Wade Brogan, Jr., hard-bitten San Francisco detective, suspects that dementia is the source of his failing father’s fanciful tales about his career in the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps during the development of the atom bomb. Then a Russian derelict, well-padded with years, is found dead in a Tenderloin flophouse. His room is stacked with shoeboxes full of yellowed documents, many of which bear the fading red stamp, “Top Secret.” The shroud of skepticism drops from his father’s ramblings about his mother having been a Soviet spy. Over an evening of beers he shares with his fellow cops the story of how the Japanese and the Russians nearly vaporized the City by the Bay but for the frantic scrambling of Wade Brogan, Sr.
It is a little known fact that the Manhattan Project assembled four nuclear weapons before the end of the Second World War. One, of course, was tested at Trinity Site, New Mexico, and one each were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as we all know. The last was held in secrecy for use in the event that Japan did not unconditionally surrender. Phillip Bosshardt postulates how close to catastrophe we might have come if the Russians and the Japanese had cooperated on information gleaned from the sieve-like security surrounding America’s mad dash to perfect an atom bomb. This epic length saga tells a chilling tale that rings true at each convolution of plot. The historical backdrop is expertly woven, the characters fully developed and the pace nearly perfect. All fans of historical fiction and alternative history are going to love Final Victory.
251,570 Words (A long one!)
Price $4.99
I didn't find it at Amazon.
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