The Traitor’s Emblem by Juan Gomez-Jurado, Orion, $32.99.
They call Gomez-Jurado the Spanish Ken Follett and it’s not difficult to see why. With characters such as a despicable Nazi, a beautiful Jewish girl and a young patriot haunted by a decades-long mystery, The Traitor’s Emblem is vintage Follett.
It’s 1919, and in a mansion in Munich, Paul Reiner is being bullied by his spoilt cousin Jurgen von Schroeder, an enmity that will last for decades and end in bloodshed.
Jurgen is consumed by hatred, which finds its natural outlet in the burgeoning Nazi party.
While Paul searches for the truth about his long-lost father, his Jewish girlfriend Alys Tannenbaum is vulnerable to his vicious cousin.
Paul stops at nothing to try to rescue her from the now powerful Jurgen.
Trust me, you’ll feel sick at the sacrifice he makes for the lovely Alys.