cover image The Fuhrer's Reserve: A Novel of the FBI

The Fuhrer's Reserve: A Novel of the FBI

Paul Lindsay. Simon & Schuster, $25 (384pp) ISBN 978-0-684-85403-8

In Lindsay's new thriller, irrepressible agent Taz Fallon swashbuckles through neo-Nazi assassins and psychotic Third Reich holdouts while finding romance and playing his uptight FBI boss like a baby grand. One of Germany's last war criminals has a plan to enact Hitler's scheme to rebuild the Reich, with the help of the cache of priceless art looted by Hitler and Goering and smuggled to America. The stolen art is slated to fund Rolf Brunner's campaign to bring the Neo-Nazi German Democratic Party to power in the next German elections. One of the priceless paintings handpicked from the looted stock has come up for auction in New York, and seductive Sivia Roth, an Israeli art researcher who tries to return stolen art and artifacts to their rightful owners, tracks the painting to Chicago, hooking up with Taz Fallon along the way. The sleuthing pair are thwarted by Kurt Decker, the ex-convict son of an SS officer, recruited by Brunner to kill the few people who have information about the art reserve. Decker happily slays old Nazis and spins a few tricks in hopes of making off with the art himself. With witty aplomb, FBI veteran Lindsay (Witness to the Truth) runs his cast through a minefield of violence and a plot full of hairpin curves. Fallon falls one step behind Decker investigating the clues at a murdered Nazi's Chicago home, and the reader is never sure if he will catch up. The interplay between Decker and Brunner echoes Fallon's tetchy relationship with his employer, helping to create a sturdy parallel plot line and accentuating the fumbles of the likable hero. A surprise ending will leave readers gasping. (May)