The Little Tokyo Informant - Hardcover

Rosenheim, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1468300733 ISBN 13: 9781468300734

Publisher: Overlook Books, 2013

Synopsis

Autumn, 1941. At a secret meeting in Washington, FBI Assistant Director Harry Guttman is told that the Soviet Union has been infiltrating the highest levels of the United States government. Fifty thousand dollars has been wired by Russian intelligence officers in New York to a Japanese bank in Los Angeles, but the trail goes cold. Special Agent Jimmy Nessheim knows a local informant who's willing to help, but he vanishes mysteriously overnight. Nessheim's frantic search leads him through the dense streets of LA's Little Tokyo to a risky undercover gambit in Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese surprise attack.

Hailed as the "successor to Frederick Forsyth" (Independent), Andrew Rosenheim shifts his focus from the homegrown Nazi threats in Fear Itself to the looming threat of war with Japan in the last days of peace before Pearl Harbor awoke the sleeping giant. The Informant is a well researched and skillfully rendered portrait of America on the cusp of the world stage.

Praise for Fear Itself:

"If you like wartime political thrillers, you'll love Andrew Rosenheim's gripping Fear Itself." --Newsweek/Daily Beast

"This top-notch historical thriller from Rosenheim, the first in a new series . . . will only whet readers' appetites for more." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Rosenheim grew up in Chicago and in a small town in Michigan. He went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1977. For many years he worked in publishing, at Oxford University Press and Penguin Books among others, and is now a full-time writer. He is married with twin daughters.

Reviews

*Starred Review* In Fear Itself (2012), FBI Agent Jimmy Nessheim went undercover in the U.S. wing of the German Bund to expose homegrown Nazi supporters. The second volume in the series finds Nessheim assigned to a minor Hollywood movie studio three months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His assignment: make sure the bureau “looks good” in a new film. Back in Washington, FBI Assistant Director Harry Guttman learns that Russia is moving funds from a Manhattan bank to a Japanese American bank in L.A. Guttman tells Nessheim to follow the money, but Nessheim’s only informant, Billy Osaka, a young Nisei man, disappears. Nessheim soon learns that he’s not the only person looking for Billy, and he must go undercover again, this time in Hawaii in the hours before the Japanese attack plunges the U.S. into WWII. Rosenheim’s portrait of a pre–politically correct America is jarring but fascinating. “Japs,” “Reds,” and Jews are despised or feared, nowhere more than in J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. Once again, the patriotic Guttman must work covertly to do his job. Rosenheim’s use of historical detail is also effective, such as repressive laws aimed at Nisei well before Pearl Harbor; communist sympathizers among Hollywood’s screenwriters; the wondrous 1941 baseball season; and the L.A. ordinance limiting all new buildings—except City Hall—to a height of 150 feet. The Little Tokyo Informant is compelling, intelligent entertainment. --Thomas Gaughan

Edition details

• Publisher: Overlook Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1468300733
• ISBN 13: 9781468300734
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400