The League of Night and Fog

Mortalis #3

by David Morrell

David Morrells international thrillers have no equal. Among his classic novels, this story stands as one of his most exciting and brilliant works a globe-spanning tale that brings together two generations of men and women bound by one murderous legacy. From the Vatican to the Swiss Alps, from Australia to the heartland of America, the two masterful operatives known as Saul and Drew are being drawn together to solve a violent riddle: Why have ten old men been abducted from around the world? When the agents, weary of their own covert wars, begin to investigate, they are pulled into a terrifying cycle of revenge that began in the heart of World War II and is now forcing sons to pay for their fathers darkest sins

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Espionage, Mystery Thriller, Adventure, Action

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

David Morrell is a Canadian novelist from Kitchener, Ontario, who has been living in the United States for a number of years. He is best known for his debut 1972 novel First Blood, which would later become a successful film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. More recently, he has been writing the Captain America comic books limited-series The Chosen.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what order I read this in last time compared to the others in the loose series, but this time I'm reading it third, after The Brotherhood of the Rose followed by The Fraternity Of The Stone. I hope it's better than the last one.

It was at least 3.5 stars. It was great having the characters from the last 2 books come together. The plot was fantastic, but very confusing for the first half of the book. No worries, Morrell slowly pulled the threads together into a very logical tapestry. It was a wild ride. Great 'bad' guys since some weren't particularly. Figuring out who was & wasn't as the story progressed was half the fun.

On the downside, I still don't care for Drew & there was a coincidence about him that was a bit hard to swallow.

From Morrell during a group read of some of his books:
"Mortalis" is the name of a Ballantine Books crime/suspense imprint. When THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE, THE FRATERNITY OF THE STONE, and THE LEAGUE OF NIGHT AND FOG were re-released a couple of years ago, readers got the impression that "Mortals" applies to the series. But it doesn't. It's just an accident of publishing. The three books are a trilogy. The idea was that the main characters of the first book and the second book would join forces in the third book, making it a double sequel. I originally thought about writing a fourth book in the series, but the theme of the books is "sons looking for fathers," and when my 15-year-old son Matthew died from a very rare bone cancer, I became a father looking for a son. The earlier theme no longer spoke to me. THE COVENANT OF THE FLAME features the Fraternity of the Stone from the middle book in the trilogy. It's sort of a cousin to the earlier books, which is why I used a similar title. There's a deliberate dangling plot element a the end of THE LEAGUE OF NIGHT AND FOG. I resolved it in a short story THE ABELARD SANCTION, which is available at the end of the current U.S. trade paperback edition of that book and in the e-version also.

I read the short story, so I still want to read The Covenant of the Flame.

4Mar2005: My original entry when I joined GR. No stars given.

The last of a loose series since the first 2 books feature different characters. Same world, but they don't interact much. Lots of angst, but a good conspiracy & plenty of action.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually I enjoy books in this genre, but The League of Night and Fog just didn't come through for me. The premise is a clear one, built around a loosely organized team searching desperately for the perpetrators of a series of kidnappings. All of the victims share a secret that dates back to WWII, being members of a crack unit dedicated to rescuing Jews from the Nazi death squad, The League of Night and Fog. Half a century later, it's up to the children of these men to rescue them, if they're still alive.

Strong beginning, but the book quickly slides into a repetitive cycle of mortal danger and narrow escapes. Apparently, the protagonist characters were previously developed in earlier novels, but in League, they come across as cardboard cutouts. At times, the action is interspersed with coy love scenes, and the dialogue tends toward the simplistic. The gruesome photographic evidence, with which to identify and implicate the war criminals, is described so frequently that it begins to lose its impact. Not surprisingly, the resolution is a satisfactory one, but much slogging through is required in order to arrive there.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story goes back to the Saul and Drew characters from THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE and THE FRATERNITY OF THE STONE.

In this tale both characters are drawn into another mystery when a large number of old men go missing. All appear to have been former Nazis.

I wouldn't say this one is as good as the other two, a slight notch down but not enough to dock it a star. To me, a straight three star means average.

Good pacing, fast read, likeable characters and some interesting fight scenes and thriller locations.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong start, slow middle that made me wonder if I should put it away, strong finish. Worth it. Seemed to leave an opening for a 4th book in the series but don't see a sequel. A throwback thriller to the age before cell phones. Fun. 3 Stars

[Tom S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stuff. This a really good series, the Vatican, CIA, secret religious organizations

[Martin Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The League of Night and Fog is the concluding novel in David Morrell's Mortalis trilogy that begins with The Brotherhood of the Rose followed by The Fraternity of the Stone. Morrell brings back two of the heroes from those earlier works: Saul, a Jewish former CIA operator from Brotherhood; and Drew; a former State Department assassin-turned-Catholic monk from Fraternity.

