Young Blockführer Gottschalk, ambitious, ambiguous, has set his mind on achieving what his crooked-legged father never could: to become a distinguished officer in the SS. One December evening, an unsigned letter reaches him in his barracks. He is summoned to the camp commander’s eerie hill-top mansion to partake in a high-risk card game with some SS big shots. The game could mean a boost for Gottschalk’s career, but whoever loses the game must face the consequences. As the game reaches its climax, Gottschalk has to overcome his fears and objections to survive. But there is another game going on here, parallel to Gottschalk’s. One that involves you, the reader. To what degree are your thoughts and emotions determined by previous reading experience? Whom will you loathe or sympathise with when a novel is built without a moral blueprint? And how do hackneyed holocaust visuals shape your involvement as a reader?