Louise's Chance

To a librarian, a well-researched book is a true joy, and Shaber's Louise Pearlie series is a gem.. This newest entry in the series provides a deeper and richer portrait of Louise, as her life progresses through wartime Washington. This time, Louise is assigned to the propaganda office and helps in recruiting newly captured German POWs for that effort. Again, we see that Louise fights a constant but subtle battle to prove her competence and finds herself meeting the challenges of new and often sharply defining experiences.
It's been extremely satisfying to read Louise's progression from lowly office clerk to a respected worker with top secret clearance. Shaber provides a rare glimpse into the daily lives of those working in wartime Washington,. The reader begins to understand how the war challenges social mores and changes the expectations of those disenfranchised from the mainstream, whether women or minorities. Highly recommended series.

This novel is set in the early 1940’s and Louise Pearlie has a new Government job in Washington DC. She is to assist Alice Osborne, an expert in propaganda, in the secret recruitment of German POW’s imprisoned at the Fort Meade Camp. It is hoped they will persuade suitable POW’s who are willing to return to Nazi Germany and spread forged propaganda. Her new colleagues are experts and the forger Merle Ellison is also fluent in German.

When they arrive and the interviews begin they learn some disturbing news. The camp is beset with bullying and two POW’s have been lost at sea on the journey over to the prison camp. Although the German Officer in charge of the camp insists that the disappearances were suicides Louise’s investigation suggest that they may have been murdered. Amid the investigations, interviews and rivalry, one prisoner is determined to escape. He is safe within the camp, the catering is good and this puzzles the American investigators. When there is another death IN Fort Meade the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place.

This is a well-paced spy thriller set in America. The characters are wildly differing in both attitude, nationality and motives and are interesting and intriguing. Louise has a great chance to make her imprint in her new job and sets about her investigations with determination and flair. What she uncovers is shocking, tragic and deeply disturbing. It also reveals a web of lies and deceit following the German POW’s from behind the Nazi lines into what should have been the relatively safe haven of Fort Meade Camp.

I enjoyed reading ‘Louise’s Chance’ and would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House Digital for my copy of the novel, sent out in return for an honest review.