Michael Leptuch: Kwajalein Stories

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From time to time I stumble upon an unexpectedly good book - and this is one of them. It is a page-turning thriller with a difference - an espionage type story told as a personal history of the start of the Cold War.

The book is written in the first person by an old man recollecting his experiences at and just after the end of WWII. We really never get to know his real name - he has been Kerrigan, Torvasen, Sorensen (at Los Alamos) and finally Lieutenant and later Captain Anthony Williams at A Bomb test sites in the Pacific with minor but important side trips to Russia. We follow him through his various adventures in national security and counter-espionage before the start of the CIA. In between projects he even finds time to become a wealthy businessman and marry and raise a family.

Michael Leptuch is a talented author who spells out the story with humanity and occasional humour against a detailed historical background of the era. I strongly recommend this book and will certainly be reading more of his works.