Hitler’s Assassin

When Michael Cohen, a German-American Jew who spent the Second World War trapped in Germany, takes a New York magazine assignment to cover a war crimes trial in South America in 1952, he has no idea what he’s getting into. In spite of his resistance, his life will become inextricably intertwined with the fate of defendant Johann Richter, a former German army officer whose father served on Hitler’s General Staff and was involved in the plots to kill him. While Cohen and Richter both try to come to terms with pasts that have more in common than either would ever have imagined, the city of La Negra, high in the Andes where the trial is taking place, becomes a battleground, with both sides in the Cold War believing Richter knows who’s helping Stalin steal nuclear secrets from the West.

David Bergengren’s Hitler’s Assassin is a sophisticated, subtle story of intrigue and the psychological costs associated with the trials of memory. Written in a passionate, descriptive manner, the novel evokes tales told by some of the great espionage thriller authors of the post-war era. It is a rich, compelling book. - John Katzenbach, author of Hart’s War.

A court proceeding in 1952 in South America deals with the long shadow of World War II… The densely packed story, mixing the fictional with the historical, features effective pacing - the author takes his time - and solid prose… Ironies abound… The denouement ties things up nicely. A satisfying tale about a German (war crimes) defendant and an American journalist; an impressive first novel. - Kirkus Reviews