Australia, Book Review, Coming of Age, Historical Fiction, WWII

Hunter by Campbell Jefferys

Was Australia a haven for Nazi’s?

The book starts out with the story of a young, wounded soldier named Peter who deserts the German army in WWII to find refuge with a Polish couple. He is destined to leave Europe and moves to Australia to start a new life under a new name.

This is also a coming of age story in the present about a young teen named Eric who is trying to fit in at his new school on the coast of Australia. He has issues with his parents who fight incessantly and he finds that surfing and Pepper, a cool surfer girl, are his new passions.

Peter and Eric meet and form a new bond that is full of secrets and a creepy man named Baum threatens to expose Peter even though he has a notorious past of his own.

This was a good, not great, read. It exposes the secret that Australia and other countries harbored Nazis and members of the Nazi party after WWII where “few were hunted down and none were caught and put on trial.”