My Bookshelf

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Coming In 2017 --- JRD's "The Storm"!!!



The Storm centers on the exploits of Manx Herzberg, a Berlin gangster and club owner in 1933 Germany. He is trying to weather the storm brewing after the recent election of Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler to the office of Chancellor. Local gangs are preparing for the worst, as are homosexuals, Communists and many other groups threatened by the Nazis. Manx’s cabaret club, the Black Pussycat, is the hippest nightspot in Berlin. Yet it is being targeted by the Nazis for its social decadence. Manx is faced with the option of selling the goldmine and leaving Germany. Only vacating his underworld throne is a difficult choice to make.

Making things more challenging is the arrival of Hollywood starlet Ingrid Strasbourg. She has been invited by Reich Minister Josef Goebbels to work on an upcoming movie. She makes an appearance at the club and tells Manx she wants to help him upgrade his product to meet Reich standards. He is unaware she is working for the American OSS to leverage the SA in their bid for power in the Reich. The SA and the SS are in a bitter struggle, and few know that the SS is planning a blood purge to eliminate their paramilitary rivals.

Manx’s younger brother Rolf is a known homosexual currently having an affair with SA Captain Artur Bremer. The co-leader of the Herzberg Gang, he is a psychotic killer with a reputation as a criminal mastermind. He is aware of the plot against the SA and is plotting a pre-emptive strike against the SS on Bremer’s behalf. Manx is appalled at the thought of failure and imminent SS reprisals. He confides in Ingrid, who offers to intercede by engaging the aid of ‘influential friends’. She begins bringing OSS agents into the club, and soon it becomes a center of activity for foreign spies seeking to destroy the SS and possibly oust Hitler from power.

The conflict develops as rival gang leader Dot Schellenberg is hired by Communists for a joint campaign to take down the SS and turn the public against Hitler. They reach out to the SA, only to find the Storm Troopers to be fanatical Hitler supporters. The SS finds out about the overture and use it as the foundation for their own project in destroying their SA opponents. Ingrid learns of the machinations and warns Manx. He tries to warn his brother to abandon Bremer to no avail. Rolf is convinces that an armed showdown between the SA and the SS will convince Hitler which is the greater and more valuable force. Manx is faced with the prospect of betraying his brother or allowing him to continue on to his doom.


Rich with the glamor and glitz of Berlin nightlife, packed with action and suspense surrounding the events leading to the infamous Night of the Long Knives, this is a romantic adventure novel that any and all audiences will find unforgettable.