David Thomas is an English journo who writes books, usually under the pseudonym Tom Cain.

Ostland is his factual account of the goings on in the SS in German-occupied Belarus, in much of World War II.

Starting life as a brilliant young detective in Berlin, Georg Heuser ends up in the SS, and starts going bad. Mostly bad, anyway. Thomas's harrowing findings of the deteriorating state of Heuser's mind shocked me, and I hope will shock you.

If you have anyone in your family who ever experienced the nightmare of war, this book might give you an idea of what it may have done to their brain.

German or Jewish, hunter or hunted, this book is a shocker. I've no idea why I read it, and no idea how I finished it. Next time you hear someone tell you there are no winners in war, you'll probably agree.

In first class nick, read once, by me, and finished, somehow, 10 minutes ago.

Collection from Kumeu. Postage free, at the kick-off price.