice look at the war from a different country's view.