Both men are wrenched from the quiet lives they've retreated to and forced to re-enter the espionage game, each by a different network and for different purposes. Yet the mystery that each man must solve revolves around the same group of missing elderly men, including a high-ranking cardinal from the Vatican. In a complex plot with multiple red-herrings, Saul and Drew eventually uncover a plot seeking vengeance for crimes dating back to the horrors of WWII.

The Mortalis (Latin for "mortal") trilogy explores whether men of faith can commit horrible acts in the name of God or country, and still find salvation. The three books also look deeply into the relationship between father and child. This is a common theme in many of Morrell's books, the author having lost his own father in WWII as well as a young son to cancer. The League of Night and Fog, in particular, questions the legacies fathers leave their children -- both the legacies they want to leave, and those they don't.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'm sorry for your loss, david

tas is still great, though

p134: eyes widening, the woman rushed to a closet, removing a swiss-made sturmgewehr, or storm rifle. saul knew it well. the length of a carbine, it was chambered for nato's 7.62-mm caliber bullets. it had a fold-down tripod beneath the barrel and a rubber-coated stock that helped to lessen the force of the recoil.

p166: he now refused to go anywhere unless his mercedes was flanked front and back by protective vehicles.

[Terri Palermo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super action packed and twisty turn-y, this was a compelling read. How everything wound together was fascinating! Hard to read at points but so important to remember. I'll definitely be reading this series again.

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was an amazing book! Reads fast. Separate yet intertwining plot lines. It’s best to read this book after the first two books in the series, but this book can be read separately without losing too much context. But I’ve been reading for decades and can’t remember reading a book anything like this. An absolute must read for fans of thrillers!

[Tracy Smyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit confusing at the start but it all came together. A good read

[Jim A · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third of Morrell's Mortalis Trilogy. While some people might choose to read this as a stand alone, the important character development takes place in Brotherhood of the Rose (Saul) and Fraternity of the Stone (Drew). As other reviewers have mentioned, without the back story to these two main characters, the reader is going to be disappointed in those characters.

Overall it's a good story, with the story roots going back to WWII. Keep in mind that the book was written in 1987 when the credibility of the story was acceptable. Thinking about WWII and what fathers did during that war doesn't work if you think current times.

While the story leaves open the possibility of another book Morrell states he'd rather leave the characters as living things, continuing on, even if not in another novel. That thought works for me as well.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another espionage masterpiece from Morrell. Combining characters from his The Brotherhood of the Rose and The Fraternity of the Stone, he creates a complex story with many threads that neatly come together in the end. Have to admit it does have a lot of moving parts and at times I was losing the thread of the story but it does come together so well without any force feeding to dumb it down that you feel satisfied with it.

Highly recommended, it can be read alone but read Brotherhood and Fraternity first. I believe it adds so much to know the characters before you start this one. Also going backwards wouldn't be near as satisfying.

[Mike OConnor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it. Tried about 60 pages and gave up. Didn't like the story line, didn't like the writing. Don't like to start a book and not finish but couldn't find any reason to continue this one. Maybe I'll try again in the distant future. But I doubt it.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how the author took the main characters from two previous unrelated novels and brought them together for a combined sequel.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Noaptea cuţitelor lungi

O denumire inventată de nazişti, „Noaptea Cuţitelor Lungi”, se referă la evenimentele care au avut loc în noaptea de 30 iunie 1934 în Austria şi Germania. După ce a obţinut titlurile de cancelar şi dictator, Hitler nu mai avea de câştigat decât singura poziţie care îi oferea putere absolută asupra Germaniei – preşedinţia. Hotărât să înlăture toate obstacolele din cale, a zburat în taină la München… unde, însoţit de gărzile sale personale, l-a arestat sub ameninţarea armei pe principalul său rival şi fost prieten, Ernst Röhm. Röhm, şeful Cămăşilor Maron – o unitate paramilitară teroristă a partidului nazist, cunoscuţi oficial sub denumirea de „Sturmabteilung”… sau Trupe de şoc, SA pe scurt – căutând să-şi unească cei patru sute de mii de oameni cu armata germană şi, după aceea (aşa bănuia Hitler) să cucerească puterea asupra Germaniei. Nevrând să piardă sprijinul armatei şi nerăbdător să scape de rivali, Hitler i-a executat pe Röhm şi pe câţiva ofiţeri ambiţioşi din rândul Cămăşilor Maron.

