The Black Cross

Black Cross

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We sat there on the dusty floor and waited, listening to the tortured screams of Danny. He was like a wild animal, charging around like a crazed beast. He was uncontrollable, screaming, crying and bouncing around the room. The police came too and when they saw the crazed state that Danny was in, they called for backup.

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The ambulance took Eric to the hospital. Our names and addresses were taken and we were driven home by two officers. We never saw Danny again. There was a rumor at school that his parents had to put him in a mental hospital. The police came and talked to our parents many times after that, but they never told us what they were discussing. Of course, we were all grounded for the rest of the year.

In school, we were on our best behavior, not wanting to get into any more trouble. Their faces were ashen.

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As soon as I closed the door behind me, the principal began speaking. I thought he was just absent from school. It turned out that he had collapsed and died of a heart attack. He was only 14 years old. Mitch, Hugh and myself left the office that day with a heavy feeling in our hearts. We were the last surviving members of our group.

There was nothing to say. The haunted expressions on our faces spoke volumes. After that, we all sort of drifted apart.

As soon as she set eyes on me, she broke down in tears. She told me that Mitch was dead and Hugh had gone insane. Mitch hung himself in his bedroom. He told his parents he was going to bed and locked the door. He was found with his head shaved. His hair had been glued, piece by piece, to the ceiling. His eyes and mouth had been sewn shut with a needle and thread. Hugh was found crawling down the street naked. He was laughing hysterically and grinning like a maniac. When paramedics sedated him and brought him to hospital, they discovered he had cut off his own eyelids.

A few days later, I was struck down by a mysterious illness. I had a fever and was confined to bed. All I could do was lie there. It felt as if something was squeezing my chest and crushing me, trying to turn me inside-out. The whites of my eyes turned black. I just wanted it to be over. Even so, there are some heartbreaking and soul shaking things in this book.

It is a fictional story, about a terrible but fictional place that mirrors actual history in many, terrible ways. I believe this book is written showing proper respect to the victims of Nazi Germany, allowing some glimpses of the truth of what happened, and above all allowing those touched by the Hitler Evil to maintain their dignity.

Though difficult to think about, the scenes are not graphic or gratuitous in any way, save to further this wonderful story. Still, if you are sensitive to such things, violence delivered on women and children, as well as men, that is much worse than a simple beating or gunshot wound, take care when reading this book. Even though these events were known to have happened because of documentaries and books I've read, etc.

They still have the power to shock and dismay I also have to give loud cheers and applause to Dick Hill's job as narrator. He had wonderful voices and accents, and sounded just like a young Dr. The Audiobook was one of the better audiobooks I've heard. It's just a good read all around. View all 11 comments. Apr 23, Steven Z. While attending the funerals of his grandparents, Dr.

Mark McConnell meets an old friend of his grandfather, Rabbi Leibovitz. McConnell is stunned as While attending the funerals of his grandparents, Dr. McConnell is stunned as the Rabbi begins to tell him a story that dates back to February, in a place called Totenhausen located on the Recknitz River in northern Germany. Fast forward to and McConnell is asked to head a group to develop a clear poisonous gas that was more toxic than Sarin the gas that Hafez el-Assad recently used on the Syrian people.

McConnell is a pacifist, and agrees to work only on defensive weapons, but the issue has become immediate as Churchill and the allies believe that Hitler is about to deploy a deadlier version than Sarin called Soman, another clear toxic agent that short circuits the central nervous system to block any allied landing in France.

With Normandy planning already under way and scheduled for June the Nazi threat is immediate. The allied plan is designed to warn the Nazis that they have their own supply of Sarin and Soman by destroying Totenhausen, a Nazi camp that conducts medical experiments to develop these toxic gases. Heinrich Himmler is in a race to show the Fuhrer the possibilities of using the gases to block the allies, before an allied demonstration influences his decision making.

The plot is not an imaginary one as during the war there was a race to develop toxic gases and a defense against them.

Churchill proposes to Eisenhower that the allies develop a toxic agent and use it against the Nazis in limited fashion or bomb the Nazi stockpile. The Supreme Allied Commander refuses, arguing that President Roosevelt would never allow the United States to be the first to deploy such a weapon. Churchill never one to be dissuaded once he made up his mind decides to go ahead with a plot of his own. Iles has created a scenario that is historically believable.

