Yarn in 1943 draws parallels to today
It’s 1943, a quarter century after the armistice that ended the Great War, and Americans are once again fighting in foreign lands, battling the ascendant Empire of Japan and confronting Germany’s Afrika Corp.
The country had been divided over whether to enter the war. Isolationists opposed sacrificing American lives to save the democracies of Western Europe. And thousands of Nazi sympathizers openly trumpeted support for Adolf Hitler.
In Boston, antisemitism, racism and xenophobia ran rampant. Yankee Protestants despised the city’s teeming population of Irish immigrants. And the Irish saw no reason why their adopted country should come to the aid of England, which had long oppressed their ancestral land. Such is the setting for Thomas Mullen’s “The Rumor Game,” a disturbing yarn about a divided, rumor-riddled nation that offers apt but unstated parallels to present-day America.
The plot is driven by Anne Lemire, a reporter for the Boston Star, and Devon Mulvey, an FBI agent assigned to protect war production from infiltration and sabotage.
Lemire writes a column debunking the flood of Nazi propaganda and other destructive rumors flooding the city. A rumor that Jews had manipulated America into the war spawns violent attacks in Jewish neighborhoods by Irish gangs. Meanwhile, Mulvey struggles to unravel a mystery that includes a murder and the theft of military rifles from a Boston munitions plant.
Both are obstructed by the Irish-dominated Boston police, the pro-Nazi Christian League and federal officials who think left-wing agitators pose a greater threat. Mulvey and
Lemire join forces as their investigations merge.
Mullen’s novel draws heavily on research, as evident by the historical sources cited in an author’s note. The tale begins as a slow burn and then races at a breakneck pace to a dramatic conclusion.
The writing is tight, and most characters are welldrawn. The lone misstep is a romance between Lemire and Mulvey, which lacks credibility and adds little to the plot. — Bruce DeSilva, Associated Press
In 1934, Nina hosts a dinner party. She’s 14,
trying on womanhood for the first time, and even the drunken foolery of Guy Nicholson can’t outweigh the growing importance of his gaze. Before she knows it, she’s smitten.
“The Woman in the Sable Coat” primarily takes place in a village outside of English author Elizabeth Brooks’ native Chester. And, recalling elements from her previous novels, women take the spotlight in family dramas backlit by World War II with flickers toward thriller or mystery as chapters flip between Guy’s wife, Kate, in the first person, and Nina in the third.
Years after that dinner party, when war is declared, Nina follows
Guy to the Royal Air Force by joining the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. It takes a while, but she gets her chance — her leaving behind her widower father and a string of boyfriends claimed by the war; him leaving behind a doomed marriage and a son. Kate diverts her worried thoughts toward Nina’s father, who may know more about the town’s secrets than he lets on.
What unfolds next is a surprising series of turns that chip away at murky pasts and half-truths until everything is finally revealed. While full of rewarding surprises, the book is truly made by Brooks’ voice, in which every word has value and helps shape the exact texture of the moment.
The story’s an exceptionally vivid picture, both of scenery and the inner workings of the characters’ minds. Emotions and motives are painted with rich colors that draw your eye to the most delicious details. A tale of betrayal and unlikely friendships, the novel blends WWII fiction with idyllic romance drama and a touch of macabre thriller for a polished addition to Brooks’ works. — Donna Edwards, Associated Press