Set in the tense and uncertain years before World War II, Fear Itself follows Jimmy Nessheim, a young Special Agent in the fledgling FBI, as he goes undercover to infiltrate a new German-American organization known as the Bund.
Ardently pro-Nazi, the Bund is conspiring to sabotage American efforts against Adolf Hitler. But it becomes increasingly clear that something far more sinister is at work, something that seems to lead directly to the White House. As Nessheim moves closer to the truth, an even more lethal plot emerges, one that could rewrite history.
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.
The spellbinding conclusion to the Jimmy Nessheim trilogy, by the author of Fear Itself
Fall, 1942. In the midst of war, Special Agent Jimmy Nessheim has asked for extended leave from the FBI. Becoming a law student at the University of Chicago seems like the perfect way to re-enter normal civilian life.
But the University of Chicago is home to more than an erstwhile FBI agent. Deep under the stands at Staff Field, renowned scientist Enrico Fermi is beginning work on what will become known as the Manhattan Project, research that could not only change the course of the war, but change the face of war itself.
Perfectly placed to assist, Nessheim is persuaded by his superiors to return to duty to guard this precious research. Soon he begins to suspect a Nazi infiltrator has gained access to the project, and he must track down the traitor. Almost simultaneously, Nessheim's old flame Madison, an heiress with left-wing sympathies, finds him in Chicago. But is her reappearance a coincidence?
Drawn once again into a web of international intrigue, Nessheim faces his most deadly threat yet.
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.
