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Black Phoenix
As Hitler escapes Berlin during the final days of World War II, a killer virus more dangerous than the nuclear bomb is being tested in a secret German camp
- GenresFiction
291 pages, Hardcover
First published January 4, 1994
25 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
George Bernau
7 books1 followerThe fledgling author made publishing history in 1987 when his derivative JFK manuscript was purchased by Warner Books for $750,000, a record advance for a first novel at that time.
“It really shakes out memories of growing up and having Kennedy die,” Bob Miller, Bernau’s editor at Warner Books told The Times about the manuscript then. ”
The story about President John Trelawny Cassidy surviving being shot in a Dallas motorcade – and getting a second chance to keep the promises he made as a candidate – stemmed from two of Bernau’s personal experiences.
The first occurred in 1977 when he was severely injured in an automobile accident. As the 6-foot-6, thirtysomething lawyer lay in the emergency room wondering if the doctor who predicted he would die was right, he reevaluated his life. Given a second chance to keep his promises to himself, he abandoned law in 1981 and began to write.
The second key evening came in 1983, after Bernau had completed a novel called “High Wire Act,” which he was too embarrassed to publish. He was in Palm Desert, talking politics with a friend and wondering how their lives and the world might have been different had Kennedy survived the Nov. 22, 1963, fatal shooting.
Bernau closeted himself in his Solano Beach, Calif., home and for five years wrote in longhand in spiral notebooks. By 1988, the 25th anniversary of Kennedy’s death, he had published a 641-page success. The book, which received positive reviews and sold well, was soon optioned for a television miniseries.
Unlike Kennedy, Bernau’s President Cassidy survives three bullets. He opts not to seek reelection but puts his brother on the ticket as vice president to a Lyndon B. Johnson stand-in called Ransome Gardner.
After the brother dies in a helicopter tour of Southeast Asia, the former president challenges Gardner in the 1968 primaries, forcing him to withdraw. Also involved is the revelation of a failed plot to assassinate Fidel Castro and its consequence of putting a second gunman in Dallas.
“This is a story of conspiracy and corruption, of assassination, of regicide. For a generation of Americans, it is the story of their age,” wrote former Democratic Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado in reviewing the book for The Times. “One believes, uncynically that Bernau was compelled to write this book. John Kennedy (with, it must be said, all his faults) was the Last American Hero.”
Bernau’s second book, “Candle in the Wind” published in 1990, dealt with another popular iconic figure, Marilyn Monroe.
That novel explored “what if” she had survived her 1962 drug overdose. Bernau’s movie star Marilyn Lane is spirited to a hospital, disappears, and her doctor and housekeeper are murdered. A Hollywood detective pursues the case to Baja California, shadowed by a hired assassin and both CIA and White House agents.
“Bernau
“There are plots tumbling on top of subplots, and there is enough skulduggery – at the international level, the national level, the Hollywood level and at the human-passion level – for a dozen books,” he added.
“This is an ingenious puzzler with tightly paced transitions of time, place and character that make it almost impossible to put down,” Campbell wrote.
Bernau’s less successful third novel, “Black Phoenix” in 1994, supposes that Adolf Hitler henchman Joseph Goebbels fakes his own death and continues World War II from outside Germany, using a deadly biological weapon.
“Bernau tells his story in a brisk, straightforward fashion. Unfortunately,” wrote reviewer Chris Petrakos for the Chicago Tribune, “the plot isn’t quite developed enough; it needs more expansion and adornment. Even with a neat twist at the end, this one never quite gets up to speed.”
Bernau also wrote occasional book reviews for The Times.
“It really shakes out memories of growing up and having Kennedy die,” Bob Miller, Bernau’s editor at Warner Books told The Times about the manuscript then. ”
The story about President John Trelawny Cassidy surviving being shot in a Dallas motorcade – and getting a second chance to keep the promises he made as a candidate – stemmed from two of Bernau’s personal experiences.
The first occurred in 1977 when he was severely injured in an automobile accident. As the 6-foot-6, thirtysomething lawyer lay in the emergency room wondering if the doctor who predicted he would die was right, he reevaluated his life. Given a second chance to keep his promises to himself, he abandoned law in 1981 and began to write.
The second key evening came in 1983, after Bernau had completed a novel called “High Wire Act,” which he was too embarrassed to publish. He was in Palm Desert, talking politics with a friend and wondering how their lives and the world might have been different had Kennedy survived the Nov. 22, 1963, fatal shooting.
