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INVITATION TO VALHALLA
by Mike Whicker
iUniverse, January 2004
404 pages
$22.95
ISBN: 0595297390


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Erika Lehmann is the epitome of Aryan womanhood: clever, athletic and beautiful. She is the English-speaking daughter of one of Hitler's old comrades. As such she is a member of Hitler's inner circle. She is also the Nazis' top spy who will stop at nothing to complete her mission.

The year is 1942 and Joe Mayer, a Jewish metallurgist, is conducting top-secret experiments for the U S Navy in Evansville, Indiana. This secret could alter the course of the war. Joe is proud to be in charge of this important work, and he is dating a beautiful Jewish woman.

What he doesn't realize is that Sarah Klein is really Erika Lehmann (code name: Lorelei) who is masquerading as a Jew to infiltrate Mayer's circle and steal the Navy's secret. What Erika doesn't know is that she has incurred the enmity of SS Chieftain Heinrich Himmler because of what he perceives to be Erika's slights to the Gestapo. Himmler decides to solve this by sending Axel Ryker to America to kill Erika even though she is their own spy. Ryker is the Gestapo's top man; as a murderer he is ruthless and cunning.

At this time one of the few means for spies to contact each other is by shortwave radio transmissions. The FBI has been troubled by mysterious radio transmissions emanating from Evansville. FBI investigator Charles Pulaski is sent to investigate. He becomes suspicious of Sarah (Erika) and relays these suspicions to Mayer, warning him of the dangers to security. Mayer refuses to believe in Sarah's duplicity. Additional FBI agents are called in to attempt to apprehend Erika and Ryker.

In the meantime Ryker is stalking Erika Their final confrontation takes place in a struggle on a bridge over the Ohio River. Erika's body is never found and there is speculation that she may have survived.

This is an absorbing historical thriller which gives the reader a sense of history. It is a blend of historical facts and absorbing fiction with excellent historical detail and research. The plot is intriguing and unique, giving ,from a woman spy's point of view, an in-depth view of Nazi Germany and of heartland America in wartime.

There is a portrayal of the vicious infighting among the Nazi leaders and a perspective of the Nazi spy effort, many details of which are illuminating and add to the understanding of the development of the characters, who are well developed. Their choices in the face of their dilemmas are treated in depth.

The blend of fact and fiction is so well done that the reader isn't sure what is history.

Reviewed by Barbara Buhrer, September 2004

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