This stunning debut novel is a highly imaginative blend of fiction enhanced with historical events and well-known personages. It also gives us a well-researched travelogue and insights into cities and countries visited by the story’s main player.
Richly written the story transports us back to the mid-1970 where high school graduate Ian Richard, a highly recruited athlete questions his future after viewing a documentary of the liberation of thousands of prisoners at Bergen-Belsen at the end WW11 by the Allied Forces . Ian’s father was among the liberators. Over several weeks Ian immerses himself in articles of past atrocities and those guilty of war crimes. He particularly concentrates on those who never came to trial. The novel tells Ian’s newfound interest in finding one particular guard Gertrude Sommer and bringing her to justice.
The story opens slowly as we are introduced to Ian, his parents and his interest then as it progresses with his training with the Mossad and his hunt for “The Angel of Death” commences. To Argentina he is sent and we soon fall into a very intense and captivating drama which gives us a lot of action, some predictable twists and others we hardly can imagine. Ian has a soft spot for beautiful women and plays with his good looks to lure the illusive Gertrude into a trap. Suspense is at times intercepted by some sex scenes, we have a few but they are quite vanilla. To add tension to this exciting read, Ian encounters violence and demonstrates that all his training was not wasted time…… During this nail-biting journey, the author did not forget to give us a taste of culinary delights ….
In short words, we have an original and well-written plot, smooth narration, good dialogue, great characterization and where this novel excels is in its sense of place….
Well-done Mr. Ledoux “The Angel of Justice” is an excellent debut and I hope to read more of Ian’s missions in the future.
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