Alan Smyth

Ratlines Alan Smyth

Dublin, 1963: When a German national is murdered just before President John F. Kennedy's scheduled trip to Ireland, Lieutenant Albert Ryan, Directorate of Intelligence, is assigned the case. The German is the third foreigner to die within a few days, and Minister for Justice Charles Haughey wants the killing to end lest a shameful secret be exposed: The dead men were all Nazis granted asylum by the Irish government in the years following World War II.

A note from the killers is found on the dead German's corpse, addressed to Colonel Otto Skorzeny, Hitler's favorite commando, once called the most dangerous man in Europe. The note simply says: "We are coming for you."

As Albert Ryan digs deeper into the case he discovers a network of former Nazis and collaborators. But as Ryan closes in on the killers, his loyalty is torn between country and conscience as he is forced to protect the very people he fought against twenty years before. Soon Ryan learns that while Skorzeny might be a dangerous ally, he is a deadly enemy.

"Ratlines is thrilling and historically informed.... Albert Ryan is a formidable yet damaged hero." --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)