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In this absorbing World War II-era novel, a historical mystery is mixed with a wrenching story of survival and murder. Two different tales told from opposite perspectives play out separately until the reader realizes that both chronicles are heading in the same direction. Author Lassers' storytelling technique works well and keeps his narrative consistently compelling.
The mystery involves a train loaded with gold and treasure stolen by the Nazis from conquered European countries. With the war racing to an end and impending defeat undeniable, the Germans send one last train laden with spoils to be entombed in a mountain hideaway. The assignment is given to an officer named Hans. Simultaneously, readers are told the story of a young girl from Poland who is swept up in the Third Reich's heinous persecution of the Jews. Recounted while on trial for murder, her first-person narrative of life and mostly death in the Warsaw ghetto is a document of both cruel and inhuman persecution as well as courageous and incredible perseverance. Once the two tales merge and it becomes apparent that the two primary characters are part of the same narrative, the plot kicks into overdrive, sweeping readers to a dramatic conclusion.
Lassers is an imaginative storyteller who grounds his novel with the harsh realities of war. His technique of blending documented events with vivid fictional depictions is engrossing. While unsparing in the brutality suffered by so many during that period, his book is still able to invoke the incomparable ability of the human spirit to overcome and eventually survive.