This is the story of Ben Solomon, Holocaust survivor, who immigrates to the United States with his wife Hanna after WW II and makes a nice middle class life for himself in Chicago. A few years after he retires, he realizes that Elliott Rosenzweig, a Chicago millionaire and philanthropist, is a former Nazi official and boyhood friend. The rest of the novel describes his attempt to bring Rosenzwieg to justice. Ben convinces Katherine Lockhart, a fledgling lawyer for a big law firm, to take his case. He learns about her from a good friend, a local private investigator. After Katherine hears Ben's story of the Nazi occupation and Rosenzweig's participation, she agrees to take his case.
A good part of the book is a flashback, the story of Ben's life in Poland, before and after the arrival of the Nazis. The latter third is about the attempts to bring Elliott to justice and because of Elliott's status and wealthy friends, it becomes difficult. For example, Elliott's lawyer speaks to Katherine's boss and she loses her job. He also bribes a judge to throw out the case. In spite of all these obstacles, the reader can guess who wins, who loses, and what lawyer and PI fall in love. An easy, very readable book, with lots of depressing episodes from Ben's life as a Polish Jew during the war. It's hard to believe that anyone could treat another human being in such a inhuman way. And even harder to believe that anyone could survive the inhumanity of the camps...the real miracle.
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