Nefiind mulţumit cu jumătăţile de măsură, Führer-ul a decis să elimine şi alte ameninţări. În timp ce Röhm şi oamenii săi erau împuşcaţi la München, cei mai apropiaţi asociaţi ai lui Hitler, Himmler şi Göring făceau ceva asemănător la Berlin. Printre cei executaţi s-au aflat fostul cancelar al Germaniei, ofiţeri de poliţie şi oficialităţi de stat incomode şi, de asemenea, conducători cu alte păreri din cadrul partidului nazist. Mai târziu, Hitler a susţinut că şaptezeci şi şapte de trădători fuseseră ucişi cu scopul de a se împiedica o răsturnare a guvernului german. Supravieţuitorii au afirmat că numărul celor ucişi a fost de peste patru sute. Un proces postbelic care a avut loc la München a scos la iveală faptul că numărul a fost mult mai mare – de peste o mie.

„Noaptea Cuţitelor Lungi” are o dublă semnificaţie. Ca urmare a teroarei create, Hitler a obţinut, în final, titlul de preşedinte şi, ca lider suprem al Germaniei, şi-a ghidat naţiunea spre ororile celui de al doilea război mondial. Mai mult decât atât, faptul că folosea gărzi de corp pentru executarea rivalilor săi a făcut ca acel grup să devină cu timpul mai puternic decât teroriştii paramilitari ai lui Röhm. Treptat, numărul gărzilor a ajuns să depăşească un milion. Aşa cum Cămăşile Maron, „Sturmabteilung”… sau Trupele de Şoc, erau cunoscuţi sub iniţialele SA, Cămăşile Negre ale lui Hitler, „Schutzstaffel”… ori garda de elită, erau cunoscuţi după iniţialele unităţii lor. Dar, spre deosebire de SA, iniţiale de care foarte puţini îşi mai amintesc astăzi, cele ale Cămăşilor Negre rămân sinonime cu teroarea. Sâsâitul şarpelui. Sunetul diavolului. SS.

[Alexander Engel-Hodgkinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.3/5

This has a decent concept behind it, with Jewish vengeance and a conspiracy involving Nazis and the Church, but its execution, I find, was extremely poor. The pace lags incredibly, the characters feel one-note even though this is the third book in a trilogy, and the climax in which this whole ordeal culminates to is extremely unsatisfying. Overall I'm just very disappointed with how it ended.

Maybe it's because I've read nine books by Morrell in the span of eight months. Aside from his Rambo novels, Morrell has followed an established formula almost to a T with each novel I've read from him, and at this point, it's worn out its welcome with me, I suppose. The second half of this novel was a giant slog for me to get through once I'd entered territory I'd already become familiar with in five other Morrell novels before this one. He sticks strictly to his formula here, and if anything it does what plot there is a disservice.

The pacing is a mess. The first thirty pages are dedicated to a long history lesson about things that the characters will be discussing at length throughout the novel anyway. A large portion of the novel is spent with characters trying to figure out why they're being attacked by a certain group that never gets resolved, as if Morrell wrote himself in a corner and just decided he'd leave it to a single line on the final page: "Whoever they are, let the bastards come." Okay then... feels contrived and lazy to me, especially for what is supposed to be the final installment.

When there are answers to the questions presented by this conspiracy of disappearances, they are underwhelming, often logically implausible, even for a conspiracy espionage thriller. The way things are stretched out, with unnecessary details (the opening history lesson, the extensive reference to a religion Morrell doesn't explore until about four years later in Covenant of the Flame, the two assassins who contribute almost nothing to the overall story except as a convenient stepping stone) I feel like Morrell could've easily shaved off a hundred pages (at least) to tighten up the whole affair. As it is now, League of Night and Fog was a nightmarish slog with horrible pacing and strangely two-dimensional characters that just aren't that interesting.

[Bernd Velling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well what started out as a great story based on the text on the back ( didn’t read the other two of the series ) turned out to be rather confusing at some point and left a lot of open questions that could have been exploited better in favor of the story.
Plus one of the key elements of the story the team work of the two protagonists doesn’t happen until two thirds into the book.
The “big threat” to Israel that is talked about at length turns out to be an arms laden freighter on its way to Lybia.
I mean really that’s it ? It could have been so much more. If you delve into this kind of past and talk about what I consider is the epitome of evil then do it right.
Still three stars for the workmanship of the novel. It is fast paced and reads well.
I don’t know if the antagonists ( the sons of two Nazi assassins) have been tales about in prior novels but they remain awfully one dimensional throughout the book. Again could have been done better.
So
Easy popcorn read unfortunately a loss of a potentially amazing story.

[Walt Trachim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is third book of David Morrell’s “Mortalis” trilogy. I initially read this approximately 30 years ago, and I recently listened to it in audio book format.

Of the three books, this by far is my personal favorite for a couple of different reasons. First, it ties up a lot of loose ends created in the two previous books in the trilogy. Second, without giving anything away, it takes two stories and combines them together. It’s not necessarily the neatest merger of stories, but it is done with reasonable effect. Finally, the ending is satisfying. I liked what the author did to put it to bed.

