The Accidental Agent

It is 1942, shortly after Pearl Harbour, and the FBI is uncertain about its wartime rôle.  Edgar Hoover, the Director, is accustomed to bank robberies, to Bonnie and Clyde, to Ma Barker and most-wanted men like John Dillinger, but he lacks the subtlety required for counter-espionage work.

It is for this reason that Harry Guttman, James Nessheim’s former Bureau boss, had decided to keep Hoover in the dark about a possible Nazi spy in the Chicago team working on the construction of the atom bomb. He is not convinced that there is a spy and Nessheim – now studying law at university, having resigned from the FBI – isn’t either, but he agrees to spend some time using the special agent skills that Guttman knows he possesses.

This book could be called an historical novel in the sense that Enrico Fermi and his team are historical figures whose methods of working were as described here. However, there is nothing historical about the feel of the writing, particularly since the subject of spies and spying is one with which we are all too familiar. The historical characters seem to be merely background figures as Nessheim begins his investigations.

It is second nature for him to keep an eye out for the possibility that, as a newcomer to the group, he is himself under surveillance and he soon notices a flashy red Packard convertible that seems to be taking an interest in him. In fact, it is the author’s rather clever way of introducing a character from his past, Stacey Madison.  He had been very much in love with her when he was in the FBI and had assumed she felt the same way until the day she simply left without a word. 

Now that she is back he can’t help himself falling for her all over again. However, he is not entirely convinced that he should allow himself to do so because he is aware of her having once been a member of the Communist party and therefore a possible target for the FBI. This conflict between Nessheim’s private and professional life is at the heart of the novel.

The plot develops quite slowly as Nessheim takes up his new rôle and begins to believe that there is a spy within the Fermi team, possibly a member of the German-American Bund. His belief becomes a certainty as he notices signs of suspicious behaviour. However, this is not a tale of the lone agent against the villains. Guttman is at least as committed to catching the spy and, whilst his investigations take him further afield, they begin to yield fruit. Nessheim is also making progress and it seems as if the two of them together will manage to identify the spy. However, something happens and what looked like being a happy outcome turns into a tragedy.

This is a very readable book which holds the attention right up to the end as the pieces begin to fall into place. The ending is such that it is unlikely to be the last we see of Nessheim who will no doubt find himself back in the FBI.