After Jake Rogers’s U.S. Liberty ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat, he and several crew members are rescued by an Irish freighter and deposited in Limerick. As Jake searches the docks for additional crew members, his chai pendant arouses notice, and a sailor asks if he is Jewish. When Jake says that a friend in Amsterdam gave it to him (actually, his girlfriend, Miriam), the sailor tells Jake that all the Amsterdam Jews have been rounded up. Jake then asks after Miriam’s father, Solomon, and hears he is in a concentration camp near Amsterdam. Jake devises a plan to free Solomon, but then learns that Miriam, whom Jake safely deposited in Palestine (in
The Hunt for the Peggy C), has returned to Europe and is now in a local jail. Jake cannot leave her behind, but will he and his small group be able to save both Solomon and Miriam?
VERDICT Miller’s historical thriller provides a good sense of World War II; however, this is undermined by the ease with which Jake and his group plot and carry out escapes, which seem to minimize the danger they would have faced in real life. Includes a synopsis of The Hunt for the Peggy C, chapter notes, a bibliography, and the stories behind the real people who populate the novel.
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