World of Nazis and Nazi Hunters

The Hottest Summer in Years keeps the reader engrossed in different threads of its plot demanding her undivided attention. The many dots in the story which the reader has to connect, together with the rich historical canvas of the novel, make this novel a kind of whodunit and a historical thriller. The dots appear both in the present and the past of Hans Gerder’s life, his first-person point of view further surrounding them with an air of mystery and suspense. In his present a complex chain of events and situations converge on an afternoon of high tea in an Indian royal household in May 1960. They include the mysterious murder of a man whom he had threatened in a fit of anger, the prying eyes of an investigating officer, curious disappearance of his diary containing confidential information, and his intimate relationship with a mother-daughter duo in the royal household. Hans, a German, loves photography and a blue Daimler that had once carried Hitler waving to the fawning crowds.