MUST READ OF THE WEEK: THE COUNTERFEIT CANDIDATE BY BRIAN KLEIN

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Published 13th Oct 2021, 14:42 BST

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The Counterfeit Candidate, the debut novel by award-winning Top Gear director Brian Klein, is an instant classic that would be perfect for TV or film adaptation—a gripping, cinematic thriller packed with crime, passion and power connected with the descendants of the most evil man in history: Adolf Hitler.   

By Gwyneth Rees 

For those who love a high-intensity political thriller packed with jeopardy and guided by a pulsating plot then The Counterfeit Candidate will prove unmissable. 

Written by BAFTA Award-winning TV director Brian Klein, it’s a classic high-concept page turner which asks the question: what would have happened if Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, hadn’t actually killed themselves in a Berlin bunker at the end of World War Two but had, in fact, managed to escape and create new lives for themselves.  

This ‘what-if’ scenario is, of course, one of the great conspiracy theories of the 20tth century, and in this brilliant novel the alternative history premise is explored and exploited to its maximum plausible potential.  

As the narrative unfolds, we are presented with two separate yet intertwined time period. The first details Hitler’s escape on a decrepit boat to South America in 1945 and the second zooms forward to 2012, where thieves stage a sensational bank robbery in Argentina, escaping with $90m and boxes of highly sensitive material. 

One of these boxes belongs to Richard Franklin, CEO of the Franklin Pharmaceutical Corporation in San Francisco and, as we soon learn, the son of Hitler.  

His son, Hitler’s grandson, is John George Franklin, the Republican presidential candidate for the upcoming election and the firm favourite in the polls with an almost unassailable lead.  

The investigation into the bank raid falls on the desk of Chief Inspector Nicholas Vargas of the Buenos Aires Police Department, who with dogged determination sets out to track down the thieves and uncover what, exactly, was in the boxes they stole.  

But it is not just the police who want answers. Franklin’s henchmen, the ‘finders’, also need to track down the material so the greatest secret on earth isn’t exposed—and they will stop at nothing to do so.  

Eventually, both Vargas and his buddy Troy Hembury, a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), are able to recover the contents of the box and the explosive link between Hitler, the Franklins and their heinous quest for power. 

But their fast-moving investigation and forbidden knowledge puts both their lives at risk as the stakes get higher.  

With The Counterfeit Candidate, author Brian Klein—Top Gear’s longest-serving director—demonstrates that he is on track to becoming one of the UK’s most popular thriller writers. He is pictured here with former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson at the book’s launch event.With The Counterfeit Candidate, author Brian Klein—Top Gear’s longest-serving director—demonstrates that he is on track to becoming one of the UK’s most popular thriller writers. He is pictured here with former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson at the book’s launch event.
With The Counterfeit Candidate, author Brian Klein—Top Gear’s longest-serving director—demonstrates that he is on track to becoming one of the UK’s most popular thriller writers. He is pictured here with former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson at the book’s launch event.

The Counterfeit Candidate offers a rollercoaster ride of pure escapism with so much momentum behind it that you’ll be glued to your chair until the very last page.  

Fans of author Klein’s TV work, most notably the BBC’s iconic motoring show Top Gear—which he has directed for 26 seasons—will already appreciate his cinematic eye and talent for adrenalin-pumping action shots, and he brings his full arsenal to bear in this, his sensational literary debut.