In this fictional book Jan Goldberg, a Polish Jew and former resistance fighter has taken on the persona of Horst Vogle a museum curator. He is working to find and kill the Nazi’s that were not brought to justice for whatever reason. He is also hunting for the gold and other valuables that were stolen by the Nazi’s and used to send Nazi dignitaries to South America. This is where they hide out to escape punishment for their war crimes.
Things are going smoothly until he meets Greta Furster. She is an up and coming pianist. Some of her social crowd are the very people he is hunting. He has to make some tough decisions that involve his love for Greta and who he really is. This was a good story that I have happily passed on to one of our history teachers. ( )

Jan Goldberg a.k.a. Horst Vogel is a Polish Jew who was a resistance fighter against the Nazis. We meet up with him about 5 years after the end of the war and he is masquerading as a German art specialist trying to separate out the seized war booty from legitimate art holdings. He also keeps an eye out for known stolen works. What most don't know, he is also an assassin who brings 'justice' to Nazis who were instrumental in the party's purge but have escaped the notice of the War crimes tribunal.

The story opens with our protagonist committing a grisly murder in an alley outside a seedy bar. We don't know who either of the players are but one was permanently removed from the game. He follows this closely by taking out another Nazi trying to escape to Argentina via Switzerland on a train. The book starts out gritty and it looks like it it going to have a high body count, then Horst has a chance meeting with Greta, a beautiful blond German pianist, as she was staring into a stream looking for a ring she had dropped. Horst is able to retrieve it for her and she repays him by having coffee with him. This starts our protagonist down the road from hardened, embittered, assassin to a caring man who wants to settle down and raise a family.

About a third of the way into the story we finally do a flash back and learn about Jan's past and how he became the man we meet in the beginning of the story.

I found this to be a very engaging book and I wanted to keep reading it. I thought it was well written but the end just seemed a little too 'storybook' perfect in my opinion, I liked the ending and I certainly can't think of a way to make it better, but it seemed to be missing something. Overall, a good book worth reading, but don't mistake this for a hard core spy novel, it's more a light love story and about the wounds a war causes and how they heal. ( )

Prodigal Sons
Author: Sheldon Greene
ISBN: 978-1-4392-2627-8, Pages: 342, $15.99, Publication Date: July, 2009, Soft-Cover Fiction, Published by: BookSurge Publishing

Sheldon Greene’s previous books, “Lost and Found” and “Burnt Umber” have been recognized as well done in the literary community. He has written a total of 8 novels. Greene is a good story teller and “Prodigal Sons” continues to display his talent.

This story of a young man starts with a tale of retribution against Nazis who have slipped under the radar of the criminal justice system. Horst Vogel a/k/a Jan Goldberg dispatches a former Nazi with cool efficiency by garroting him with a wire around his neck. Thus begins an absorbing post-war story of 1950 in Munich, West Germany. Based upon fact, this historical novel recreates a scenario which could have taken place in Poland, Israel, and Germany. His research depicts real events which he has fictionalized.

Entanglements and suspense are woven into an exciting page-turner. Saddened with the loss of his family, Jan Goldberg embarks upon a mission which leads him into becoming a resistance fighter in his native Poland during World War II. He becomes part of the underground, living in a cavern dug out in the forest near Lodz, Poland; he carries out his mission of saving Jews and killing Germans with zeal.

When the war ends, his home life no longer exists in Poland. His mother, father and sister have been killed by the Nazis. Jan is easily recruited by Hagganah agents to live on a Kibbutz in Israel. He is trained to be an assassin and is sent to Germany using the fake identity of Horst Vogel, a former soldier in the German Army.

Jan/Horst falls in love with Greta, a Christian German citizen, and a virtuoso pianist. Their love leads to more involvement in the Munich community than Horst could have imagined. His work as a curator in a museum enables him to accomplish his primary mission of assassinating former Nazis. Jan’s relationship with Greta provides an added bonus as he discovers a cache of Nazi gold hidden in a sports club. The theft of the gold by the Hagganah and love of Greta make this story more intriguing.

When the book ends, we are left wanting more and author Greene could easily write another book using the same cast of characters to complete this saga. “Prodigal Sons” is highly recommended and will whet your appetite for more. ( )