Traitor’s Gate

Hard-driving, vivid storytelling propels this historical thriller from Edgar-finalist Newton (Calumet City). During the decade leading up to WWII, governments and corporations fumble for profitable alliances, heedless of human suffering. Against this dark backdrop, two people develop an unlikely romance: Saba Hassouneh, an idealistic Palestinian who has been radicalized by brutal British soldiers and Haganah thugs, and Eddie Owen, a brilliant American chemical engineer forced to flee the States, who is now retooling oil refineries to produce 100-octane gas that every country’s air force craves. Ruthless, suave Nazi Erich Schroeder, an officer in the Luftwaffe, plots to build a kingdom for himself in the Middle East, and to that end he tries to manipulate Saba and Eddie—but the young people are genuinely attracted to each other and begin groping toward a trusting relationship in the midst of tangled deception. Newton’s prose is sometimes as frantic as James Elroy’s, but the action feels more like an Indiana Jones adventure. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (May)