Karlos

Book excerpt: After the disaster at Stalingrad, Karlos von Ohr, a Luftwaffe pilot, returns to Berlin to discover that a small group of army officers is secretly plotting not only to bring an end to a losing, stupid war but even to put an end to Hitler. Luckily Karlos is transferred to faraway Romania, where his father is the chief flight instructor for the local air force. The local dictator, Marshal Antonescu, a friend of Hitler, refuses to acknowledge that by the spring of 1943 the Third Reich is everywhere in retreat. In nearby Istanbul Karlos uncle Siegfried runs an art gallery and does a little spying on the side. In that neutral city Karlos contrives to meet a friendly American agent who promises (for a price) to help Karlos defect to the Allied lines in Italy. Of course, Karlos realizes that if he renounces his allegiance to Hitler and goes over to the enemy, he will be denounced as a traitor by his countrymen. He can never go back home to Berlin. Karlos wonders: Am I about to make the worst (and last) mistake of my life?