The Ratline

By Philip Stengel

THE RATLINE
Berlin is burning. The escape route is still running.

In the ruins of 1945 Berlin, Dr. Hartmann gives a defeated leader a new name and a token that opens doors without leaving proof.

New York City, October 1978: reporter Elliot Crane finds an unmarked envelope waiting on his desk, placed with care and meant to be opened. Inside is a photograph, a card, and that same coin, evidence that the ratline was never a rumor, it was an agreement built on fear, greed, and silence.

When survivor-investigator Marianne Vogel names the destination, Bariloche, and explains what the coin really buys, Elliot realizes he has touched something real, and someone wants him dead for it. With Susan at his side and a shadow car keeping time behind them, he follows the trail into a living network that would rather erase witnesses than let the door close.

The Ratline is an investigative conspiracy thriller about identity laundering, buried proof, and the cost of dragging history into the light.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GJQ6S49F
• ISBN13: 9798245507507
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"