The audio book performances in all three books were a bit rough, but they were acceptable.

Overall, I recommend this book as well as the trilogy overall.

[Zac Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but it was not very exciting for me. I’m a bit too picky though with writing style. The author gave the audience just enough information to know what was going on, this did a good job for pacing but left myself wanting to know more about the characters.

I did, however, read the third one only.

It seemed to me like all the characters were the same. They had the same voice but were in different situations throughout the book until the end. This and not reading the first two books kind of threw me off while reading it.

Overall, I did care for the story, it was just hard to get into.

[Greg Schloesser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third in the spy series from author David Morrell. I picked-up the series with book two, which introduces the hero Saul and his to-be wife Erika. The story continues here, where they get sucked into a plot by vengeful Jewish men who desire to make former Nazi concentration camp officials pay for their crimes. It also draws in Drew, the spy introduced in the first book (which I have not read).

The plot is quite complex at first, but ultimately does come together. The heroes are not as invincible as they were in Book 2, which makes it a bit more satisying. Not sure if I need to go back and read book one, however.

[Michael Fredette · Rating 4 out of 5]

With settings in an Israeli settlement, Vienna, Zurich, Mexico City, Vatican City, The League of Night & Fog is an international thriller by David Morrell, author of First Blood. The conclusion of a trilogy (originally planned as a quartet; but the aborted fourth book, with a plot line involving the Israeli couple, Saul & Erika’s son being killed by a Hamas bomb was too emotionally raw, after the tragic death of Morrell’s son, from a rare form of cancer), involves fugitive Nazi war criminals, a retired Mossad agent (and Dachu survivor) plotting revenge and more.

[Zach Franz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid finale to the 'Mortalis' trilogy. It was fun to see the heroes of the first and second books, respectively, come together--a very nice touch by Morrell.

As for the writing itself, he puts too much exposition in his characters' dialogue and often comes across as overly grave and dramatic (such were the eighties, I suppose). However, he balances these shortcomings with excellent attention to detail and an admirably tight narrative. There are far too many thrillers that end up 10o pages longer than they need to be; this is not one of them.

[Judith Shadford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 1987, LONG before Murder as a Fine Art (2013), Morrell was just writing thrillers. (Apparently he was the original creator of Rambo!) Lots of violence and gore, a few nice people with hair-breadth escapes from three sets of bad guys including a cult within the Vatican, old Jews torturing Nazi death camp leaders, second-generation Jews blackmailing to fund Israeli armaments, bouncing all over the map. None of the delicacy and thoughtful intricacies of the twisted life of Thomas de Quincy. Recommendation--read the later stuff. Not the early. Unless you like thrillers.

[Finley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book without knowing there were two others to precede it, but all the same it was amazing! Morrell managed to make sure the reader was caught up on each of the characters' backstories without being obvious or long-winded, which made it a smooth read overall, regardless of whether you read the other books or not.

Morrell's writing style really suits mystery/thrillers, and the way he organized the story to fill the audience in alongside the characters was so satisfying and intriguing that it was so hard to put the book down.

[Steven Howes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has an interesting plot line and cast of characters; but I have to say I found it incredibly complex and hard to follow. Given the number of characters from several different generations and backgrounds, real names and code names, and its length, I found it to be a hard slog to get through it. In places it was very interesting, especially some of the historical information from World War II, but some of it was somewhat boring as well.

[Johan Rehnstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed David Morrell’s Abelard Sanction trilogy when I was younger. It is not as good now when I am a little less young. But still, the story, characters and the action is pretty good. It is a fast paced international thriller with lots of action, so not a bad read when you are on a long haul flight, for example. There are a few silly character relations the reader has to oversee though.

[Paula J · Rating 5 out of 5]

End of a Trilogy

I read this trilogy based on another author’s mention of it being the original spy thriller. There are victories and losses throughout, and I wish there was more in the series. The author somewhat explains why he did not continue the series, so it leaves a lot to the imagination. If you like “spy stuff,” these books may be for you! So glad I discovered them - now I want to read First Blood.

[Bob Wasserman · Rating 4 out of 5]

And here we come to the end of a trilogy I didn't even know was more than the one book I really enjoyed. Great story arc, great combination of characters and evolution of a complex web of intricacy. Very enjoyable and well written. It even included a post-script short that continued to wrap things up.

[Gwen Kozlowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent mystery

I didn't look at the publication date before I bought this so it was a little disconcerting to read a n "older" story a la early Jack Reacher. The story was interesting if pretty unbelievable. Not enough to make me continue reading the series but not a waste of time either.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intriguing premise peopled with one dimensional characters. Park your belief at the door and sit down for a few hours of thriller/espionage stupid movie reading. I did not expect this to be great lit but honestly, so dumb I kinda want those hours of my life back. I should have skipped to the end.