Children of Wrath (41 page)

“You’re saying you think someone
did
this
to
her?”

Leah shrugged and nodded simultaneously. “It’s why I came to you. There’s no better criminal inspector in Palestine and everyone knows it. Such a terrible fate when you think about it, isn’t it, Inspector? I mean, what are we without memories?”

Willi didn’t want to think about it. Amnesia didn’t sound so bad. There were plenty of things he sometimes wished he didn’t have to remember.

He wanted Leah to go away. He was tired, suddenly. He’d seen too much in this world. He’d no room left in his heart, in his mind, for more sad stories. He made the mistake of looking into her eyes, though, and shivered at the tug of the same dark whirlpool Fate kept casting him into.

Note on Historical Accuracy

The real Ilse Köhler Koch is a historical figure, wife of a Buchenwald concentration camp commandant whose cruelty earned her the moniker the Bitch of Buchenwald. After the war she was tried by both the Americans and the West Germans and spent the rest of her life in prison. This book presents an entirely fictionalized account of her youth. The account given of Berlin Police Force Deputy Chief Bernhard Weiss, also a historical figure, is essentially accurate.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’d like to thank everyone at St. Martin’s Press for encouraging me to write this book, especially my editor Michael Homler. Also, Jon Sternfeld, my great agent. And most of all, Colin for his brilliant insights and endless support.

ALSO BY PAUL GROSSMAN

The Sleepwalkers

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Children of Wrath
is Paul Grossman’s second novel. His first,
The Sleepwalkers,
was published in hardcover in 2010 and in paperback in 2011. He lives in Manhattan and teaches writing at the City University of New York. He’s hard at work now on his third novel. Visit his Web site at
www.Paulgrossmanwriter.com
.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

CHILDREN OF WRATH.
Copyright © 2012 by Paul Grossman. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Grossman, Paul.

Children of wrath / Paul Grossman. — 1st ed.

        p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-312-60191-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4299-8894-0 (e-book)

  1.  Murder—Investigation—Fiction   2.  Berlin (Germany)—History—1918–1945—Fiction.   I  Title.

PS3607 .R674C47     2012

813' .6—dc23                                    2011041101

e-ISBN 9781429988940

First Edition: March 2012