The story is set in the post 9/11 era, where acute security is of paramount priority. This being combined with the annual general meeting of the UN being a week away, which would bring several big shot politicians from all over the world to New York. Gerald Merton, suspected to be a suicide bomber, is shot within the UN premises on cue from the NYPD. Upon discovering that the victim was a very old man, it takes only a few minutes to realise the grave error committed. To pacify his family back in London, a lawyer named Tom Burne is immediately sent overseas. The only family left apparently is Merton’s daughter, Rebecca. The series of events that followed led to the strangest of discoveries and strangest of queries that needed to be answered desperately. Merton was a Lithuanian Jew , a holocaust survivor and the story moves ahead with excerpts from his memoirs that were penned down from the ghastly memories of the 1940’s, when being a Jew meant being cursed to death.
History tells us how the Nazis methodically separated the Jews from the Aryans, and stacked them up in ghettos. Slowly & steadily most of their civil rights were revoked. Jewish doctors were prohibited by law from practicing medicine. Jews were prohibited from all legal practices. Jewish pupils were expelled from all non-Jewish German schools. Jews lost rights as tenants and were relocated into Jewish houses. German Jews were denied the right to hold government jobs. Yellow stars were required to be worn by Polish Jews over age 10. Living in ghettos meant too many people living in small rooms, ghastly conditions & and a decent meal being a herculean impossibility. Soon enough the Jews were lined up and slaughtered methodically, in batches of thousands, as a ’final solution’ to the ’Jew problem’.
What history doesn’t explicitly tell us is that there were small groups of people, one of such brotherhood being the DIN, i.e.; Dam Israel Nokeammeaning "The blood of Israel will take vengeance". They planned & plotted revenge activities. They wanted to prove wrong the saying that Jews walked into the gas chambers as sheep to the slaughter.
The DIN cashed on the fact that Merton was non-Jew like, i.e. he had blonde hair, blue eyes & an uncircumcised p*nis, so could pass of as an Aryan. He was only a kid then, tall enough to be passed on as a young adult. There are descriptions of various plans that didn’t get implemented, and plans that were executed. Even years after Hitler shot himself in his bunker & the captive were released of their torturous misery, it didn’t seem like justice prevailed. The number of Nazis SS proved guilty at the court of law was miniscule compared to the slaughter of millions. Hence the DIN continued their activities of punishing the unpunished, united in a mission that has spanned the world and caused hundreds of unexplained deaths. Merton was one of the last surviving members of the DIN.
Alongside the flash from the gory past, we get to see how Rebecca & Tom desperately try to figure out the reasons behind the sudden turn of events. Rebecca’s & her father’s homes are ransacked. Most of their probable leads to answers seem to end up at dead ends. The various discoveries lead them to believe that Merton had unfinished business at New York. This would mean that the NYPD’s suspicions on tracking Merton were correct.
What was the unfinished business? Why was Merton in New York & who was he after? What is the secret that needs to be unlocked? Who is trying best not to let the secret out to? Who would be able to help them with answers that belonged to events that happened decades back?
~~~~~~
The book is a fabulous read if you are interested in history being told in the form of a simple story. The horrors of the largest ever genocide in the history of mankind is mind boggling, and as per the authors note, the references are made from true events. The DIN did exist. The plans did exist. There also was a Jew kid who was used in important missions because of his Aryan looks. This accompanied by the mystery that haunts & pushes Rebecca & Tom to be on the run, with a tinge of chemistry between the two gives you a combination that is unputdownable!
Sam Bourne being a challenger to Dan Brown’s crown is no exaggeration !
Related Video: https://amazon.co.uk/Final-Reckoning-Sam-Bourne/dp/0007266499