Bernau closeted himself in his Solano Beach, Calif., home and for five years wrote in longhand in spiral notebooks. By 1988, the 25th anniversary of Kennedy’s death, he had published a 641-page success. The book, which received positive reviews and sold well, was soon optioned for a television miniseries.
Unlike Kennedy, Bernau’s President Cassidy survives three bullets. He opts not to seek reelection but puts his brother on the ticket as vice president to a Lyndon B. Johnson stand-in called Ransome Gardner.
After the brother dies in a helicopter tour of Southeast Asia, the former president challenges Gardner in the 1968 primaries, forcing him to withdraw. Also involved is the revelation of a failed plot to assassinate Fidel Castro and its consequence of putting a second gunman in Dallas.
“This is a story of conspiracy and corruption, of assassination, of regicide. For a generation of Americans, it is the story of their age,” wrote former Democratic Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado in reviewing the book for The Times. “One believes, uncynically that Bernau was compelled to write this book. John Kennedy (with, it must be said, all his faults) was the Last American Hero.”
Bernau’s second book, “Candle in the Wind” published in 1990, dealt with another popular iconic figure, Marilyn Monroe.
That novel explored “what if” she had survived her 1962 drug overdose. Bernau’s movie star Marilyn Lane is spirited to a hospital, disappears, and her doctor and housekeeper are murdered. A Hollywood detective pursues the case to Baja California, shadowed by a hired assassin and both CIA and White House agents.
“Bernau
“There are plots tumbling on top of subplots, and there is enough skulduggery – at the international level, the national level, the Hollywood level and at the human-passion level – for a dozen books,” he added.
“This is an ingenious puzzler with tightly paced transitions of time, place and character that make it almost impossible to put down,” Campbell wrote.
Bernau’s less successful third novel, “Black Phoenix” in 1994, supposes that Adolf Hitler henchman Joseph Goebbels fakes his own death and continues World War II from outside Germany, using a deadly biological weapon.
“Bernau tells his story in a brisk, straightforward fashion. Unfortunately,” wrote reviewer Chris Petrakos for the Chicago Tribune, “the plot isn’t quite developed enough; it needs more expansion and adornment. Even with a neat twist at the end, this one never quite gets up to speed.”
Bernau also wrote occasional book reviews for The Times.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 7, 2017
Review originally published at Book of Bogan
Black Phoenix is an alternate history novel, set during the closing stages of the second world war. It follows a couple of operatives who must track down the secrets of a mysterious program named Phoenix, which seeks to carry on the Third Reich through deception.
Although this book is primarily told from the point of view of Allied operatives, the author does an interesting job of taking the reader into the underground bunker, and the crazy world of a dying Nazi Germany. I really got the sense of the desperation and panic of people who were under attack and - from their point of view - just trying to survive. I am not saying that the Germans were sympathetic by any means, far from it, but it was a point of view I had not come across before.
I thought the author did a good job of building (mostly) believable characters, and building on his interesting premise by interweaving real historical events, such as the South American connections to the Nazi regime. It is, however, just a little bit silly, in the way that gungho ra-ra military thrillers always are, but one doesn't read this sort of book looking for historical accuracy.
My other problem with this book was the amount of teleportation that goes on, with events seeming to skip around the world at a whim. I would have liked to have had a better idea of just where things were taking place. But I quibble.
Black Phoenix was an entertaining read, and is a step up from the kind of boys' own adventure tales. Originally published in 1994, I feel like this is a throwback to an earlier era of publishing. If a reader is looking for something more serious, perhaps Len Deighton's books, or The Man in the High Castle might suit, but this was a good time.
I received a review copy through NetGalley from the publisher.
Black Phoenix is an alternate history novel, set during the closing stages of the second world war. It follows a couple of operatives who must track down the secrets of a mysterious program named Phoenix, which seeks to carry on the Third Reich through deception.
Although this book is primarily told from the point of view of Allied operatives, the author does an interesting job of taking the reader into the underground bunker, and the crazy world of a dying Nazi Germany. I really got the sense of the desperation and panic of people who were under attack and - from their point of view - just trying to survive. I am not saying that the Germans were sympathetic by any means, far from it, but it was a point of view I had not come across before.
