August 13, 2018
The disappearance in 1942 of a page from a secret document concerning Operation Torch—the Allied plan to invade French North Africa—drives Dyer’s suspenseful espionage thriller, a series debut. The prologue depicts an unknown man’s theft of page 117 from the U.S. Army Air Forces Film Lab in London, where the document was to be transferred to microfilm. The crime threatens the Allies’ grand plan to divert German military resources from the Eastern Front, thus easing pressure on the Soviets. Its discovery leads OSS founder Wild Bill Donovan to tap Conor Thorn, an operative whose superior is unsure whether he’s an “asset or liability,” to recover it, in partnership with an attractive MI6 agent, Emily Bright. Dyer’s plausible portrayals of such historical figures as Winston Churchill, Hedy Lamarr, Ian Fleming, and Kim Philby are a testament to the diligence of his research and a good indicator that he’ll successfully develop his main character in future books. Jack Higgins fans will find a lot to like.