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The Enigma Affair

A Novel

Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

In this propulsive historical thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Escaping Dreamland, a librarian and a professional assassin team up to solve a seventy-five-year-old Nazi mystery and stop a nefarious opponent from wreaking havoc on the world.

When small-town librarian Patton Harcourt comes under fire one morning while making profiteroles, she has no choice but to trust the mysterious assassin, Nemo, who shows up in her kitchen. Fleeing a pair of German thugs, the two form an unlikely alliance as they try to decipher a seventy-five-year-old message encoded by Nazis on an Enigma machine. Traveling to Bletchley Park in England, they enlist the aid of Patton's old flame, Ruthie Drinkwater, an expert on Enigma. The trio soon finds themselves on the run, pursued by both the police and Ingrid Weiss, a white supremacist trying to unlock the secret of Heinrich Himmler's research into alchemy. If Patton, Nemo, and their cohorts can survive a host of dangers—from trained killers to explosions to imprisonment—they might be able to prevent Weiss from acquiring untold wealth to promote her racist agenda.

In this fast-paced thriller with a thoroughly researched World War II background, a mismatched cadre of heroes, including an art historian, a museum docent, and a collector of Nazi artifacts, must work together to stop a ruthless and resourceful opponent. Racing across Europe, attempting to outfox Weiss and her associates at every turn, Patton and her team mount a complex operation. But can they withstand double crosses and dark secrets from Patton's military past to defeat Ingrid Weiss and discover the secret of Projekt Alchemie?

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 4, 2022
      This rollicking if at times overstuffed thriller from Lovett (Escaping Dreamland) opens with a bullet whizzing past the ear of librarian Patton Harcourt, an ex-military intelligence officer, at her house in Alta Vista, N.C. She’s soon joined by a man who calls himself Nemo and says he has just dispatched the assassin who took a shot at her. A coded message from a WWII Enigma machine that the pair find in a book lent to Patton by an old friend prompts them to fly to Britain, where Ruthie Drinkwater, an Enigma expert and old flame of Patton’s, helps them decode the message, which reveals that Heinrich Himmler believed his alchemy project to have been successful. They also learn that a small group of white supremacists, led by a woman whose grandfather was Himmler’s right-hand man, is after them. Patton, Nemo, and their cohorts race to prevent neo-Nazis from acquiring untold riches in what Nemo calls “the last battle of World War II.” Despite extensive backstories, the characters come off as somewhat flat, but that may not matter to readers as the pages fly by. This prose mash-up of National Treasure and Indiana Jones is fun escapist fare. Agent: Anna Worrall, Gernert Co.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Nicol Zanzarella portrays Patton Harcourt, a small-town librarian in North Carolina who suffers from PTSD relating to her secret history as an intelligence officer. Zanzarella captures Patton's cool composure when her quiet morning is interrupted by sniper fire aimed at her kitchen. When she stumbles upon a plot to rediscover the Nazis' lost formula for Project Alchemy, her pursuit of the white supremacists involved takes her to the code-breaking Enigma machine at Bletchley Park in England. Zanzarella's serviceable British and German accents provide clarity for the story's technical conversations and the scheming dialogue among the ruthless neo-Nazis. Zanzarella's pace increases as Patton's pursuit across Europe leads to the discovery of priceless artifacts and the threat of violence. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      June 10, 2024

      Lovett's (Escaping Dreamland) latest mixes history with fictional characters to create a compelling page-turner with plenty of twists and turns. During World War II, the Nazis used a complex device called the Enigma Machine to encrypt messages. The Allies secretly broke the code and were able to intercept and interpret messages detailing troop movements and war strategies. Seventy-five years later, one final Enigma message is discovered. Decoding its contents becomes the goal for Ingrid Weiss, the leader of a deadly white-supremacist cell. Her efforts are thwarted, however, as the message is in the hands of ex-military intelligence officer and librarian Patton Harcourt. Patton reluctantly teams up with a trained assassin named Nemo and with Patton's ex Ruthie, the one person who can still decode Enigma messages without the help of computers. They are joined by a collector of Nazi artifacts and three U.S. Army veterans who are chasing Patton for reasons of their own. Nicol Zanzarella expertly provides a variety of voices and accents for the narration and uses spot-on pacing to increase the tension and excitement. VERDICT Recommended for fans of thrillers and action-adventure stories similar to James Rollins's The 6th Extinction or Brian Andrews's Reset.--Joanna M. Burkhardt

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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