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Made Men
Book two, Law of Retaliation series.
Most Nazi scientists fled Berlin at the end of World War II. Not Wolfgang Bähr. Relentless, forced into forgotten wartime tunnels, the meagerly-funded geneticist continued his work for decades.
Two of his experiments were identical. Along with a third, very different child, they lived in a green concrete room, telling time by a rust-worn dripping sink, their creator providing all they know—or does he?
Taller but malnourished, hiding his head in the cold, dark room, The One Who Was Different is the optimized human—what the program always dreamt to achieve. His IQ: unfathomable; a genetic memory: a recall of events and knowledge in the absence of having experienced a stimulus. While he contains the knowledge of his forefathers, The Two Who Were Alike carry the feral genes of theirs.
Later, when a pair of bizarre, reptilian Germans employed by reclusive and missing billionaire Bonn Maddox attempts to protect toxicologist Henna Maxwell from an assassin, they are willing to sacrifice the lives of millions to save her.
But it will take more than falling skies to keep an Aryan killer from Henna. It will take everything they’ve got. They need Bonn Maddox to come home.
Most Nazi scientists fled Berlin at the end of World War II. Not Wolfgang Bähr. Relentless, forced into forgotten wartime tunnels, the meagerly-funded geneticist continued his work for decades.
Two of his experiments were identical. Along with a third, very different child, they lived in a green concrete room, telling time by a rust-worn dripping sink, their creator providing all they know—or does he?
Taller but malnourished, hiding his head in the cold, dark room, The One Who Was Different is the optimized human—what the program always dreamt to achieve. His IQ: unfathomable; a genetic memory: a recall of events and knowledge in the absence of having experienced a stimulus. While he contains the knowledge of his forefathers, The Two Who Were Alike carry the feral genes of theirs.
Later, when a pair of bizarre, reptilian Germans employed by reclusive and missing billionaire Bonn Maddox attempts to protect toxicologist Henna Maxwell from an assassin, they are willing to sacrifice the lives of millions to save her.
But it will take more than falling skies to keep an Aryan killer from Henna. It will take everything they’ve got. They need Bonn Maddox to come home.
273 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 4, 2016
About the author
Bradley Ernst
3 books60 followersBe advised: I am an award winning author.
The first was a medal I received in high school. I was a finalist in a national essay competition I hadn't entered. My English teacher sent my essay in—when she pressed the dime-sized award into my palm I was dumbfounded. I threw it into a small wooden box with a bar along the bottom to lock it, on top of a stack of small-denomination (but colorful) foreign paper money my uncle had sent when in the military overseas, iron-on patches—one proving I'd attended "hunter's safety." Another for pedaling my dirt bike thirty miles for multiple sclerosis while wearing a straw cowboy hat and a denim jacket—a wineskin full of gatorade strapped across my chest, snake-bite kit deep in my jeans pocket. (It didn't say all of that on the patch of course—but I knew—and now you do.)
The medal clanked around for years in that box, useless and hidden, against a silver dollar my dad had given me. A tiny totem of denial that what I really wanted to do … was WRITE.
The second award? An apron with mushroom designs: an award for "best fungi haiku" written as an egg timer clicked on a table in a wine-soaked festival crowd. I don't wear the two together … the medal and the apron: I don't like to show off.
I've been a nurse for 20 years, and bits of humor have allowed me, (and my patients) to better cope with pain, death, and terror. "You should write a book!" I heard, dozens of times.
Here it is:
http://amzn.to/1R8IS8I
I hope you enjoy my first thriller: "Inhumanum" (Latin for brutal.) The sequel, "Made Men" will be available on Amazon in Fall of 2016.
Cheers~
Bradley
http://bradleyernst.com/
Visit me on Facebook here:http://on.fb.me/1SLrypl
The first was a medal I received in high school. I was a finalist in a national essay competition I hadn't entered. My English teacher sent my essay in—when she pressed the dime-sized award into my palm I was dumbfounded. I threw it into a small wooden box with a bar along the bottom to lock it, on top of a stack of small-denomination (but colorful) foreign paper money my uncle had sent when in the military overseas, iron-on patches—one proving I'd attended "hunter's safety." Another for pedaling my dirt bike thirty miles for multiple sclerosis while wearing a straw cowboy hat and a denim jacket—a wineskin full of gatorade strapped across my chest, snake-bite kit deep in my jeans pocket. (It didn't say all of that on the patch of course—but I knew—and now you do.)
The medal clanked around for years in that box, useless and hidden, against a silver dollar my dad had given me. A tiny totem of denial that what I really wanted to do … was WRITE.
The second award? An apron with mushroom designs: an award for "best fungi haiku" written as an egg timer clicked on a table in a wine-soaked festival crowd. I don't wear the two together … the medal and the apron: I don't like to show off.
I've been a nurse for 20 years, and bits of humor have allowed me, (and my patients) to better cope with pain, death, and terror. "You should write a book!" I heard, dozens of times.
