I just finished his mammoth (724 pages) WWII thriller, The Unlikely Spy, by Daniel Silva, who has been favorably compared to Ken Follett and Robert Harris as a writer of spy fiction. The story takes place in the U.S., U.K. and Germany from the late 1930s to the landings in Normandy. Some of the characters—Winston Churchill and German spymaster Admiral William Canaris—are taken from the history books.
The Allies are preparing to build the British-designed Mulberry Harbors, artificial harbors for unload
ing men and materials from ships to support the Normandy invasion. But how do you hide massive concrete platforms from the prying eyes of Nazi spies and aerial reconnaissance? That is the problem facing British MI-6 and SHAEF. If you ever travel to Normandy you can see remnants of these artificial harbors in Arromanches and its museum.
The action goes back and forth from the U.S. to Germany to England, where Canaris’ sleeper network of spies awaits and then carries out its mission. There are double agents and double crosses to satisfy the most avid WWII spy-thriller fan. Good guys and bad guys die as the agents of good and evil make their moves and countermoves.
Go! Buy! Read!
—Jim Harris, retired book sales rep to NW indies
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