Deadfall in Berlin

A horrifying truth about the life of a young boy during the fall of Berlin is revealed in this strong but not entirely satisfying novel by the author of Mindscream . In 1975, plagued by horrible dreams, pursued by a killer, Chicago actor Will Walker (born Willi Berndt) consults a hypnotherapist to help him remember who murdered his mother, Eva, a cabaret singer. ``Regressed'' to the final days of Nazi Germany, he sees beautiful Eva, running a bar and ostensibly whoring to support herself and two sons. Eva's reactions to a downed U.S. pilot who calls himself Uncle Joe and alludes unpleasantly to the past make Willi wonder if he might be Joe's son. Joe warns that an Allied raid will soon finish off the city and Willi begs his mother to flee. The reasons for her refusal are unveiled at the end of Walker's successive trances when a former Nazi, hoping to keep the past a secret, appears for the resolution. Focusing mainly on Willi's experiences, Zimmerman scants the character's later life as Walker, limiting the novel's dimensions and diminishing the effect of the final revelations. The result is a story that, albeit powerful, is more vignette than novel. (Sept.)