Black Cross

never reached the mass production stage; however, as a curtain of secrecy descended over all these captured compounds after the Nazi surrender, we cannot be certain that all facts are known.

I believe that Adolf Hitler, a man willing to destroy Germany rather than surrender, would have required powerful reasons to stay his hand from a weapon as potentially decisive as Sarin. I like to think that the Allies, particularly Winston Churchill, possessed the nerve and the guts to order a mission like the one described in Black Cross. A similar “suicide mission” was carried out by Norwegians — with the assistance of SOE — against a heavy water plant in Norway in 1943. This costly raid ensured that Adolf Hitler was denied nuclear weapons.

The Allied reaction — or lack thereof — to the news of what was occurring in the Nazi concentration camps remains one of the darkest chapters of WWII. It is expertly detailed in Auschwitz and the Allies, by Martin Gilbert.

All of us owe our freedom to men and women we shall never know. Some of their stories are told in: Skis Against the Atom, by Knut Haukelid; The Holocaust and Churchill, by Martin Gilbert; Castle Commando, by Donald Gilchrist; Moon Squadron, by Jerrard Tickell; A Man Called Intrepid, by William Stevenson; and The Glory and the Dream, by William Manchester.

Finally, I would ask young readers to realize that fifty years is not a long time.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to Natasha Kern, a superagent in the true sense of the word.

Many thanks to Elaine Koster, a publisher with the guts to let her authors break the rules.

Special thanks to John Grisham.

To Edward Stackler, fine editor and master of POV!

For research assistance: Scotland, Colin Maclean and Beryl Austin; London, Folly Marland, Stuart Hamilton, and at the Imperial War Museum, Peter Simkins; Washington, D.C., David Kasmier; Portland, OR, Oriana Green; Novato, CA, Dale Wilson

Medical advisors: Jerry Iles, M.D., Michael Bourland, M.D., Noah Archer, M.D., Barry Tillman, M.D., David Steckler, M.D.

Electrical engineering: Marlon Copeland, Howard Wooten

Languages: Toos S. Nooijen, Jean-Claude Coulerez, Susan Callon, Christof Schauwecker, Gloria Glickstein Brame

8th Air Force: Austin Ingels, Donald Toye

Judaica: Jerry Gross, Louis DeVries, Ronald E. Stackler

Matters Scottish: Diana Gabaldon <g>

Special thanks to Jeff Walker for devious plot insights.

Special thanks to Geoff Iles for brotherly advice.

Kudos to all the pros at Dutton/Signet.

Readers: Betty Iles, Courtney Aldridge, Mary Lou England

Putting Up With My Obsession Committee: Carrie and Madeline.

All mistakes are mine.

Books by Greg Iles

Spandau Phoenix (1992)

Black Cross (1995)

Mortal Fear (1996)

The Quiet Game (1999)

24 Hours (2000) aka Trapped

Dead Sleep (2001)

Sleep No More (2002)

The Footprints of God (2003) aka Dark Matter

Blood Memory (2005)

Turning Angel (2005)

True Evil (2006)

Third Degree (2007)

The Devil's Punchbowl (2008)