Alan Glenn

I was deeply dissapointed in this alternate history novel. Whilst the premisse was promising i.e. what could have happened to the USA and for that matter Europe and the rest of the world if FDR had actually been killed in 1933. Well, it appears that Louisiana governor Huey Long is not himself assassinated but becomes president in 1936 and (although a Democrat !?) turns the United States into an isolationist, fascist, one-party dictatorship. History is further rewritten as Winston Churchill does not become prime minister of the UK on May 10th, 1940 but moves to the US which by that time is already a very fascist country. How could the election of Huey Long have such an impact on British politics in May '40. And supposing it did - this is an alternate hisory novel after all - why didn't WC move to Canada part of 'our Empire beyond the seas' to carry on the struggle. Where the alternate history part of this novel develops some interesting themes the murder mystery and the assassination plot both 'solved' by a bumbling probationary inspector Sam Miller of the Portsmouth PD are totally unconvincing.… (mehr)

A disturbing and thought-provoking view of an alternate Portsmouth, NH in 1943. In this reality, FDR is killed by an assassin in 1933, shortly before taking office. [Note, this almost happened. Someone actually shot at him and missed.] His vice president is ineffective at getting us out of the Depression so in 1936 Louisiana Governor and fascist Huey Long becomes President. Long is determined to keep us out of World War II, with dire consequences for the war in Europe and Asia, as the Germans and Japanese have a much easier time of it. The story centers around a Portsmouth police investigator named Sam Miller, whose investigation of a puzzling murder leads him afoul of Amerika's Nazi-like leaders. A scary view of the world as it might have been, had an assassin had better aim.… (mehr)