The Imperial Subterfuge by Rickie Khosla - A Review

(Another of my friends - this time from the blogging world - has self-published a short novella on amazon. The book link is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3Z8SGQ

The author's blog is http://reekycoleslaw.com/

In the event that you do not have a Kindle you can download apps for reading Kindle books on PCs, laptops and Smartphones from this link http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

This must serve as an upfront disclaimer before you read the review )
Historical fiction has always fascinated me. The genre ranges from tales that brought to life the more dramatic events with imagination filling in for what is not known to speculations about possibilities in some historical mysteries to alternative histories of what could have been. Rickie Khosla's 'The Imperial Subterfuge' is set in  the Germany of Adolph Hitler and speculates about the relationship between Hitler and Eva Braun and adds a twist to the theories surrounding the apparent suicide of the Hitler.
The author has written a very readable novella and, for me, it is a pleasure to read good English - though it was no surprise since I already knew of his ability with the language from his blog. He has also avoided the normal pitfall of a newbie author - of making characters seem flat. He paints his characters very well and brings their relationships to life. The central speculation is intriguing and, so, the climax certainly does not disappoint. Overall, the book reads very well and does not slack in pace.
The one area that I felt needed to be better was the manner in which the political happenings of the day were written. In a novel length book, such happenings do tend to be written entirely by narrative. Since the author's book is a short novella, I felt it would have been better if he had also brought them out in the interactions of the characters. This, of course, is more a question of personal opinion since even these background passages do not obstruct the pace of the read. The other thing is that I really did feel that the idea had the scope to be a novel.
Overall, Rickie's book is interesting and is a very pacy read.