ARC Review: The Rumor Game by Thomas Mullen

The Rumor Game
Author: Thomas Mullen
Publication: Minotaur Books (February 27, 2024)

Description: A determined reporter and a reluctant FBI agent face off against fascist elements in this gripping historical thriller set in World War II-era Boston.

Reporter Anne Lemire writes the Rumor Clinic, a newspaper column that disproves the many harmful rumors floating around town, some of them spread by Axis spies and others just gossip mixed with fear and ignorance. Tired of chasing silly rumors about Rosie Riveters' safety on the job, she wants to write about something bigger.

Special Agent Devon Mulvey, one of the few Catholics at the FBI, spends his weekdays preventing industrial sabotage and his Sundays spying on clerics with suspect loyalties―and he spends his evenings wooing the many lonely women whose husbands are off at war.

When Anne’s story about Nazi propaganda intersects with Devon’s investigation into the death of a factory worker, the two are led down a dangerous trail of espionage, organized crime, and domestic fascism―one that implicates their own tangled pasts and threatens to engulf the city in violence.

With vibrant historical atmosphere and a riveting mystery that illuminates still-timely issues about disinformation and power, Thomas Mullen delivers another powerful thriller.

My Thoughts: THE RUMOR GAME is set in Boston during World War II. Annie Lemire writes The Rumor Clinic which debunks the many harmful rumors floating around town. Most are just gossip mixed with fear and ignorance. Annie is tired of chasing rumors and wants to tackle something bigger. When she begins looking into attacks on Jews by Irish toughs, she doesn't get much support from her editor. 

Special Agent Devon Mulvey is one of the few Irish Catholics with the FBI. He's dealing with internal prejudice which hampers his investigation into the murder of a Jewish man who worked at a munitions plant. His brief is to look into preventing industrial sabotage which means that he can't interest his partner or anyone else in the FBI about the murder.

Devon and Annie grew up in the same Boston neighborhood but lost track of each other over the years. When they meet again over the same murder case, they are coming from wildly different points of view. Annie learned she was half-Jewish when her father died. Ostracism forced her family to move out of the area. Devon's family moved out too when his father made enough money. 

Now they find their investigations uncovering things neither of them want to learn which alter their viewpoints about events. Devon doesn't want to acknowledge that his father and cousins could be part of a plot to force the US not to take the fight to Europe. Nor does he want to acknowledge that the campaign against local Jews is being orchestrated by those same relatives. Annie isn't sure who to trust, but knows that it isn't the Boston Police and maybe it isn't Devon.

This was an engaging thriller about a piece of the activities on the Home Front that I hadn't heard about before. I enjoyed the story and the characters. 

Favorite Quote:

Loose lips didn't just sink ships, they also angered parents and scared teenagers who needed to enlist. They confused, terrified, alarmed. The made us worry we were weaker than we feared, vulnerable in a newly dangerous world. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.