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The Dutch Caper
Book Reviews
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Kirkus Reviews
“The author of The Faust Conspiracy offers more WW II adventure – now with a team from Dutch resistance who helps a pair of Englishmen in their quest to steal a Nazi warplane and its secret radar. It's the middle of the war, and the British bombing raids on Nazi Germany – which once flew nearly unhindered – have begun to be plagued by increasing damage from the Luftwaffe. German radar technology has advanced greatly, and the Reich's radar-equipped fighter planes, no longer dependent on human eyesight, are shooting down a significant number of British bombers. In order to learn the secrets of the German electronic gear, British intelligence sends a couple of commandos and a pilot to occupied Holland to snatch a plane. They have come at a bad time. Security at the target air base – once in the lax care of a corrupt officer – is now in the hands of Major Anton Behrens, an incorruptible, highly decorated pilot whose blunt honesty has caused him to be exiled from Berlin. Behrens sniffs trouble in the air, but his efforts to root out the resistance are hampered by his conflict with the sadistic head of the local Gestapo office – a man who would rather not admit that the beautiful Dutch secretary he has been ravishing may be a less than loyal subject of the Reich. Nothing goes as planned for the hijackers, but they persist, penetrating first the Gestapo's basement torture chamber and then the air base with Behrens in hot pursuit. Taut wartime thriller.”
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Booklist
“Germany’s secret airborne radar is taking its toll on the RAF. The British desperately need to photograph the equipment to devise a defense. When marine commando Alan Cormack is approached about the plan, he plots an ingenious caper – sneak into a Dutch airfield and steal a German plane. As improbable as it sounds, this story is based on the true mysterious appearance of a German plane, equipped with the airborne radar, that landed with an RAF escort on a Scottish airfield in World War II. The pace is quick, the action continuous and the battle of wits between the former German pilot, Major Behrens, and Cormack is intriguing. Espionage fans won’t have to work too hard to enjoy it.”
