Sons of the Reich

by Simon Scarrow Book 4 in the CI Schenke series.

First published 2027

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2.5(5)

Berlin, May 1940. While German armies advance in the west, the murder of a Hitler Youth member is placed under the personal scrutiny of Reinhard Heydrich. Horst Schenke is ordered to concentrate on a politically convenient suspect, but the evidence points towards rivalries and secrets within the organisations responsible for shaping Nazi youth. Pursuing the actual killer means challenging the version of the crime that the security leadership has already chosen to believe.

The Hitler Youth setting makes the murder politically sensitive because the organisation is meant to embody discipline, loyalty and the regime's claim over Germany's future generation. Schenke's discovery of ordinary jealousy, fear and corruption threatens that public image. The investigation therefore tests whether criminal truth matters when the security state has already decided which explanation best serves propaganda.