CONOR THORN

Conor Thorn is an agent with the OSS.

The date is October, 1942, when we meet him. The locale is the port of Tangier, Morocco, and situation is one in which gut instinct on Thorn's part saves the life of a valuable asset but does cause some ruckus and earns him the enmity of his chief of station. Hardly the sort of beginning to a new line of work that Thorn was wanting and one he will now have to live with. "Reckless" is the term the COS uses for him and it is a term that likely will be appended to him in the future.

Thorn is 26 years old. He had been a lieutenant in the US Navy before being moved to the OSS. We learn at bit at a time why Thorn left the Navy and it was not a pleasant separation that was not his fault but there is some understandable bitterness. It was obviously not enough to stop him from wanting to serve his country which explains why he is now in the OSS.

So at our first meeting, Thorn is a recent addition to Bill Donovan's OSS (considering that we catch up with Thorn in October and the OSS was only established in June, he could easily be one of the first).

Working very closely with Thorn in his adventures is the excellent MI6 operative Emily Bright. She was recommended By Prime Minister Churchill to President Roosevelt and General Eisenhower as Britain's part in the first major mission Thorn is assigned. His words were, "She's a newly minted MI6 agent. I did everything I could to keep her with me. She operated as the secretary for the Joint Planning and Joint Intelligence Committee and general staff. She was indispensable to me during the early years of the war, in the dark days. With time being of the essence, she'll help the OSS navigate the wartime landscape here in Britain, which can be a bit challenging."

She will prove to be an equal partner to Thorn as together they handle some very nasty situations.

In addition to the notables mentioned before, there will be a smattering of other interesting people from history that will pop up on occasion, the most entertaining, albeit brief, one being Lt. Cmdr. Ian Fleming of the Naval Intelligence Division.

Reading about Conor Thorn is a terrific way to pass some time. Reading about his cohort, Emily Bright, is even more fun. Together they make one heckuva great team, one that I hope will continue for some time (there are three adventures as of this writing).

To me, Thorn has a bit of a chip on his shoulder when we first meet but it is there for a good reason. It will go away after time but he will keep his edge. He is a very capable operative but is honest enough with himself to have his doubts; he will keep those largely to himself, though.

I liked the way that the author worked in a couple of prominent players in the spy game during the War; notably Kim Philby and the above mentioned Ian Fleming. Gave a nice twist to things.