Here it is:
http://amzn.to/1R8IS8I
I hope you enjoy my first thriller: "Inhumanum" (Latin for brutal.) The sequel, "Made Men" will be available on Amazon in Fall of 2016.
Cheers~
Bradley
http://bradleyernst.com/
Visit me on Facebook here:http://on.fb.me/1SLrypl
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 10, 2016
The scene stealing Germans from the first book, Inhumanum, are back. As are Bonn and Henna. Only this time, the Germans lead the story.
A big part of the book is an origins story for the Germans and a previously unmentioned brother. Some funky gene soup was concocted in their conception. How can that go wrong?
Then the story reconnects with Bonn and Henna from the first book and more unfortunate things happen.
Forgetting all that for a moment, here's what demonstrates the strength of Bradley's storytelling.
My car was stolen in between reading sessions of this book. By someone I knew. So even though, miraculously, my car was found in less than 90 minutes from being reported (on the other side of the mountains no less), it was an especially rude emotionally traumatic shock.
That night, I laid down to read myself to sleep... and the Germans quickly obliterated all thoughts about the treachery of the day. I finished the book and my next thought was MORE!
A book that can do that... is a very good book indeed.
Now if only Mr. Ernst will consent to extending the tale of the Germans... Agent Pendergast style.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I dare say he'll be pleasantly surprised and pleased when he reads this. Thank you Mr. Ernst.
A big part of the book is an origins story for the Germans and a previously unmentioned brother. Some funky gene soup was concocted in their conception. How can that go wrong?
Then the story reconnects with Bonn and Henna from the first book and more unfortunate things happen.
Forgetting all that for a moment, here's what demonstrates the strength of Bradley's storytelling.
My car was stolen in between reading sessions of this book. By someone I knew. So even though, miraculously, my car was found in less than 90 minutes from being reported (on the other side of the mountains no less), it was an especially rude emotionally traumatic shock.
That night, I laid down to read myself to sleep... and the Germans quickly obliterated all thoughts about the treachery of the day. I finished the book and my next thought was MORE!
A book that can do that... is a very good book indeed.
Now if only Mr. Ernst will consent to extending the tale of the Germans... Agent Pendergast style.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I dare say he'll be pleasantly surprised and pleased when he reads this. Thank you Mr. Ernst.
July 3, 2016
In a secret location deep in the Alaskan wilderness, a man sits down at his keyboard and begins to relate a story so ASTONISHING that it takes two volumes to contain it. So weird it must be true.
Made Men--the labyrinthine conclusion to the tale told in Inhumanum.
The Wall. It separated families and destroyed lives. On the west lives a young concentration camp survivor, Gitte. On the other side, her uncle, the last of her family. Between them the Berlin Wall rises higher each day. "Workmen inside the building set bricks into window frames to avoid more people leaking to freedom. Oppression required people to oppress; these men had been tasked to plug the holes."
As above, so below.
Follow the trail of gingerbread crumbs into a complex of old tunnels running beneath post-war Berlin. Into the laboratories of a mad scientist, who continues nefarious genetic experiments begun in collaboration with the infamous Doctor Josef Mengele. The Two Who Were Alike will find themselves diametrically opposed to The One Who Was Different when Henna is targeted for death and Bonn has disappeared.
Characters you will never forget take the Earth to the edge of oblivion.
Breathtaking in its imagination, sly wit and killer prose, Made Men (and its companion, Inhumanum) went straight to the top of my lifetime best reads list. The Law of Retaliation duology belongs on your shelf beside absurdist classics like John Irving's The World According to Garp, and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
Made Men--the labyrinthine conclusion to the tale told in Inhumanum.
The Wall. It separated families and destroyed lives. On the west lives a young concentration camp survivor, Gitte. On the other side, her uncle, the last of her family. Between them the Berlin Wall rises higher each day. "Workmen inside the building set bricks into window frames to avoid more people leaking to freedom. Oppression required people to oppress; these men had been tasked to plug the holes."
As above, so below.
Follow the trail of gingerbread crumbs into a complex of old tunnels running beneath post-war Berlin. Into the laboratories of a mad scientist, who continues nefarious genetic experiments begun in collaboration with the infamous Doctor Josef Mengele. The Two Who Were Alike will find themselves diametrically opposed to The One Who Was Different when Henna is targeted for death and Bonn has disappeared.
Characters you will never forget take the Earth to the edge of oblivion.
Breathtaking in its imagination, sly wit and killer prose, Made Men (and its companion, Inhumanum) went straight to the top of my lifetime best reads list. The Law of Retaliation duology belongs on your shelf beside absurdist classics like John Irving's The World According to Garp, and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
April 11, 2018
I can count on one hand the number of books that have literally blown my mind; Ernst has written two of them. This, which I finished in three sittings, and "By Vardo, Mostly," my favorite read of 2016. His story-telling is engaging, his characters mesmerizing. The last act of the tale is so intense that I often found myself holding my breath. Give "Inhumanum" a read before you tackle this one, although it can be read as a stand-alone.
