First published 2000
Harry Gold stands at a crossroads between loyalty and betrayal in Depression-era America. Recruited into Soviet intelligence, he learns the delicate art of espionage tradecraft while ordinary life continues around him. Gold becomes entangled with Julius Rosenberg and Klaus Fuchs in their atomic secrets operation at Los Alamos, where the future of warfare takes shape in desert laboratories. As political winds shift through decades of American turmoil, Gold must navigate the treacherous landscape between his handlers and his conscience. The McCarthy era closes in, transforming yesterday's patriots into today's traitors. Dillon captures the psychological weight of a man caught between competing loyalties, where every choice carries the potential for destruction. This is the story of how ordinary people become extraordinary criminals, and how history's great turning points depend on individual moral decisions made in private moments.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, espionage
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: loyalty-vs-betrayal, moral-dilemma
Setting: Los Alamos
Period: Great Depression, McCarthy Era
320 pages · Hardcover · The Overlook Press