He presents a number of historical insights that reflect the low opinion the British have of American fighting capability, and British arrogance. Historical characters that are presented seem true to life, particularly Himmler, Eisenhower, and Churchill.

The fictional characters are also extremely realistic. Jonas Stern, is a Zionist guerilla fighter from Palestine who had served in the British army is captured and recruited as an integral part of the plan. Stern agrees because he wants revenge as he is told that his father had been gassed at Totenhausen and as a partisan fighter witnessed four separate Nazi extermination camps.

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Other important figures include Dr. Klaus Brandt who headed the research at Totenhausen and conducted numerous medical experiments and selections that resulted in the death a large number of inmates. Iles is very clever because the Nazi doctor, Karl Brandt did conduct medical experiments and was found guilty at Nuremberg and hanged in June, Anna Kaas, a nurse at Totenhausen, Rachel Jansen, an inmate at the camp along with her two young children, Ariel Weitz, a collaborationist Jew, and a number of other characters play important roles in the story.

The novel raises a number of difficult questions, especially when decisions have to be made regarding who should be protected as the plan is implemented. Iles also explores the evolution of human relationships during the stress of war time. These literary traits seem to characterize all of his books. May 20, Keri rated it it was amazing Shelves: This was one incredible book. The book is a snap shot of England and America and their reaction to the rumor that Germany has perfected a gas for warfare.

The allies send their brave men into the fray in order to save the day for the victims in the camp and the world at large. It is a hard and emotional read, Greg didn't pretty it up, IMO. But he did include moments of beauty and love within the horrors of This was one incredible book. But he did include moments of beauty and love within the horrors of war.

Don't miss this book if you like to read about heros managing to save the day by the seat of their pants strictly with the fire in their hearts and the strength of their conviction that failure wasn't an option. View all 6 comments. At one point, reading this book, I literally thought "holy crap, this is a good book! Suspense, drama, hints of romance, historical facts I didn't want to put the book down and I really didn't want it to be over. Save for two characters, Sturm and Brandt, I felt some affinity to each and every character.

I'd never want to be in the places that some of them found themselves, but it was hard not to imagine myself there. Another fascinating aspect of the book is At one point, reading this book, I literally thought "holy crap, this is a good book! Another fascinating aspect of the book is that, though it's fiction, it's based in fact - the fact that Hitler's Germany and Churchill's England were competing to create deadly nerve gas. The characters and the story that Iles used to show that are fictional, but that fact is real.

I'll definitely read "Black Cross" again. Jan 07, Greg rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Having enjoyed past books by Greg Iles, the author name and book cover caught my eye. Resting on a table, front and center at Border's gave me the impression it was a new Iles page turner; I was surprised to see it was from the last century. As a pacifist, he is happy doing research, but his unique background make him a prime cadidate for a "behind the lines" last ditch effort to reverse the potential ou Having enjoyed past books by Greg Iles, the author name and book cover caught my eye.

As a pacifist, he is happy doing research, but his unique background make him a prime cadidate for a "behind the lines" last ditch effort to reverse the potential outcome of WWII, weeks before D-day. There is good detail regarding scene, weapons, and practices of the time. Enough is historically accurate to make the rendering seem entirely real. All-in-all, this was an entertaining read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in historical, adventure fiction. Completely unbelievable but a right good read and very hard to put down.

I shall be reading more by this author. Thanks to Richard for this one! Feb 04, Bill rated it liked it Shelves: He told me he felt Black Cross was his best novel, so dilemma solved. Normally I wouldn't pick up this type of novel; wartime action novels just don't appeal to me from a reading standpoint but I love war movies.

But as you know by now I'm a big fan of Greg Iles so I owed it to myself to read this. It's about an Allied mission to avert a lethal gas attack by the Nazis with the Soman, the deadliest gas known. It did hold my interest, but like I said, novels with plenty of action tend to bore me a bit. I'm much more interested in character interaction and psychological suspense than dodging bullets, so I still consider Mortal Fear his greatest work. Now having said that, if this type of novel appeals to you, I doubt you'd find much better than Black Cross. Jul 02, Patrice Hoffman rated it really liked it.

This novel was seriously a roller coaster ride for me. I have never read any war books or even wanted to for that matter but I seriously could not put this down. This is the first book I've read by this author. I will definitely be reading more of his work in the near future. Apr 25, Maureen DeLuca rated it really liked it.

