David L. Robbins The Assassins Galley

The Assassins Galley

David L. Robbins

Bantam, Aug 2006, $25.00

ISBN: 0553804413

As the countdown ends 1944, Judith comes ashore from the freezing water off Newburyport, Massachusetts into a Nor'easter. When a two-person civilian patrol stops her on the beach, Judith tries a bluff, but when that fails she kills them. Judith cannot find her murder weapon, a twelfth century knife belonging to enemies of the Templars during the Crusades. Still the enemy agent knows stealth remains her major weapon so no one must know who came ashore.

The murders on the beach upset the Secret Service, who assume a plot against President Roosevelt by unknown assassins. Agent Nabbit obtains the help of his former history professor Mikhal Lammeck, who concludes by the murder weapon used that the killer is a professional who will slay anyone remotely in his or her way. He assumes like Dag that FDR is the target. So he waits patiently in DC for the assassin's arrival, not realizing a female is the cold blooded killer and that she is already on the staff of Roosevelt's mistress Lucy Mercer Rutherford, but beyond stopping the assassin Lammeck wonders who hired her.

David L. Robbins provides a fascinating historical thriller that uses an electrifying plot to enable the audience to look deeply at 1945 DC. The story line is action-packed so that the thriller crowd will sit on edge throughout, but also includes interesting tidbits. For instance many people by his fourth term thought Roosevelt was a benevolent dictator whose popularity was waning as the war seemed endless, but feared switching administrations (when will we begin hearing the noise to change the twenty-second amendment?). Lammeck is a well-rounded hero struggling to stop an assassination and uncover a conspiracy, but also relaxes by exploring his favorite subject, what is history, which ultimately is the underlying theme of this delightful thriller.

Harriet Klausner