Didya miss us?
Kimber the Magnificent here. Her Momness can’t come to the blog write now (that’s not a typo.) She’s being a lazy slug. Slacking on this post-y/bloggy thing. So I decided to step in and take over. After all, someone has to be the adult in the room. (And we all know who that leaves out, right?)
Anyway, the Slug and I? We’ve read like, 98 million books since our last post-y thing. Well. Okay. Maybe not “98 million.” Maybe only 97. But anyway. I wanted to tell ya about the last historical fiction thing-y we read. Cuz someone has to, Slugville notwithstanding. So here goes:
The Fifth Column
By Andrew Gross (Minotaur Books, 2019)
Genre: Historical Fiction/Action & Adventure/Spy Thriller
Pages: 322 (hard copy)
Via: Library Book Sale! (for, like a quarter!! Did I mention the Slug is also a Cheapskate?)
The 4-1-1
It’s New York City. 1939. There’s this dude named Charles Mossman. He’s a History prof at someplace called “Columbia.” (No idea where that is. Mom would know. But she’s busy being a Slug.)
Anyway, there’s this big rally in Madison Square Garden. With a ton of peeps wearing those red armband with the black spider thingies. I don’t like them. I dislike them even more when these four armband dudes walk into a bar and start acting like jerks.
Uh-Oh
Charles Mossman steps in. They go outside. It’s 4 to 1. Charles has had four Rob Roys (Don’t know wha those are. Doesn’t sound good). He takes a wild swing at one of the bad rally dudes. And winds up connecting with a fifteen y.o. kid who’s just passing by. Knocks the kid into a plate glass window. The kid dies. Next thing ya know, Charles Mossman is coolin’ his jets – and I guess his Rob Roys – at the Big House. For manslaughter.
Charles gets out later. Tries to re-connect with his wife, Liz. And their little girl, Emma. She’s six. But Liz wants nothing to do with ex-jailbird dude Charles.
Let’s Yodel – or Not?
Besides. The nice elderly couple next door have taken a shine to Emma. Willi and Trudi Bauer are like Emma’s adopted grandparents. All smiles and kindness and all things Swiss. You know. Like chocolate and mountains and yodeling and Heidi.
But Charles overhears something that makes him wonder if there’s more to the Bauers than meets the eye. Oh, and did I mention that Liz and Emma live in a quiet brownstone in the German-speaking New York City neighborhood of Yorkville, where support for that crazy dude with the funny mustache and those spider armband thingies runs at fever pitch?
So there’s that.
I v. I
Meanwhile, the threat of war grows. In America, it’s isolationists vs. interventionists. (Don’t know what the means either. Can you eat it?)
Anyway, there’s a lot of fear about a shadowy “fifth column” – German spies embedded into everyday life. “Sleepers.” Also, rumors swirl about mustache guy sympathizers in every level of the U.S. government.
Then Pearl Harbor is attacked. America can’t sit on the sidelines anymore. Charles discovers that the Bauers aren’t what they seem to be. In fact, they may pose a deadly threat to the country. But who’ll believe an ex-con who can’t get a job and doesn’t have any hard evidence? Where can Charles go? Who can he tell? Who can he trust?
But when Emma doesn’t come home from school one day….
We’d never heard of Andrew Gross before reading The Fifth Column. Turns out this guy is some big “bestselling” author. Which impresses us not one wit. But this was actually a pretty good read. It looks at WWII from an unusual perspective – enemies within. It’s fast-paced. Characters are well-rounded. Told in the first person from Charles’ point of view. It’s a unique blend of history, romance, loss and love as Charles tries to figure out what to do with his suspicions and just how much danger he’s in. (Tip: Plenty.)
There’s a lot of sleuthing and investigating and second-guessing stuff here, too. It’s a pretty good spy thriller thingy. I’ll go wake up the Slug and let her know. Maybe bribe her with Ghirardellis….
Pages & Paws 