I thought the author did a good job of building (mostly) believable characters, and building on his interesting premise by interweaving real historical events, such as the South American connections to the Nazi regime. It is, however, just a little bit silly, in the way that gungho ra-ra military thrillers always are, but one doesn't read this sort of book looking for historical accuracy.
My other problem with this book was the amount of teleportation that goes on, with events seeming to skip around the world at a whim. I would have liked to have had a better idea of just where things were taking place. But I quibble.
Black Phoenix was an entertaining read, and is a step up from the kind of boys' own adventure tales. Originally published in 1994, I feel like this is a throwback to an earlier era of publishing. If a reader is looking for something more serious, perhaps Len Deighton's books, or The Man in the High Castle might suit, but this was a good time.
I received a review copy through NetGalley from the publisher.
December 14, 2017
“Black Phoenix” eBook was published in 2017 (original paper edition was published in 1994) and was written by George Bernau. Mr. Bernau published three novels.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Situations. The story is set in the closing days of World War II. The primary character is US Army Major Thomas Sheridan, an Army Intelligence officer.
Berlin is about to fall to Allied troops. The Nazis are all but crushed, but they still have a plan. Key officials are secretly transported to South America along with a deadly substance known as Black Phoenix. Sheridan, along with his partner and lover Debra Marks, are sent in search of the fleeing Germans and for a lead on Black Phoenix.
They find that Nazi leadership still has a plan to conquer the world, and thousands may die. It becomes a race to see if they can survive the German fanatics and save the world.
I thought that this was an interesting 8.5 hour read of a 291 page World War II era Thriller. This is a little old and shows its age some, but it is still an interesting read. I am not sure why the cover are was chosen as rockets are not part of the plot. I give this novel a 3.4 (rounded down to a 3) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Situations. The story is set in the closing days of World War II. The primary character is US Army Major Thomas Sheridan, an Army Intelligence officer.
Berlin is about to fall to Allied troops. The Nazis are all but crushed, but they still have a plan. Key officials are secretly transported to South America along with a deadly substance known as Black Phoenix. Sheridan, along with his partner and lover Debra Marks, are sent in search of the fleeing Germans and for a lead on Black Phoenix.
They find that Nazi leadership still has a plan to conquer the world, and thousands may die. It becomes a race to see if they can survive the German fanatics and save the world.
I thought that this was an interesting 8.5 hour read of a 291 page World War II era Thriller. This is a little old and shows its age some, but it is still an interesting read. I am not sure why the cover are was chosen as rockets are not part of the plot. I give this novel a 3.4 (rounded down to a 3) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
July 27, 2025
Where do they get these ideas? Not only did the leading Nazis, Hitler, Goebbels and their playmates not die but after 1945 could be found alive, well, living in South America and ready to reconquer the world through a deadly strain of virus developed in Berlin before the Downfall. Two intrepid American detectives must stop the villains before it's too late. BLACK PHOENIX does not even work as a counter-factual history novel, like George Bernau's previous title PROMISES TO KEEP, which envisioned a better world if only John F. Kennedy had survived to finish his presidency.
January 24, 2024
It Was Okay
I don't often read war stories, and struggled to get into this one, in fact I almost gave up several times, but don't like to admit defeat, so I kept going. It is 1945 and the war is coming to an end, but Germany has one last weapon to use. It is code named Phoenix. Two agents, Sheridan and Debra must find it and put it out of action before the Germans can use it. Not really for me but I am sure it will appeal to most readers.
I don't often read war stories, and struggled to get into this one, in fact I almost gave up several times, but don't like to admit defeat, so I kept going. It is 1945 and the war is coming to an end, but Germany has one last weapon to use. It is code named Phoenix. Two agents, Sheridan and Debra must find it and put it out of action before the Germans can use it. Not really for me but I am sure it will appeal to most readers.
December 10, 2023
Superb
I really enjoyed this book. It's set at the end of World War II, and it just might have happened. It's a fast moving story that moves from near-term Europe to Africa and then across South America. The characters are strong, the writing is very good and the descriptions of The various settings come to life. Recommended.
I really enjoyed this book. It's set at the end of World War II, and it just might have happened. It's a fast moving story that moves from near-term Europe to Africa and then across South America. The characters are strong, the writing is very good and the descriptions of The various settings come to life. Recommended.
December 17, 2018
Nazis at the end of the war with a plot to poison Americans w a deadly contaminant. Interesting story that was predictable.
July 6, 2013
a good read if a little over the top
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews