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Code Name Commodore

Name: Code Name Commodore
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)

John Dana Lowe

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This is an historical novel, taking place just before and during WWII, starting with a young couple sailing on the Hudson, just below the high cliffs leading up to West Point. The couple are two American analysts, in their early twenties. They fell in love while sailing on the river and sharing time together, discussing history, at the Commodore soda fountain in Newburgh, N.Y., just before the start of the war; a time when they became inseparable. But they are soon forced to individually follow their own paths to the OSS and ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan. Sam Harbour is a statistician and Madison Bell is considered a foremost authority on military history. Naval Intelligence grabs up Sam and the COI, or the OSS, takes Madison. They are separated through subterfuge on a grand scale, and then wind up in England, separately, just before U.S. entry into the war. They eventually work together with a special team of Americans called Commodore and develop a formula called “Crystal Ball,” which, along with the help of ULTRA, predicts German movements well into the future. Along the way, they fly on the Dixie Clipper back to the States for a special meeting with FDR at Hyde Park, after having met with Eisenhower in his secret underground headquarters in London. While they fight the internal inter-ally politics of the times, along with fighting the battles of personal intrigues, they try to keep the Allies from making a strategical error that will only extend the duration of the war. The drama that occupies Sam’s and Madison’s lives during the war, extends into the turn of the century and to another young couple in their twenties; the man is American and the young woman is German, and they eventually find themselves sailing on the Hudson and going to the Commodore soda fountain, just before 9/11. All of the history in the novel, along with the events that the couple take part in, did occur, which makes one wonder if, indeed, Sam and Madison were a part of it all.

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 3, 2025