Closing Ceremonies

by Harold King

Under the cover of darkness, four armed men stalk through the jungle infested mountains on a private mission to kidnap a Nazi war criminal. What they find instead, hidden deep in a deserted mine shaft, is the reichsgrabgewoelbe a top secret under ground mausoleum that duplicates to the last detail Hitler’s Reich Chancellery and enshrines an urn containing the ashes of a dark deity. For their discovery, three of the men are killed. Only Aaron Miller escapes, taking with him the urn and a vow to avenge the death of his brother. Their mausoleum wrecked, the exiled Nazi chieftains who built it, among them Mengele, Strausser and Mueller, are enraged. They believe it was “the Iews” who took the um and they want it back at any cost. So they turn to the one man they can trust to return Eduard Reichmann, former major of the SS elite paramilitary division known as the Kettenhunde, or “chain dog” commandos, for their absolute devotion and ferocity. Reichmann’s plan is A world leader whose identity is known only to him will be assassinated unless the urn is returned by a specific, entirely appropriate deadline, the

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Anupama · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book as I was scouring through some books my father had brought home from a second-hand bookshop to inculcate the habit of reading in his children. It was absolutely dilapidated and the back cover wasn't there.

It made for a riveting read, storywise, and I like how it made references to evil Nazi figureheads and indeed, made a story out of them. It had 2D comedy (courtesy of a fat man), a terrible loveline, worse characters (I don't like a single character apart from the villain possibly), family angst, the works.

Unfortunately, the book was so dilapidated that, along with the back cover, it was missing the last few pages so I have no idea (more than 10 years later) what happens at the end. However, given it a high score because it was quite a defining book of my childhood.

[Gustambro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best plot, desperate man fighting for revenge, lonely woman falls in love, evil man wanting to make his mark in the world. All a bit of a Hollywood movie.