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The Informant
- Author
- Andrew Rosenheim
- Narrator
- John Chancer
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 20 June 2013
- Run Time
- 12 hours 33 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Los Angeles, September 1941.
With the Nazis occupying Europe, and their armies now halfway across Russia, America hovers on the brink of war. Tensions are also rising in the Far East, and in California fears grow of a Pacific Coast invasion. There is mounting anxiety about the loyalty of the state’s own Japanese population.
But back in Washington D.C., Director J. Edgar Hoover is more concerned about promoting the image of the FBI than about preparing for war, and dispatches Special Agent Nessheim to Hollywood to help make pro-FBI movies.
Then in a clandestine meeting with Nessheim’s boss, Harry Guttman, a State Department official reveals that he has been asked by the Russians to pass on classified information. Guttman uncovers a California connection to this espionage attempt, and assigns Nessheim to investigate.
Nessheim’s mission is complicated by the disappearance of his key informant, Billy Osaka. Other people are looking for Osaka too. The search for him takes Nessheim to a studio head’s mansion in Beverly Hills, a high-class gambling club, LA’s Little Tokyo, and the Santa Barbara ranch of wealthy Communist sympathisers. With his own life under threat, Nessheim discovers a deadly conspiracy designed to push America into the War.
Set in the last remaining months of peace, The Informant is a gripping thriller, immersed in the history it vividly depicts of a country poised between great power . . . and great danger.
Critics Review
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A thrilling storyline and vivid descriptions
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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Andrew Rosenheim’s The Informant is a stylish, ingenious thriller. This is compelling and intelligent fiction, laden with tension and suspense.
Jim Crace, author of this year's Booker long-listed novel, Harvest
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An elegant story . . . [it is] laced with fine period detail, awareness of the institutional duplicity of Hoover’s FBI and a fine ear for dialogue
Daily Mail
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The ghosts of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler loom large here, as do the classic films Chinatown and Casablanca, lending Rosenheim’s prose a velvety texture.
Kirkus Reviews
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Andrew Rosenheim’s The Informant is a wonderfully intelligent and beautifully written historical thriller — I can’t wait for the next installment in the series!
Max Byrd, author of The Paris Deadline and California Thriller
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Rosenheim was hailed by the Independent as the 'successor to Frederick Forsyth' and this is certainly a cool thriller, almost noir-like, shady and uncertain . . . The prose is taut and muscular, masculine even. It holds your attention and it's easy to turn the page.
Oxford Mail
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Andrew Rosenheim
- Narrator
- John Chancer
- Duration
- 12 hours 33 minutes
- Release Date
- 20 June 2013
- ISBN
- 9781448179039
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Second World War fiction, Espionage and spy thriller
Synopsis
Los Angeles, September 1941.With the Nazis occupying Europe, and their armies now halfway across Russia, America hovers on the brink of war. Tensions are also rising in the Far East, and in California fears grow of a Pacific Coast invasion. There is mounting anxiety about the loyalty of the state’s own Japanese population. But back in Washington D.C., Director J. Edgar Hoover is more concerned about promoting the image of the FBI than about preparing for war, and dispatches Special Agent Nessheim to Hollywood to help make pro-FBI movies.Then in a clandestine meeting with Nessheim’s boss, Harry Guttman, a State Department official reveals that he has been asked by the Russians to pass on classified information. Guttman uncovers a California connection to this espionage attempt, and assigns Nessheim to investigate.Nessheim’s mission is complicated by the disappearance of his key informant, Billy Osaka. Other people are looking for Osaka too. The search for him takes Nessheim to a studio head’s mansion in Beverly Hills, a high-class gambling club, LA’s Little Tokyo, and the Santa Barbara ranch of wealthy Communist sympathisers. With his own life under threat, Nessheim discovers a deadly conspiracy designed to push America into the War.Set in the last remaining months of peace, The Informant is a gripping thriller, immersed in the history it vividly depicts of a country poised between great power . . . and great danger.
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