Ward Larsen, a dynamite new author fostered by Oceanview Publishing,
has been garnering awards since his first novel, The Perfect
Assassin, was released in 2006. It is no surprise then that
his second novel, Stealing Trinity, would sweep the USA
Book News National Award for Best New Thriller / Adventure and earn
a Gold Medal in Mystery from ForeWord Book of the Year Awards shortly
after its release in late 2008.
Stealing Trinity is a gripping, nail-biting, espionage thriller set in 1945 just before
Germany surrenders to the Allies. Even though the Wehrmacht knows the war is going badly, their
intelligence office, the Sicherheitsdienst or SD, is determined to salvage something from this Great
War, and that item is a spy, Die Wespe, who is a physicist in deep undercover at Los Alamos, New Mexico,
working on the Manhattan Project. The SD recruits American-born and Harvard educated Alexander Braun,
a man of many talents and little conscience. As Braun is brought close to American waters in a German
submarine, the naval captain receives a message that the Reich has fallen and the war is over. Abruptly,
the captain puts Braun out to sea with no papers, no traveling money, no change of clothes, and no
lifeboat! But Braun is resourceful. As he swims the frigid waters off Long Island, he formulates a
new plan, one that will allow him to escape into the luxury of Newport, Rhode Island, and hopefully
back into the arms of a former lover, Lydia Cole. Braun, however, is plagued with more hurdles,
particularly the inclusion of a husband at the side of fair Lydia. Braun once again crafts a new plan,
and this one involves finding Die Wespe and selling information to the highest bidder.
Braun's machinations could have ticked along quite nicely were it not for a stubborn British officer,
Major Michael Thatcher, of the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre. Thatcher unearths
information about the secretive American war project, the Manhattan Project, and soon links it to the
elusive Braun. Acting on his own, Thatcher pursues Braun across the United States and eventually to
the Pacific. He is aided by Lydia Cole who soon discovers she is both resourceful and brave.
Larsen's book takes its title from the first US atomic bomb test in New Mexico code-named
Trinity. Within its pages are fully-fleshed out characters, especially the killer Braun as he
calculates each move in his ever-changing plans. I didn't like him, but sometimes felt empathy for him
and understood him completely. Larsen's renderings of Major Thatcher and Lydia Cole were equally
detailed and drawn with heart and an intimate knowledge of psychological motivation.
Larsen was also able to incorporate intricate details of war-era planes and ships without
overpowering the reader, using them as great leavening to draw out character or further the
well-structured plot. He comes by those details through experience and research. Larsen is a former
US Air Force fighter pilot who flew combat missions in Operation Desert Storm and is a pilot for a
major airline.
I normally don't like war movies or war books, but I found Stealing
Trinity to be a great read. Larsen has been able to mix everything
anyone could want into this adventure thriller: romance, intrigue,
narrow escapes, and great characters. Reading this book has piqued
my interest in reading his first novel, The Perfect Assassin,
and to eagerly look for other Ward Larsen books on the horizon.
Reviews
of other titles by this author
The
Perfect Assassin
Fly
by Night
Stealing
Trinity
The
Perfect Assassin / Assassin’s Game