Lawrence Block and Harold King: Code of Arms (USA 1982)

From the Publisher:
ONE MAN STANDS BETWEEN HITLER AND ENGLAND.
ONE AMERICAN...
Ted Campbell.
Aviator. American. Pacifist. Drawn into a daring counterplot against Hitler's planned invasion of Britain. Confronted by Rudolf Hess, master Nazi and potential English spy. Challenged by Johann Regenbauer, SS officer who must let nothing stand in the way of the mighty German blitz. Loved by Kate Buchanan, war correspondent and underground fighter, who propels •Campbell toward the most fateful decision of his life and one of the most breathtakingly defiant acts of World War II...

Lawrence Block and Harold King: Code of Arms. The New Thriller About the Ultimate Nazi Horror. Berkley Books, ISBN: 0425054934 (September, 1982), 405 p., $2.95.

Lawrence Block and Harold King: Code of Arms (USA 1981)

From the Publisher:
IT IS 1940. The British, having survived Dunkirk, are braced for the invasion of their homeland that is surely coming. Unquestionably, their heroic stand is doomed in the face of an enemy whose superiority crushed the armies of three countries in less than thirty days. But there is a man in Europe destined to challenge the course of history.

Ted Campbell is an American flyer and aircraft designer who fanatically clings to his neutrality. With aircraft plants in Germany and family ties in Britain, this pacifist son of a World War I flying hero finds it much more convenient to ignore the torment of nations.

Inevitably, Campbell's serenity disintegrates and he is drawn into a world of shadows and treachery. Caught in the middle of a precarious alliance -- code-named Pythagoras -- between British intelligence and anti-Hitler factions within the hierarchy of the German Reich, Campbell is ultimately compelled to save the conspiracy in order to save himself.

Set in motion on a frigid December night in Buckinghamshire and spiced with intrigue that calls for making Rudolf Hess a British spy, the plotentwines Campbell, trapping him in a desperate maze that focuses on the brutality and vanities of espionage until he strikes back in unconditional rage to protect the woman he loves. Kate Buchanan is that woman, a fiery, self-determined war correspondent in Berlin who years ago had ended their relationship and is now secretly dedicated to the Communist underground. Her destiny is linked to Campbell's through her current lover, Johann Regenbauer, a sadistic and ambitious SS counterintelligence officer who is methodically tracking down Pythagoras bases.

And so the characters are in place for one of the most chilling dramas ever set against the tapestry of war. But Code of Arms is more than fictional suspense and breathtaking action. It is an astonishing love story that will grip any reader with a compassionate heart. It is fact combined with fiction in a volatile mix that will leave no reader unmoved or unshaken until the explosive climax.

LAWRENCE BLOCK is the author of several novels, including Ariel and The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza. He lives in New York City. HAROLD KING is the author of the best seller Closing Ceremonies. He lives with his family in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Lawrence Block and Harold King: Code of Arms. A Novel. Richard Marek Publishers, ISBN: 0399900292 (April, 1981), 441 p., $12.95.