A book based on WW II where they tested different gases on people. An intense read for sure. If you have the time it is worth the read. I had a bit of trouble at times, for there was a lot going on in the house at the time- I feel this book needs to be read - just you and the book- no distractions.

Jul 03, WendyB rated it it was amazing Shelves: First book I've read by this author and it won't be the last. Great story and characters. Kept me in suspense and interested right to the end.

Greg Iles is an intelligent and secretly snarky writer. I've read several of his novels and one of his hallmarks for me is that he playfully tweaks the reader in creating heroes out of people who in real life the public despises; for example, criminal hackers who steal money and year-old men who have affairs with high school teens. I call it playful because in most cases I find myself rooting for the good guy narrator to defeat the bad guys, only to realize later after finishing I was rooting Greg Iles is an intelligent and secretly snarky writer.

I call it playful because in most cases I find myself rooting for the good guy narrator to defeat the bad guys, only to realize later after finishing I was rooting for someone society would call a sick pedophile, for example, although a year-old teacher having sex with 16 year olds isn't as horrible as with a toddler. It did give me the shudders, though, because I mindlessly enjoyed the murder mystery. The big reveal about the 'hero's' affair was near the end of the book.

Despite the sneaky way Iles uses fabulous writing and customary themes to bring out knee-jerk responses to heroic actions by scumbags, I like his novels. But I feel dirty It's World War II. The British have learned the Nazis are developing a gas which kills on contact with skin and that they are testing it on Totenhausen camp prisoners, half of whom are Jews. The Allies do not have anything as powerful.

The British are in despair over the naive Americans who cannot accept that the Nazis would dare use this new gas, Soman, because it is so horrible. So behind Eisenhower's back, Churchill enlists a pacifist American chemical scientist and medical doctor, Mark McConnell, and Jonas Stern, German Jew and warrior soldier, on a mission to prove the gas exists and to find out how it is made, and secondarily, to use Allied supplies of Sarin to gas the camp where the more powerful Soman is being made to prove to the Germans that the Allies can and would use gas if the Nazis used the Soman.

Meanwhile, Rachel Jansen, new Jewish prisoner and survivor of Nazi transportation to Totenhausen, is accustoming herself to the new dreadful life of the camp.

Black cross

Her two little children, 3-year-old Jan and 2-year-old Hannah, have survived the initial imprisonment, but her husband and father-in-law have been shot on the first day. While death is a guard's whim away, this is not a work camp. The prisoners are all to be used as guinea pigs in medical experiments, so the prisoners live in fear of being picked any hour for grisly laboratory tortures. Dozens die every day under the camp's regimen. This is a great read, a very exciting thriller as well as a fact-based historical fiction.

However, once again the utter madness of the Nazis is on display, and as as usual, a fictional writer must tone down the actual historical depravities of the Nazis to not distract the reader, which the author mentions in an afterword. Sep 13, Johnny rated it really liked it Shelves: The initial pace of Black Cross is somewhat pedestrian, but the final pages are a rocket sled.

Initially, Black Cross seems like a slow-starting mystery set in a historical setting, but it finishes like an action film with historical trappings. The novel posits a fictional concentration camp where realistic medical atrocities are being perpetrated in the name of the advancement of science. Unfortunately, the science to be advanced here would be chemical warfare and the atrocities are committ The initial pace of Black Cross is somewhat pedestrian, but the final pages are a rocket sled.

Unfortunately, the science to be advanced here would be chemical warfare and the atrocities are committed on Jewish prisoners. Of course, there is a profit motive involved in the mix, as well. One series of experiments is designed to make the offending doctor wealthy in the pharmaceuticals market of the post-war. His grandfather never actually spoke about the events which are recounted in the remainder of the novel, but as the story unfolds, it is clear why he did not.

Yet, he was a hero in the sense that he did what he had to do. He even had absolution from Winston Churchill himself. Black Cross is solid historical fiction. It is the kind of story that has been researched well enough for verisimilitude that I as usual in well-written historical fiction learned something that I had to research further. Seeding Sovereignty Non-profit organisation. Bulletproof Food and drinks company. Splendid Rain Co Clothing brand. The Sparrow Fund Non-profit organisation. Up From Slavery Personal blog. The Stroke Walk Non-profit organisation.

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