This story is told by a man in his nineties remembering the days when he was in his twenties and recruited to help in what was becoming the struggle against Germany in the days leading up to WWII.

Thomas Danforth lived a pampered life. On a wintry night, his friend persuades him to provide a place and cover for a young woman, Anna Klein. She was to be trained for a secret operation inside Germany; her training involved firearms and explosives.

The action is presented in alternating chapters of Danforth's life today and his narration of the action in the pre-war days.

Written with intelligence and literary excellence, we witness Anna facing her assignment with a fatalism "...like a woman walking toward her future just as religious martyrs walked toward their execution sites..."

The reader knows what was going on inside Hitler's Germany with his program against Jews, but we're not sure that Anna does. We witness her bravery and stoicism which makes us appreciate her as a character.

In the story, we are able to see glimpses of the evil in Germany and the brave few who were attempting to do something about it. It's a world of deception and treachery and we follow Anna and Thomas in nervous anticipation. Something goes wrong and Anna disappears and Thomas attempts to find her.

The theme seems to be believing in oneself and having the courage to do something when there is a bad situation. Thomas H. Cook's work is always entertaining and with the characters that come to life and an interesting plot, he's demonstrated his literary excellence in story telling.