The Nero Decree
This story, set in Germany, begins in 1934 with the arrest of an anti-Nazi intellectual. He leaves a son, Thomas and a stepson, Dieter, who is a fledgling Nazi. Dieter fights with Thomas over a key to a safe deposit box containing the family fortune, but Thomas disappears. The story then picks up in the last days of World War II when Dieter, now a Gestapo officer, is wounded and taken to a field hospital. He is not expected to live, but an army doctor, Johann Schultz, saves him. While waiting to move Dieter to an army hospital, Schultz learns that he is carrying Hitler’s top secret plan for Berlin in the final days of the war, known as the Nero Decree. Schultz decides to impersonate Dieter in order to turn this information over to the Allies. Dieter recovers enough to pursue Schultz whom he recognizes is his half-brother, Thomas. A suspenseful and thrilling chase ensues through an almost destroyed Berlin.
Lee has written a suspenseful, exciting mystery. He describes the chaos at the end of the war with compassion and frightening detail. This is a cannot-put-down book with plot twists and devastating revelations.
