Eight stars
First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Graham Moore, and Random House for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.
Back with another piece of historical fiction, Graham Moore takes the reader on an adventure to begin the Second World War. While I tend to steer clear of this era, Moore’s US flavoring and keeping things out of the European theatre had me curious to dive in and push forward. Well presented with great dialogue, Moore impresses as he inches things along.
As European tensions mount and the Nazi Party appears to be pushing its troops across the continent, Ansel Luxford wonders what will happen. Seeing a Nazi rally in his own state, the tax attorney can only hope that the beautiful wife and new baby he has at home will be enough to distract him from the horrors that are being reported. Yet, the US Government has promised to stay neutral, thereby solidifying the position with the population, as war seems all but inevitable across the Atlantic.
After being approached late one evening, Luxford is offered a position within the Treasury Department, one of many secrets in an attempt to push the Americans into the fray of the war, while staying silently on the sidelines. With the teasing of a Washington job and a chance to crush the Nazis under their own jackboots, Ansel Luxford brings his family with him to the nation’s capital to make a difference, though he is still unsure how. What will work to cripple the Nazis and their ongoing march across Europe without firing a bullet?
Once Luxford is settled, he discovers that the team on which he is assigned will be working a campaign of economic warfare, whereby the mighty dollar will be used to block weapons, leave food shares stagnant, and send budgets out the door. Money is the fuel that keeps the fighting going and to turn off the spigot is one way to ensure that things will end soon. An added bonus, it gets no blood—literal and figurative—on the hands of the US Government, as long as it is done in private. Ansel Luxford will have to work under the radar and cross the country (and the world) to ensure the traps are laid, while the Germans feel they can mount an attack on the weaker European nations, in hopes of ultimate success.
With all this action comes risk and Ansel Luxford will soon come across those who would wish to thwart the attempts at American success. He will have to be careful, particularly when his wife takes a job with the FBI to find these spies, sending his secret mission from a Washington boardroom into his own home. A chilling story of trying to pull single blocks out of the massive financial edifice known as the German economy and hoping that everything comes crashing down, without an accusation in his direction. Moore presents a brilliant piece that has all the elements of a great novel.
In a story so heavy with history, the reader has to expect a strong narrative to keep things moving. Graham Moore delivers, using his skills and short chapters to push the story forward and keep the reader eager to keep flipping pages. The central themes emerge against the backdrop of historic events, with Moore basing much of the piece on an actual person and his struggles to cripple the Third Reich from US soil. The characters are relevant for the time period and yet relate to the modern reader with ease. I am pleased to see a new war angle and am happy to have taken the time to read this Moore novel.
Plot lines have a harder way of surprising the reader when history is so heavily involved in the piece. The attentive reader will know where things are going, but Moore peppers in some twists that keep things impactful and well-developed. Surprises prove plentiful and useful, leaving the reader eager to forge onward and learn, while wondering where the fact ends and fiction commences. Moore did well with this piece and kept me eager to watch put for more books before too long.
Kudos, Mr. Moore, for a great piece that has all the elements for success.
Book Reviews to Ponder 