Description
The balance of history – as we know it – hinged on one clarion call. It was September 1938 and high-ranking German military leaders hovered about the phone, waiting for word that would catapult them to end the tyrannical Nazi regime terrorizing Germany for five years. Every element of the coup was covered. Access roads to Berlin would be blocked, the city surrounded. Communication centers seized. A commando squad––sixty handpicked men–– was ready to storm the Chancellery and capture Hitler. The only open question: to try Hitler as a criminal or assassinate him on the spot? Their green light would come the moment Hitler ordered troops to cross into Czechoslovakia.
Sins of the Fathers––the sequel to Wolf about Hitler’s rise to power – tells the dramatic story of the Prime Minster who put his trust in Hitler’s word. In so doing, he saved the Führer’s life and paved the road to World War II.
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“Sins of the Fathers” Is a “What If?” Historical Thriller Blending Fact and Fiction Seamlessly
By Monique Snyman | February 22nd, 2022Even in modern times, high treason isn’t something to be taken lightly, but what if it could have saved millions of lives? What if, by assassinating Adolf Hitler, utter devastation on a global scale could be prevented? How different would things have been if the Führer had succumbed before he had Germany brainwashed into thinking war was the only way to regain national pride? These are the questions that are explored in Sins of the Fathers (Skyhorse) by Herbert J. Stern and Alan A. Winter, the exciting sequel to Wolf.
PREPARE FOR AN INTENSE READ
When Sins of the Fathers was offered to me to read and review, I jumped at the chance, because the book revolved around a specific event I don’t recall ever having heard about — the assassination attempt of Adolf Hitler in 1938 by a group of courageous Germans in the “inner-circle.” I am aware of the Munich Pact with Hitler, which Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed, which basically sold-out Czechoslovakia to Germany. I recall the quote from a letter Winston Churchill wrote to Lloyd George just before the Munich Conference, stating: “I think we shall have to choose in the next few weeks between war and shame, and I have very little doubt what the decision will be.” But somehow, I don’t remember this particular underground movement and its attempts at a coup or how Chamberlain threw a wrench in the works. Read the full article
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Novelists Paint Complex Portrait of Hitler
February 15, 2022
SAN DIEGO – Here is a mixture of history, biography, and pure fiction depicting the political maneuvering of Adolf Hitler and the people closest to him between 1934 and 1938, the tumultuous years preceding World War II.The novel is a sequel to Stern’s and Winter’s Wolf, which told of Hitler’s earlier life. Both are narrated by the fictional Friedrich Richard, who supposedly came through World War I with Hitler, aided him in the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, and thereafter remained one of his closest confidants.
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By Donald H. Harrison, editor of San Diego Jewish World -
Sins of the Fathers: A Novel
Friedrich Richard has vengeance on his mind. A dear friend was brutally killed by two cold-blooded SD soldiers at a concentration camp. Friedrich is a powerful man with resources, calculating in exacting his revenge. Upon learning the two soldiers’ names, he plots their demise and executes both with nearly flawless precision.
Questions arise, but Friedrich has an ace up his sleeve: his close friendship with Adolf Hitler. His past with Hitler goes back to 1918, when both were recuperating from their wartime service in a hospital. The two men share a deep bond based on secrecy. As Hitler has ascended to the peak of his power, Friedrich is alarmed by Hitler’s plans for Germany and wider Europe. Hitler’s sanity is speculated about by Friedrich, along with certain generals. A plan is hatched, the purpose being to stop the unstable Fuhrer from wreaking a terrible havoc on the world.
Sins of the Fathers illustrates the powerful impact of historical fiction. Herbert Stern and Alan Winter engage the audience with a pulse-pounding thriller that will leave many gripping the pages in anticipation with each subsequent chapter. The history may have been written, but the path proves to be a riddle, with forks and dangerous curves featuring prominently in this fine book.
Reviews
“This one poses a fascinating question --- could World War II have been avoided? The answer is going to shock you. Sins of the Fathers is a masterful blend of fact and fiction and will have you thinking about it long after the last page is read."
I learned history from Barbara Tuchman, felt seat-of-the-pants tension with Robert Ludlum, however, neither one took me to that place of epiphany where an unexpected tear falls from the eye, yet Herb Stern and Alan Winter do all three with an explosive ending as gut-wrenching as it is shocking. If this were a boxing match, It's the punch you didn't see coming.
Evil Triumphs when good men do nothing. Echoes of that chilling adage resonate like a drum beat through the pages of this book. Based on real events, documents and letters, Herb Stern and Alan Winter have written a riveting novel, set against the backdrop of Adolph Hitler’s rise to power, the pageantry of the 1936 Olympics, the terror of Kristallnacht, and bring a little known story of resistance to vivid life. Taut, tense and ultimately tragic, “Sins Of The Fathers” shows us what true bravery and valor look like.
Authors Herbert J. Stern and Alan A. Winter are giving historical fiction fans reason to cheer. Their new thriller based on events leading up to World War II, SINS OF THE FATHER, may be the 21st century’s Winds of War. https://www.thebigthrill.org/?p=74629 Austin S. Camacho; The Big Thrill The Magazine of the International Thriller Writers
