The historical novel by a French writer of American origin is narrated from the perspective of the protagonist, SS officer Maximilian Aue, one of the ordinary executors of the Nazi program for the "final solution to the Jewish question." The story unfolds on the Eastern Front (Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Stalingrad), as well as in Poland, Germany, Hungary, and France.

In 2006, "The Kindly Ones" received the Goncourt Prize and the Grand Prix of the French Academy. The book became a European bestseller and has been translated into 20 languages to date.

Critics have noted the novel's "absolute historical accuracy," calling it an "outstanding literary and historical phenomenon" (Pierre Nora). The English newspaper The Times described "The Kindly Ones" as a "great literary event that readers and researchers will turn to for many decades" and ranked the novel among the five most significant works of fiction about World War II.