Leonard Scott's extraordinary first novel, Charlie Mike, was hailed by The Washington Post as "one of the finest novels yet written about the war in Vietnam." With several more highly praised novels to his credit, Leonard Scott now moves beyond Vietnam with a daring story of war and revenge that carries us from the second World War to the present. Centered on Berlin, The Iron Men tells of men who wear the Iron Cross and uphold the tradition of duty and honor.It is the end of WWII and Germany is falling. Axel Mader and Jorn Furman are young paratroop officers and recipients of the Knight's Cross, Germany's highest class of Iron Cross. Axel and Jorn's unit is falling back to defend Berlin before the advance of the Russian army. But a unit of the SS has been ordered to shoot any German soldiers who retreat and SS Captain Horst Volker gives the order to open fire. Axel and Jorn escape but vow to avenge the comrades they loved, now dead.As Germany enters its tumultuous post-war era, we follow Horst Volker as he becomes the most powerful and ruthless leader within Stasi, the infamous East German secret police. We also follow the lives of Axel and Jorn, one in West Germany and one caught in the East.But their fates will be entangled with a soldier of the new generation. Jake Tallon, a washed-up American lieutenant colonel, is assigned to Berlin with the hope that he can save his career. When he falls in love with Kris, Axel Mader's daughter, he finds that he has something else in common with her father. Jake too, is an iron man, for he wears the Distinguished Service Cross he earned for valor as a platoon leader in Vietnam.It will now be three iron men who join together in Berlin just before the fall of the Wall, to confront Horst Volker and the legacy of the past....Filled with the superbly described action and understanding of the fighting man that have won Leonard Scott both wide critical acclaim and a huge readership, The Iron Men is an exciting breakthrough, a stirring novel about men and honor. Read Less