The Phantom Patrol
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
An investigation into a gang of Nazi-affiliated art thieves leads Billy Boyle and his comrades directly into the line of fire at the catastrophic Battle of the Bulge.
Winter 1944: Months after the Liberation of France, ex-Boston cop Billy Boyle finds himself in a Paris reeling from the carnage it has endured but hopeful that an end to war is in sight. When Billy finds a rare piece of artwork after a tense shoot-out in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, he thinks it could be connected to the Syndicat du Renard, a shadowy network of Nazi sympathizers known to be smuggling stolen artwork out of France.
Trailing the Syndicat, Billy discovers that someone with a high level of communications clearance—someone in the Phantom regiment of the British Army—may be using his position to aid the thieves. Billy, determined to stop the abettor, heads up to the frontlines where he experiences a last-ditch battle against overwhelming odds. There, the ruinous Battle of the Bulge unfurls in the Ardennes Forest. Can Billy and his team survive the bracing onslaught and return the stolen artwork to its rightful protectors?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Looted Nazi artwork and the buildup to the Battle of the Bulge provide the backbone for Benn's richly detailed latest action thriller featuring U.S. Army investigator Billy Boyle (after Proud Sorrows). On special assignment in Paris in the winter of 1944, Boyle stumbles across a Gustav Klimt drawing that's been making its way through the underground art market. He quickly ties it to the Syndicat du Renard, a group of Nazi sympathizers seeking to capitalize on the spoils of war. At the direction of his uncle, Dwight Eisenhower, Billy ventures to Belgium in search of clues about the syndicate. There, he runs into Nazi troops on the verge of launching an offensive. The action moves briskly as the determined Boyle, aided by fellow Army investigators (and series regulars) Kaz and Big Mike, gradually uncovers a Nazi plot with the potential to determine the outcome of the war. As always, Benn peppers the action with real history, ranging from the harrowing (the Malmedy Massacre) to the quirky (soldiers J.D. Salinger and David Niven make cameos). At times, the search for the art thieves falls by the wayside as Boyle dodges more immediate perils, but loyal readers are likely accustomed to Benn's meandering narratives. This will satisfy series fans.
