Nightshade

Suppressed secrets boil to the surface in this fast-moving thriller, a tale of personal and historical discovery. When coy innuendo provokes British Secret Intelligence Service officer John Mahon into an unofficial investigation of his father's death, decades before, he uncovers records of Operation Nightshade, proof that London had concealed advance knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack. The discovery poses a threat to the stability of the Anglo-American liaison, causing intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic to indulge in some desperate measures. The interplay of their actions, the renewed activities of a retired FBI agent, a series of brutal murders committed by a killer with a distinctive voice and Mahon's affair with his supervisor's wife, add edge and drive to the narrative. From the author of Somewhere in England , this is a deftly handled thriller taut with attention to character and detail. (October)