Pamela, like her brilliant father, German emigrant Russell Roth, exhibits from childhood a cool composure and a rare intellect. Although only a teenager, she in increasingly absorbed by the truth of her father's early life in wartime Germany. It is a past Russell never discuses.
As Pamela immerses herself in the history of World War II Germany and the Holocaust, her mother, Janet, alarmed at her daughter's obsession, turns for help to Otto Ebenstein. Otto is an old friend and a former teacher of Janet's. He is also a psychiatrist with an outstanding record for tracking down Nazi war criminals.
Pamela's youthful passion rekindles Otto's flagging devotion to the cause. When two ex-Nazis are found sexually assaulted and tortured to death, Otto begins to suspect Pamela of strange powers beyond his reckoning. He come to know Pamela and gains her trust. He studies the girl's secret files and materials on the Nazi period and on her father's career. His investigations lead him to an astonishing discovery.
With its chilling suspense, Death Knell is a breathtaking novel of retribution whose seed lies in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and whose shattering climax evokes memories of The Exorcist and Audrey Rose.
