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Shop nowThe Nero Decree
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Learn moreAs the Nazis come to power in Germany, a violent argument over a secret key causes young Johann to lose the only parent he has left. Worse, it is his half-brother, Dieter, who commits this horrific act of betrayal. Although their fragile family bonds are irrevocably destroyed, the brothers’ paths are destined to cross again.
Years later, Hitler’s army is on the verge of defeat as Soviet forces cross into Germany. Hiding in plain sight, Johann works to save German lives, secretly despising the Führer to whom Dieter has sworn his allegiance. Yet now it is Dieter who holds a terrible secret that threatens not just Johann and his family, but an entire city unsuspecting of the enemy within. As Germany falls before the Allies’ merciless advance, Johann and Dieter are locked in their own furious battle. Who will be left standing in the wreckage of their homeland? The fate of not only the brothers themselves, but the entire city of Berlin, rests in their hands.
Gregory Lee is the pen name of Greg Williams, an award-winning journalist, author, and public speaker who currently serves as executive editor of Wired magazine. Now based in London, he spent a decade working in publishing in New York City. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Guardian, Observer, Arena, The Face, Details, and Newsweek, and he is the co-founder of the digital story-telling platform MyLondonStory. Williams is married with two children. The Nero Decree is his fifth novel.
Reviews
“This is anything but a standard World War II thriller—it’s a coruscating yet deeply involving read in which Lee turns the genre on its head, not least by emphasising what civilians go through in a time of war…. Well-plotted, intelligent and with moral purpose, this is a great thriller.” —Time Out London
“Lee’s braiding of fact with authorial invention might recall Ian Fleming…but actually there’s shades of David Nicholls in there too: this is muscular prose, but marbled with empathy. And it is precisely because it has heart that Lee’s depiction of historical repression is able to touch a nerve in the present.” —GQ Magazine
“Lee has written a suspenseful, exciting mystery. He describes the chaos at the end of the war with compassion and frightening detail. This is a cannot-put-down book with plot twists and devastating revelations.” —Historical Novels Review
“Lee’s novel offers a brilliant portrayal of the utter chaos of the final weeks of the Third Reich, the horrors of Nazism, the German people’s well-warranted fear of the brutality of the Russian onslaught, and the privations suffered by all Germans. The Nero Decree is stunningly bleak but difficult to put down.” —Booklist
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