Glenn Dyer has made the conflict that was World War II the centerpiece of a trio of thrillers. In his first book, The Torch Betrayal, the orders for a secret North Africa invasion, Operation Torch, go missing. His second, The Ultra Betrayal, details the rescue mission for a Polish engineer who can crack German military codes. Now comes number three, THE UNQUIET GENIUS. Like its predecessors, the book’s protagonist is ex-OSS agent Conor Thorn, a cross between James Bond and Darrin from the mid-1960s tv classic Bewitched. Thorn will stop at nothing to put Adolf Hitler on ice. So when a brilliant nuclear physicist is discovered holed up in Italy, Thorn reunites with his MI6 counterpart, Emily Bright, to keep the key to an atomic weapon from falling into Nazi hands. There’s also a subplot involving the Vatican that makes the plot intricate but not needlessly complex.

All three of Dyer’s book are based on little-known episodes of the 1940s, giving them the satisfying sheen of in-depth research. Dyer is guilty of over-writing at times: “cigarette dangling from his taut lips” (how does it dangle if the lips aren’t loose?); “her light brown hair bounced lightly on her shoulders” (maybe substitute another word for one of the “lights”?). The characters aren’t terribly robust, and the vaguely literary nature of some names–Miles Stoker, Henry Longworth–provides a bit of a chuckle. However, those trifles don’t ruin an otherwise solid outing. For readers who like action, this is the perfect book. If those who like the lines between good and evil as clear as a fifty-yard line, this book is for you. For those who like suspense that unravels as gracefully as a silk tie, this book is for you. And for those who appreciate accurate historical details (well, mostly accurate: even Yale-trained lawyers in the 1930s didn’t make $100,000 a year), this book is for you.

Glenn Dyer ‘s THE UNQUIET GENIUS has it all–action, suspense, and the endlessly fascinating World War II era and makes a worthy addition to the author’s gripping espionage series.

~Anthony Aycock for IndieReader