Shadow Trades (Barry Rosen, #1)

In 1939 Newark, a teenage boy's act of vengeance launches him on an odyssey of survival that will span continents and forever change his destiny.After witnessing the brutal murder of his Jewish gang mentors, 15-year-old Bernie Rosenbaum exacts bloody revenge and flees to Canada, assuming a new identity to join the fight against Nazi Germany. Through six years of war, he transforms from a street-wise kid into a hardened soldier, earning battlefield glory even as he loses everyone close to him. But when peace comes, Barry Rosen, as he's now known, finds he can't outrun his past—or his conflicted conscience. Can a man change his nature—or is violence the only prayer some souls know how to make?Stationed in occupied Germany, Barry builds a lucrative black market empire while wrestling with his Jewish identity and growing feelings for Rivka, a Holocaust survivor working in his camp. When Rivka's determination to reunite with her brother leads them into dangerous territory, Barry must choose between his growing faith, his chance at love, and the brutal skills that have kept him alive. From the gritty streets of pre-war Newark to the ruins of post-war Europe, this sweeping narrative explores the price of survival and whether a killer's soul can find redemption.For readers who loved the moral complexity of Dennis Lehane's crime epics and the historical depth of Alan Furst's war novels comes a razor-edged tale of identity, faith, and redemption set against the backdrop of humanity's darkest hour.