Thomas Mullen's newest historical fiction, which will be out in February 2024, is both highly entertaining and a revealing account of anti-war sentiment, Fascism and anti-Semitism in the United States during World War II. Set in Boston, where Irish Catholics ruled, this is also a story about a city tainted by dirty cops. Main characters Devon Mulvey, FBI agent, and Anne Lemire, investigative reporter and activist, knew each other from childhood, and they run into each other again as they both end up investigating a host of acts of discrimination, crime and sedition in Boston. Their attraction is challenged by their working at cross-purposes--wanting the same things but needing to get there in different ways.
For those who didn't live through the war years and are not students of that era, some of the events of that time may come as a complete shock, and Mullen's strong suit is that he can thread all these elements through the story in interesting and often suspenseful ways. Reporters being shut down for revealing information, young men enlisting before their 18th birthdays, employees at munitions factories stealing arms for private militias, Jewish citizens being attacked for their religious beliefs, are some of the plot points.
It needs to be noted that Mullen puts all this together skillfully and that main characters are neither heroes nor completely flawed and that the police department has members that are not on the take or willing to turn a blind eye to injustices. He shows how complicated it all is, how family ties sometimes weigh heavily on people, and how doing the right thing has dramatic consequences.
His novel is based loosely on historic events in Boston during the war, and he explains what it true and what is a mixture of things that happened. A lengthy bibliography is helpful to readers who want more background.
A strong contender for book discussion groups, this novel is a reminder that history can and does repeat itself.
