by Andrew Gross
First published 2016
Alfred Mendl watches Nazi guards burn his life's research in 1944. The physics professor now carries knowledge in his head that could determine the war's outcome. Only one other person shares this secret information. In Washington DC, intelligence worker Nathan Blum wants more than his desk job. The government needs his German and Polish fluency, his ability to pass as a camp prisoner, and his proven survival skills from escaping the Polish ghetto as a boy. His superiors assign him an impossible task. Nathan must enter Auschwitz concentration camp, locate Alfred Mendl among thousands of prisoners, and somehow get both of them out alive. The mission tests everything Nathan learned about staying alive under Nazi rule. Success could change the war's direction. Failure means certain death for both men.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, survival
Setting: Auschwitz, Washington DC
Period: 1944
416 pages · Hardcover · Minotaur Books
Content warnings: death, violence