Helpful Score: 2
Interesting insights into the Manhattan project - in a remote New Mexico in 1945. A good read, good plot and characters, as well as informative of that time and place.
Helpful Score: 2
A lot of somewhat obscure history along with a ripping good story.
Helpful Score: 1
Los Alamos home of the "Manhattan Project. A must read.
Helpful Score: 1
Pretty believable mystery, set during WW2
Helpful Score: 1
a well-plotted novel that dissolves real people and events into an elegant and moving thriler.
Helpful Score: 1
Kanon's view of Los Alamos, NM intrigue at the height of the developement of the 1st nuclear bomb.
Kanon plants a murder mystery in the middle of the team of scientists building an atomic bomb in New Mexico during World War II. Historical characters such as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Gen. Leslie Groves interact with fictional characters as one man works to solve the crime. This is one of three Joseph Kanon books I can highly recommend. The others are "The Prodigal Spy" and "The Good German."
Spring 1945. As work on the first atomic bobm nears completion on a remote mesa in New Mexico, Karl Bruner, a Manhatten Project security officer, is found murdered in nearby Santa Fe. Is Bruner the victim of a violent sexual encounter as the local police believe, or is his death a crime that threatens to jeopardize the secret of the Project itself?
A must read book for all that are insturded in the beginng of the first atomic bomb.
The suspense novel for all others to beat. The author puts the reader into a historical drama of excitement and high moral seriousness. A must read!
How do I begin? The book, Los Alamos, has a solid plot and excellent historical references, but the author has quite a ways to go with his character development and storyline skills. The central figure, Michael Connolly, remained a relative unknown throughout the book. There was no indication of his age, past experience before working for the government, previous marital or relationship status, education level, hobbies, etc, etc, etc. to extent that Connolly remained a familiar stranger throughout the book. His romantic interest, Emma, was developed very similarly, with more previous history given of her life, but many parts still missing.
Joseph Kanon relied heavily on conversations between individuals to reveal and develop many parts of his storyline, but as a reader, I always felt that I was not privy to all of each conversation, leaving me grasping and trying desperately to divine what was left out of the conversation. Characters introduced throughout the book left me scrambling a few pages later to remember who they were or why they mattered.
Kanon's description of the area around Los Alamos and Santa Fe did not generate clear visuals in my mind of how the area actually looked. I've visited that area in New Mexico a number of times, and Kanon's descriptions are so lacking that they make me wonder if he has ever set foot in New Mexico.
This is Mr. Kanon's first novel, and it shows. I'm glad I acquired the book through Paperback Swap and not from a bookstore for $25.
Joseph Kanon relied heavily on conversations between individuals to reveal and develop many parts of his storyline, but as a reader, I always felt that I was not privy to all of each conversation, leaving me grasping and trying desperately to divine what was left out of the conversation. Characters introduced throughout the book left me scrambling a few pages later to remember who they were or why they mattered.
Kanon's description of the area around Los Alamos and Santa Fe did not generate clear visuals in my mind of how the area actually looked. I've visited that area in New Mexico a number of times, and Kanon's descriptions are so lacking that they make me wonder if he has ever set foot in New Mexico.
This is Mr. Kanon's first novel, and it shows. I'm glad I acquired the book through Paperback Swap and not from a bookstore for $25.
I usually read historical nonfictional books, but I enjoyed this book as a fiction/historical read!!
Story line seems pretty simple, but the interaction with the historical figures in April-Jul 1945 at Los Alamos was most interesting and intriguing.
Good character development, as well as insight into historical figures and the stress they were under in the development of the first atomic bomb.
Plot is slow and deliberate, but reaches a surprise ending that I did not see coming.
Recommend highly for anyone interested in WWII stories.
Story line seems pretty simple, but the interaction with the historical figures in April-Jul 1945 at Los Alamos was most interesting and intriguing.
Good character development, as well as insight into historical figures and the stress they were under in the development of the first atomic bomb.
Plot is slow and deliberate, but reaches a surprise ending that I did not see coming.
Recommend highly for anyone interested in WWII stories.
In a dusty, remote community of secretly constructed buildings and awesome possibility, the world's most brilliant minds have come together. Their mission: to split an atom and end a war. But among those who have come to Robert Oppen heimer's "enchanted campus" of foreign born scientists, baffled guards and restless wives is a simple man, an unraveler of human secrets-a man in search of a killer.
In a dusty, remote community of secretly constructed buildings and awesome possibility, the world's most brilliant minds have come together. Their mission: to split an atom and end a war. But among those who have come to Robert Oppenheimer's "enchanted campus" of foreign-born scientists, baffled guards, and restless wives is a simple man, an unraveler of human secrets - a man in search of a killer.
It is the spring of 1945. And Michal Connolly has been sent to Los Alamos to investigate the murder of a security offier on the Manhattan Project. But amid the glimmering cocktail parties and the staggering genius, Connolly will find more than he bargained for. Sleeping in a dead man's bed and making love to another man's wife, Connolly has entered the moral no-man's-land of Los Alamos. For in this place of discovery and secrecy, hope and horror, Connolly is plunged into a shadowy war with a killer-as the world is about to be changed forever...
It is the spring of 1945. And Michal Connolly has been sent to Los Alamos to investigate the murder of a security offier on the Manhattan Project. But amid the glimmering cocktail parties and the staggering genius, Connolly will find more than he bargained for. Sleeping in a dead man's bed and making love to another man's wife, Connolly has entered the moral no-man's-land of Los Alamos. For in this place of discovery and secrecy, hope and horror, Connolly is plunged into a shadowy war with a killer-as the world is about to be changed forever...
In a dusty, remote community of secretly constructed buildings and awesome possibility, the world's most brilliant minds have come together. Their mission: to split an atom and end a war. But among those who have come to Robert Oppenheimer's "enchanted campus" of foreign-born scientists, baffled guards, and restless wives is a simple man, an unraveler of human secrets-a man in search of a killer. It is the spring of 1945. And Michael Connolly has been sent to Los Alamos to investigate the murder of a security officer on the Manhattan Project. But amid the glimmering cocktail parties and the staggering genious, Connolly will find more than he bargained for. Sleeping in a dead mans bed and making love to another mans wife, Connolly has entered the moral no-mans land of Los Alamos. For in this place of discovery and secrecy, hope and horror, Connolly is plunged into a shadowy war with a killer-as the world is about to be changed forever.....
