Rip the Angels from Heaven

Starred review from May 14, 2018
Set in 1945, Krugler’s superior second thriller featuring Lt. Ellis Voigt of the Office of Naval Intelligence (after 2016’s The Dead Don’t Bleed) finds Voigt the target of NKVD thugs seeking the truth about the fate of the missing Herbert Himmel, a Russian who used a clipping service as a cover for a Washington, D.C., spy ring. In the previous book, Voigt went undercover in Himmel’s business and was present at a meeting that Himmel had at an automat with a scientist from Los Alamos, N.Mex., who passed on secrets about a bomb being built in the desert. Voigt persuades his boss to send him on a mission to Los Alamos, where he will make contact with the Russian agents on his tail and offer them misinformation—in particular, that he forced the scientist spy to give him the package with the classified information meant for Himmel. Krugler’s further exploration of his lead’s moral ambiguity enhances a captivating story line that will appeal to fans of Joseph Kanon. Agent: William Callahan, Inkwell Management.