Androm­e­da Romano-Lax’s sec­ond nov­el is nar­rat­ed by Ernst Vogler, a mid-lev­el Third Reich drone work­ing in the Son­der­pro­jekt depart­ment in 1938 Ger­many. The depart­ment was cre­at­ed because Hitler, whom they refer to as Der Kun­st­samm­ler (The Col­lec­tor) was obsessed with acquir­ing desir­able art objects from all over the world, that reflect­ed Ger­man values.

Ernst is sent on what he thinks is a straight-for­ward couri­er mis­sion to Italy to bring home the ancient Gre­co-Roman statue.

The Dis­cus Throw­er. Two young Ital­ian men, Enzo and Cosi­mo, are hired to be Ernst’s escorts on the jour­ney. The men have three days to deliv­er the stat­ue to the Ger­man bor­der, and Ernst can’t bear to think what will hap­pen if he is late.

But things aren’t as sim­ple as they sound. Soon, Ernst comes to real­ize that he is embroiled in some­thing much larg­er and more dan­ger­ous than the stat­ed mis­sion. While he fran­ti­cal­ly tries to meet his dead­line, Enzo decides to take a detour to pro­pose to his girl­friend in the Ital­ian coun­try­side. That deci­sion will have dire con­se­quences and alter all of their lives.

The book starts off slow­ly but gains momen­tum as Ernst’s sto­ry is grad­u­al­ly revealed. Romano-Lax cre­ates an atmos­phere of slow-build­ing sus­pense, and her skill as a writer is irrefutable.

Part romance and part mys­tery, this piece of his­tor­i­cal fic­tion sheds light on an infre­quent­ly explored aspect of the Third Reich.