James Twining The Double Eagle

The Double Eagle

James Twining

HarperCollins, Sep 2005, $24.95, 400 pp.

ISBN: 0060762098

On April 5, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt claiming a national emergency issued Executive Order 6102. With this declaration, FDR directed citizens to hand in their horde of gold whether it is be coin, bullion or certificates to the Federal reserve system by 1 May or face criminal charges. The gold coins including the $20.00 Double Eagle were melted down with five stored as a memento locked way in Fort Knox.

Seventy years later, a gold coin surfaced in the throat of a mutilated priest found floating in the Seine in Paris. Someone broke into Fort Knox and stole the coin. FBI Agent Jennifer Browne sees the gold coin caper as a chance to redeem a career that recently took a bad blow due to an error in judgment on her part. She assumes former CIA Agent and retired jewel thief Tom Kirk, who has the requisite skills needed to successfully break into the highly guarded installation and steal the coin. That is until she meets him in England. He wants to clear his name and her reputation so they team up.

This is a terrific thriller that uses the true story of the Double Eagle as background enabling the exhilarating action-packed storyline to stay anchored in reality. The storyline is fast-paced as readers accompany the protagonists and others as the adventure moves back and forth between several American locations, Paris, London, the Netherlands, and Turkey. Readers will appreciate the anti-heroic Tom and commiserate with beleaguered Jennifer who is not sure she should trust her rascally companion, but has no other choice. James Twining provides a fabulous thriller that never allows the audience a chance to catch their breath.

Harriet Klausner