Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

Thank you, Kensington Books and NetGalley, for the advanced copy of Mistress of Life and Death.

I think that a lot of people learn about women's roles in the fight against the Axis alliance, but we don't learn a lot about women's roles in the fight for the Axis alliance. While there were very few women who took rank alongside the men, those that did climb the ranks in the Nazi regime seem to have been overlooked by history books. The author did extensive research spanning the course of a decade, and I believe that this should be required reading. While I did have a couple of nightmares while reading this one, I am thankful that I had the ability to put the book down and step away when needed whereas so many were not lucky enough to be able to escape Maria Mandl's story as easily. I don't want to say that this was an enjoyable read or that I really liked it but rather I have an appreciation to Susan J. Eischeid for taking the time to educate readers.

3.5 This is a highly detailed and well researched story of one of the brutal female Nazis. I’d hope to gain some insight into the atrocities that women, in particular, committed during WWII. However, it seems that Maria M’s descent into barbarism was casual, ordinary, and shockingly routine. Maybe it is good I don’t understand her actions. I did get a better, clearer picture of Auschwitz’s camps and how they were created and organized. I’d also never thought of how it must’ve been to work in a concentration camp or manage personnel in such a setting. I’m not sure how I even feel about saying that. The book is well written and broken into short, focused chapters, which makes it easy to take breaks from the content. I appreciated that. I’ll be thinking through this one for awhile,

An interesting look at the life of Nazi Maria Mandi. Overall I thought this was an interesting read. I wasn’t familiar with Maria before reading this. Usually I read these types of books via audiobook and I think I would have enjoyed that format more, but for readers of history and biographies I think this will be popular!

Tells the oft forgotten story of Maria Mandl and the horror she inflicted upon the prisoners of the various concentration camps she ran as a head guard before and during World War II. It is important when discussing the misdeed of historical figures, particularly the most heinous, to view them through the lens of their own innate humanity. It is a a difficult task but a very important one. We would never be able to recognize the lessons that history can teach us if we wrote off every maniacal figure as the sum of their most evil parts. Because that simply isn't true. The real horror of these stories as is present in the case of the Nazis is that these were a group of basically decent people who would have gone on to live basically normal lives had this extraordinary set of circumstances not arisen. These normal people became depraved, devoid of all human empathy and emotion. It is important to understand that. These were not monsters, these were people who had families and spouse and children that they loved and who loved them. And yet the descended down a path of mass murder and inconceivable destruction and destitution. They were human and they were evil. One cannot understand the latter without first understanding the former. Maria Mandl was among the worst of her kind. This book discusses her descent from the Catholic daughter of a shoemaker to tyrannical mass murder who gleefully participated in Nazi depravity. Within human nature there is both good and evil, and it is important for the furtherance of our species to understand how one can go from one to the other. And the thorough appraisal of history should be done to remind us that often the nexus between the two is much thinner than we would like to imagine. This is a great book that does a great job of managing to depict a person, when it would have been far easier to depict a monster.

4.5 stars! All in all, it was an engrossing, informative, and thorough biography. of Maria Mandl. Full review is posted to my page due to length..

I read many books about the Holocaust, with a close family friend having been a survivor. I feel it's our duty to never forget. I also, though, often wonder how humans can commit the atrocities that they do. This book was difficult for me, because I can read about Maria Mandl's background, try to think of her as a child, then adult, I can't reconcile how someone turns in this manner. It's not a light read, but it's a necessary read. Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for a digital advance of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Initially it was the title that caught my attention. My favorite genre is historical. I have read many books regarding the holocaust. This book stands out from the rest. I have not read a book dealing with Maria Mandl before. As I was reading through, I was able to piece together parts of her story with parts of others, such as the orchestra. The stories of this particular guard we're disturbing to say the least. I had to have a second "lighter" book to read when this one became too deep. I would recommend this book to any history buff!

The literature and history of The Holocaust is vast and too often assumed to be thorough. But, few authors have sought to explore and trace the early life, family and molding of an individual who willingly gave themselves over so completely to the utterly complete brutality of the concentration camp and the power attainable by following the rules of a system of murder and depravity. Susan Eischeid’s portrait of Maria Mandl…Head Overseer of The Women’s Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau..is thorough and filled with first-person accounts and interviews that trace the arc of Mandl’s life and obedient service to pure horror. There was no reason for this daughter of a nice and moral family to have become an “unimaginable monster.” But Eischeid provides us with a life story that allows us to follow an individual’s descent into unending brutality and mass murder.

I have read quite a few books on the Holocaust, particularly regarding life at the different concentration camps but none have hit me as hard as this one. What's a bit unnerving about it is that this story is about Maria Mandl who was the highest ranking female of the womens camp at both Ravensbruck and Auschwitz. I had never heard of her before. The story is told after 10 years of extensive research done by the author and countless interviews with Holocaust survivors who remembered Maria well. This woman was evil in its purest form. Rarely has a book affected me like this one did - I actually had a disturbing dream or two while reading it. This woman got off easy compared to the hell she put others through. An excellent, but very emotional read. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.