The fourth novel in Anne Perry's breathtakingly tense and exciting spy thriller series which can be read alone as a novel about strength and ingenuity to survive what lies ahead. It is the summer of 1934, and Hitler is nearing the summit of supreme power in Germany. When Britain's MI6 gets word that a German scientist has made a key breakthrough in germ warfare, they send British agent Elena Standish on a dangerous mission to get him out of Berlin before he's forced to share his knowledge and its destructive power with Hitler's elite. With the help of her trusted friend Jacob Ritter they embark upon a mission fraught with fear and uncertainty. But the British soon learn that the new head of Germany's germ warfare division Johann Paulus has risen to power as an adviser to Hitler. He is an old enemy of Elena's grandfather Lucas, the former head of MI6, and he's bent on using any means to avenge his defeat at Lucas's hands 20 years before. By his side is his loyal supporter Hans Beckendorff who is married to Elena's childhood friend, but when Hans witnesses the bloodshed and atrocities of the Night of the Long Knives, he is torn between ambition and the realisation that he must his protect his family from harm. What starts as an effort to save Europe from the devastation of disease becomes an intensely personal fight. As Elena and the scientist make their way across Germany, they confront not only the Gestapo but also a group of unpredictable Nazi supporters. With Elena's every decision challenged, this compelling thriller takes a searing look at what it means to make the right choices in a world rife with so much evil. 269 pages.
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