In 1939 Newark, 15-year-old Bernie Rosen­baum wit­ness­es the bru­tal mur­der of his Jew­ish gang men­tors and exacts bloody revenge before flee­ing to Cana­da, assum­ing a new iden­ti­ty and join­ing 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 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. This sweep­ing nar­ra­tive explores the price of sur­vival and whether a killer’s soul can find redemption.