Publisher's Weekly Review
Rosenheim's outstanding third Jimmy Nessheim novel (following 2013's The Little Tokyo Informant) combines a crackerjack plot and multiple nuanced characters with a convincing portrayal of WWII America. Nessheim has left his life as an FBI agent behind to pursue his law studies in Chicago, but his mentor and friend, Harry Guttman, pulls him back into the world of espionage. Gen. Leslie Groves, who has just been placed in charge of what will become known as the Manhattan Project, fears that Nazis have infiltrated the Chicago location of the enterprise. Groves wants Nessheim to go undercover, an assignment that's even more high-risk given that it's to be a secret even from FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The operative, who's bored by law school, is soon working with scientist Enrico Fermi to identify any security weaknesses at the huge laboratory, which is located at an unused football stadium. The dramatic twists work to propel the plot to a powerful and moving conclusion. Fans of Joseph Kanon's thrillers of the same period will find a lot to like. Agent: Gillon Aitken, Aitken Alexander Associates. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
In 1942, FBI Agent Jimmy Nessheim is on leave from the Bureau to study law at the University of Chicago. Disgusted by imperious J. Edgar Hoover's machinations, Jimmy is relieved to be out. He's also smitten with Stacey Madison, an old love, who turns up in his torts class. But Harry Guttman, his old FBI mentor, and General Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, intercede, and Jimmy is tasked with ensuring the secrecy of the atomic pile being constructed under the university's football field. As in previous Nessheim novels (The Little Tokyo Informant, 2013), Rosenheim excels in sketching place and time in this case, wartime Chicago, where, for the first time in years, everyone has a job and money in their pockets, but rationing means there is little to buy. Too many plot convolutions, exacerbated by elaborate subplots, such as the 1940 murder of Leon Trotsky in Mexico and the efforts of Clyde Tolson (Hoover's number two) to compromise Guttman, slow the narrative considerably. Still, the vividly rendered setting and the strong central character provide plenty of appeal for readers interested in the period.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2016 Booklist
