BEFORE THE COURT OF HEAVEN, Jack Mayer's second book and his first novel, is historical fiction about the redemption of Ernst Techow, a young fascist assassin during the tumultuous years between WW. I and WW II.  Based on a true story Inspired by a Yom Kippur sermon about turning from evil, this novel is a literary history of inter-war Germany, a thriller, and the tender love story of Ernst and Lisa.    Dr. Mayer is a pediatrician and writer living in Vermont.  His first book, LIFE IN A JAR: THE IRENA SENDLER PROJECT, the non-fiction account of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who saved 2,500 Jewish children in the Warsaw ghetto, and the three Kansas teens who rescued her forgotten story 60 years later, has garnered 9 book awards. 

Praise for BEFORE THE COURT OF HEAVEN

a novel by Jack Mayer

Mom’s Choice Award - Gold Medal – 2015 – Historical Fiction

Pinnacle Book Achievement Award - Best Novel Fall 2015

A Best Indie Book of 2015 – IndieReader (5-stars)

Shelf Unbound – Notable Indie – 2015 Best Indie Books.

“This is a brilliantly-written tale of internal struggle and redemption in a time of great social and political upheaval. The author does a chillingly good job of illustrating just how seductive the nationalist message was in a beaten and humiliated Germany, how it used and twisted values like patriotism, loyalty and honor to win over people who oth­erwise might have lived out their lives as ordinary, decent, humane people. Before the Court of Heaven is a powerful, intensely vivid look at Europe between the World Wars, and one man’s attempt to make sense of his life, his deeds, and their meaning, to himself and to others.” – IndieReader 5-star Review

“Haunting echoes of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and Irwin Shaw’s The Young Lions waft through this excellent novel of the turbulent times encompassing Europe and the far reaches of the globe between World Wars I and II. Similar to those groundbreaking tales, Mayer’s story is most concerned with lives rent asunder by historically catastrophic events. By keeping his focus on a small set of human beings caught up in the upheaval of entire populations, he is able to weave a narrative that is as poignant as it is riveting.

The author does a superb job of pulling readers into Ernst’s hopes and fears as he grapples with familial obligations, divided loyalties, and trials by fire and by courts both earthly and heavenly. Mayer’s sweeping saga is simultaneously a compelling chronicle of history, a gripping tale of high adventure, and an enthralling love story in the classic tradition. If such fare whets your literary appetite, you’ll be glad you indulged.”- RECOMMENDED by the US Review of Books

“Jack Mayer has written a strong affecting novel that offers an arresting portrait of a deeply troubled time.  His evocations of Ernst Werner Techow and other historical figures are beautifully and thoughtfully rendered.  He has a remarkable grasp of period details, and he used these details to create an atmosphere of dense particularity and clarity.  This is a story of immense human failure and touching redemption, and it stands among the finer recent portrayals  n fiction of the most troubling era of modern history.  Mayer’s novel should have a widely sympathetic readership.  I recommend Before the Court of Heaven whole-heartedly.”- Jay Parini

“Period details come to life through grand-scale revolution as well as domestic minutia in this captivating story of Germany between the wars.

Ernst Werner Techow, a member of Germany’s underground Organization Consul, was the driver of the getaway car in the assassination of Walter Rathenau, a prominent Jewish statesman and foreign minister of Germany during the Weimar Republic. In Jack Mayer’s historical novel, Techow is the fascinating central figure whose story is deftly embellished. Before the Court of Heaven displays a remarkable talent for imagining the unknowable parts of Techow’s psyche.

The book begins with the 1922 crime, then circles through Techow’s memories of a privileged upbringing: his days in the Free Corps after the First World War; his insidious, almost natural recruitment into the terrorist Organization Consul; trial and imprisonment; disillusionment with the Vaterland; the rise of the Nazi party; and, briefly, Techow’s work rescuing refugees during the Second World War.

Threaded with impressionist art, romance, brutality, and self-reckoning, the plot darts between Techow’s private life, his increasing ambivalence regarding his role in the politics of his country, and the larger story of ordinary Germans who confronted the aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles in different ways. Period details come to life through grand-scale revolution as well as domestic minutia. When the story departs from the facts of the real Techow’s life, a courageous alternative blooms.

Techow is humanized through lingering scenes. Salient images from his early years—including golden laburnum trees and trips to the museum with his father—strike poignant notes of a fading civilized life. Techow’s love for art and a Jewish poet’s words also play against the expectations of the Organization Consul. The book steadily builds intriguing polarities in Techow’s nature: on one side lies an appreciation for beauty; on the other, a cold detachment fueled by loss. Such troubled currents keep the work moving. Mayer wisely avoids drawing a straight line from the pains of Techow’s childhood to his involvement in the nationalist movement. Instead, the hardening of his character unfolds in gradual increments. Techow becomes more than a criminal swept up in rhetoric.

Other noteworthy figures include Lisa, Techow’s distant lover, and Fritz, a friend and foil whose path takes increasingly disturbing turns. Leo and Hans Gerd, Techow’s brothers, reveal the divisions within families through their reactions to politics. Puck, a fellow inmate whose eccentric brand of intellectualism beguiles, is particularly memorable. As the man who challenges Techow in his darkest moments, Puck is a pivotal, complex character with provocative dialogue.

Before the Court of Heaven is a distinctive story poised between the drama of a Damascene conversion and a quieter, steadier about-face. Violence and atonement meld with affecting results.

 Period details come to life through this captivating story of Germany between the wars. Period details come to life through grand-scale revolution as well as domestic minutia. When the story departs from the facts of the real Techow’s life, a courageous alternative blooms.  Before the Court of Heaven is a distinctive story poised between the drama of a Damascene conversion and a quieter, steadier about-face. Violence and atonement meld with affecting results.” - 5-Star Clarion Review

“Before the Court of Heaven is a compelling work of historical fiction, a novel set in post-World War I Germany and in Europe during the Second World War. Jack Mayer patiently and effectively conveys the political evolution of Ernst Werner Techow, a young, anti-Semitic ultra-nationalist involved in the Freikorps movement and the 1922 assassination of Walter Rathenau, during the interwar years and World War II. Within a detailed historical context of those troubled times in Germany and throughout Europe, Mayer traces that evolution to Techow’s later role as an anti-Nazi and wanted fugitive from the Third Reich in the late 1930s, and in the end as a rescuer