January 24, 2017
4.5 stars
"Made Men” is good continuation to an excellent series. I enjoyed the first book, “Inhumanum”, and this is now the second I’ve read.
Pros:
- The relationship between the characters is believable and comes across as very sincere, especially the brothers, but also with Gitte.
- The dialog is well done and generally feels natural, but can be confusing at times (especially the parts done in italics).
- The minor characters leave a good impression on the reader and make an impact, despite little time "on screen."
- I'm generally not a fan of “save the girl from the killer” in thriller/suspense as I feel it's overdone. However, Ernst handled the standard tropes well and I didn't really feel it derivative of other, more familiar work, mainly due to the creativeness of the characters, the backstory, and the setting.
- Extremely well-written, intellectually and emotionally complex read that breaks through genre lines and thinks outside the box.
Cons:
- I thought the descriptions and backstory of the Germans got a little long winded in spots, especially in the beginning and also when introducing new characters. At times, this hurt some of the pacing.
- Several characters come and go and I never had any real sense of their identity. I mostly didn't care. It made me wonder how important the time spent on the characters was to begin with.
- Some of the “tense” scenes were kind of a letdown (at times). I thought they were brushed over too quickly given the circumstances surrounding those scenes.
- This is more of a personal preference but I rather read from a tighter POV. I noticed a bit of head hopping in certain scenes or a move from limited to omniscient POV which I found a distracting at times.
Overall a very impressive novel and I definitely recommend the series to fans of dark thrillers/psychological suspense. It has a gore factor so best suited for the 18+ crowd.
"Made Men” is good continuation to an excellent series. I enjoyed the first book, “Inhumanum”, and this is now the second I’ve read.
Pros:
- The relationship between the characters is believable and comes across as very sincere, especially the brothers, but also with Gitte.
- The dialog is well done and generally feels natural, but can be confusing at times (especially the parts done in italics).
- The minor characters leave a good impression on the reader and make an impact, despite little time "on screen."
- I'm generally not a fan of “save the girl from the killer” in thriller/suspense as I feel it's overdone. However, Ernst handled the standard tropes well and I didn't really feel it derivative of other, more familiar work, mainly due to the creativeness of the characters, the backstory, and the setting.
- Extremely well-written, intellectually and emotionally complex read that breaks through genre lines and thinks outside the box.
Cons:
- I thought the descriptions and backstory of the Germans got a little long winded in spots, especially in the beginning and also when introducing new characters. At times, this hurt some of the pacing.
- Several characters come and go and I never had any real sense of their identity. I mostly didn't care. It made me wonder how important the time spent on the characters was to begin with.
- Some of the “tense” scenes were kind of a letdown (at times). I thought they were brushed over too quickly given the circumstances surrounding those scenes.
- This is more of a personal preference but I rather read from a tighter POV. I noticed a bit of head hopping in certain scenes or a move from limited to omniscient POV which I found a distracting at times.
Overall a very impressive novel and I definitely recommend the series to fans of dark thrillers/psychological suspense. It has a gore factor so best suited for the 18+ crowd.
July 11, 2016
Finally, (almost) all of my questions were answered.
The Germans were the most fascinating aspect of Book I, and I'm very satisfied that my suspicions regarding their origins have not only been confirmed, but have so much more involved than I could have anticipated. I know that other readers may have found other characters more compelling in Book I, but these two individuals are absolutely CAPTIVATING to this reader. The discordance between what we see and what we really are is drawn out in fantastic detail - the research that must have gone into the background and development of "the boys" is staggering. I don't want to diminish the importance of the other characters or larger aspects of plot development in this work, but for anyone who looks for something out of the ordinary or off the beaten path and needs a breath of fresh air that defies categorization, strongly consider this book, you won't be disappointed.
Eagerly awaiting more works from this new author.
The Germans were the most fascinating aspect of Book I, and I'm very satisfied that my suspicions regarding their origins have not only been confirmed, but have so much more involved than I could have anticipated. I know that other readers may have found other characters more compelling in Book I, but these two individuals are absolutely CAPTIVATING to this reader. The discordance between what we see and what we really are is drawn out in fantastic detail - the research that must have gone into the background and development of "the boys" is staggering. I don't want to diminish the importance of the other characters or larger aspects of plot development in this work, but for anyone who looks for something out of the ordinary or off the beaten path and needs a breath of fresh air that defies categorization, strongly consider this book, you won't be disappointed.
Eagerly awaiting more works from this new author.
July 4, 2016
Masterful
Another amazing book by Ernst. Sequels are not always easy to create and often rely on the first in the series, but this is quite its own story. Science ... more like mad science and literal sense of the perfect genetic human. Survival of the fittest, or the most important, no matter how many lives it costs. Intriguing and masterfully written!
Another amazing book by Ernst. Sequels are not always easy to create and often rely on the first in the series, but this is quite its own story. Science ... more like mad science and literal sense of the perfect genetic human. Survival of the fittest, or the most important, no matter how many lives it costs. Intriguing and masterfully written!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews