In the enthralling followup to 1933: The Detective, readers—and a 1980s pickpocket—are plunged into 1938 New York and a twisty, time-bending power struggle between the Time Operations Executive, a mysterious organization employing “commuters” who carry missives back across decades (like “bet New York Yankees”), and the rival org known as the Brotherhood of the Lemniscate Cross. The Executive and the Brotherhood are officially in a détente, and Executive operative Sarah Williams has ingratiated herself with Father Michael, the Brotherhood leader who murdered her parents and is now tasking her with chaperoning children across war-shaken Europe to Switzerland, likely for horrifying reasons. (Something called the Eugenics Research Center is involved.) The series again offers literate high adventure that demonstrates a clear love of the pulp past, newsreels and radio, and long-gone American vernacular—“You’re not gonna blow your wig again and make tracks again?” Sarah asks Doug, the quick-fingered cardsharp whose displacement from the Reagan era (via the virus that drives the series) offers opportunity for out-of-time confusion, pathos, and comedy. When Doug glimpses a bowler-hatted “commuter,” he thinks he’s “dressed like that band that came out [with] the Specials and the English Beat.”
For all the fun and adventure—the story involves circus life and catacombs, Brownshirts and secret basement lairs—the conflict centers on issues of control and freedom, with Sarah and co. at times wondering what they really know about the Executive. The Executive, they know, wants to change the future; the Brotherhood wants things to remain the same. Doug proclaims he’s “not much of a joiner,” but his discovery of a cause over the novel’s course proves rousing, as a robust set of heroes face questions about who to trust and the possibility that Father Michael is working with a greater threat than they know—and possibly the Nazis, too. Readers who love smart time-travel adventure with found family teambuilding will be eager for the next volume.
Takeaway: Smart, surprising time-travel adventure steeped in 1930s New York.
Comparable Titles: Connie Willis, Roy Huff.
Production grades
Cover: B-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
