The Traitor
A Novel
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
There was something powerful about it, something magnetic. He had witnessed the effect of such uniforms in the newsreels; now he was about to wear one. But this SS uniform -- the uniform proudly worn by so many maniacs and murderers -- bore a Union Jack...It was an insult to King and Country.
In November 1943 the Nazis capture British secret agent John Lockhart while he is on a Resistance mission to German-occupied Crete. They give him a stark choice: betray his country or die.
In a decision some might consider treason and moral folly, Lockhart acts out of love and strikes a bargain with his captors: in return for his wife, who is interned in a concentration camp, he will change sides. But he is stunned to learn that his mission is to lead the British Free Corps, a clandestine unit of the SS composed of British fascists and renegades culled from POW camps. Aware that he, like them, will be branded a traitor, Lockhart seeks to redeem himself by destroying a terrifying secret weapon that threatens to change the course of history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A British secret agent bargains his honor for his wife's life in this well-done WWII suspense tale. Captured and tortured by the Germans on Crete in 1943 after leading a failed partisan raid, Capt. John Lockhart agrees to spy on the Greeks, but only if the SS will secure the safety of his wife, trapped in a Belgian concentration camp. The Germans, meanwhile, are recruiting disaffected British POWs for a special unit, the British Free Corps, to fight the Russians; Lockhart agrees to command it. At every point, however, Lockhart has plans of his own. While he trains his motley collection of British fascists, cowards and opportunists, fully intending to double-cross the Germans, the SS schemes to double-cross Lockhart, and even his own men cannot be trusted. Meanwhile, even as a Russian agent subverts a pivotal SS officer, London thinks Lockhart is a traitor, and Lockhart isn't sure his wife is still alive. Walters delivers a fast-paced, exciting story filled with action, intricate plot twists, deception and betrayal. Best of all is his gripping rendering of the fine line Lockhart must walk in order to keep his life and his honor.
