The Dissonant Spies

One of WWII's most successful weapons was the Norden bombsight. Nazis coveted them the most from downed US bombers. American flyboys were taught to destroy the bombsights with thermal grenades, which caused them to melt into a molten mass rather than let them fall into enemy hands. When Hitler learns that an improved version would undergo testing on a B-17 by Honeywell Corporation in Minnesota, he orders Abwehr (German intelligence) to steal it for deliverance to his scientists and engineers in Berlin. Two spies with specific skills are tasked for the assignment. The idealism of one conflicts with the murderous acts of the other. Slayings occur during their journey from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, to Wold-Chamberlain Field in Minneapolis. Colonel Lukas Schott, the scion of German royalty, is a country gentleman and is blind to the fanaticism and treachery of the Third Reich. Major Rebekka Bader, an orphan and a pathological killer, wreaks destruction and death at every opportunity. Dissonance between them is ever-present. FBI Chief Inspector Lorenzo Tharp, like a bloodhound, follows their trail of dead bodies.

John R. Downes proves his credentials as a master storyteller in this, his fourth novel. Others include A Few Deadly Friends, Orphans Song, The Brother & Sister Act: A Tale of Stage, Screen, and Espionage.