We meet Horst Geller in 1942, one of the Germans who joined the Nazi side to avoid trouble and still ended up in an awful job. By now he has been guarding a work camp in Poland for two years, and hasn't seen his wife for that time. THE BLEIBERG PROJECT then jumps to present day and a different set of characters; a first-person stream of consciousness from a Wall Street trader with a depressive outlook, followed by a third-person view of a grim Mossad agent who tortures and kills people.

Jay Novacek, the trader, has a destructive lifestyle but he starts thinking about someone other than himself when he learns that his absent father has died. His mother needs his support. She also passes on to her son an old locket containing a key embossed with a swastika. Meanwhile Eytan Morg, the killer, disposes of an operative from Langley in a wooded area before heading to New York. His next target appears to be the hapless Jay. Focusing on the different people takes concentration, but they are not sympathetic characters, which can make for glum reading. Just when we're getting to the bottom of Jay's unhappiness, we slip back in time to meet senior Nazi Rudolf Hess, cooped up in the Tower of London during the War. The deluded Hess believes that by Christmas his army will march through Moscow.

This multi-layered book takes its name from a depraved experimental Nazi project, dropping back and pulling forward to show how this project was thought of and how it affected the lives of those who knew about its existence. Different settings are described for the scenes, from a grand house in Bavaria to the frozen misery of a camp outside Danzig. Not to let the men have it all their own way, there is a female agent named Jackie who shoots pretty well, if she can't punch as hard as a man. But which side is she on? I'll let you work that one out for yourself.

The French author David Khara has been a reporter and an athlete, and now devotes himself to writing thrillers and vampire stories. British-born translator Simon John has translated for the film industry before turning his hand to books. If you want a thriller full of violence with scenes shifting from today's New York to wartime Europe, THE BLEIBERG PROJECT will keep you on the edge of your seat.