LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGERTHE WESTERN FRONT, JULY 1918. Lieutenant Gregor Reinhardt is in a stormtrooper battalion on the Western Front.
When one of his subordinates is accused of murdering a group of officers, and then subsequently trying to take his own life, Reinhardt begins to investigate.
He soon begins to uncover a conspiracy at the heart of the German army, aimed at ending the war on the terms of those who have a vested interest in a future for Germany that resembles her past.
The investigation takes him from the devastated front lines of the war, to the heights of society in Berlin, and into the hospitals that treat those men who have been shattered by war.
Along the way, Reinhardt comes to an awakening of the man he might be. A man whose eyes have been painfully opened to the corruption and callousness all around him.
His calls to duty, devotion to the Fatherland and to the Kaiser, begin to ring increasingly hollow...
'A gripping, original thriller' Sunday Times
'Irresistible... McCallin once again combines authoritative characterisations with an incisive picture of a dangerous historical milieu'Financial Times
'Sharp, fast and very enjoyable'NB Magazine