MixedAir Mail... a deep dive into life in the Netherlands in the grotesque and difficult year that was 1944. It describes the lives of occupiers and occupied, of perpetrators and victims, of collaborators and those who looked away. For this alone, Sullivan has made a significant contribution, even if the narrative only begins to draw the reader in late in the game, after a long haul through much introductory material, many characters who turn out to be insignificant, and a raft of theories that are raised, then knocked down ... What might have been a page-turner doesn’t begin to seize until Chapter 35 (out of 43), a few hundred pages in ... I read the pages with an eye honed by decades spent seeking to prove facts about long-ago crimes in a variety of courts. I may not be a typical reader, but I feel bound to share that the conclusion reached would have zero prospect of being endorsed by any court, or anyone with any modicum of legal training ... Ultimately, The Betrayal of Anne Frank induces a feeling of discomfort ... If Van den Bergh had any role or responsibility for what happened at Prinsengracht 263, the evidence is not to be found in this book.
