The Rumor Game -- Thomas Mullen, Hardcover

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.

Author: Thomas Mullen
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 02/27/2024
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.21lbs
Size: 9.47h x 6.57w x 1.18d
ISBN: 9781250842770

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 09/01/2023 pg. 6
Booklist 11/01/2023 pg. 32
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2024
Publishers Weekly 01/08/2024
Library Journal 02/01/2024 pg. 56

About the Author
THOMAS MULLEN is the internationally bestselling author of eight novels, including Darktown, an NPR Best Book, which was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southern Book Prize, the Indies Choice Book Award, and was nominated for or won prizes in France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The follow-up, Lightning Men, was named one of the Top Ten Crime Novels of 2017 by The New York Times and was shortlisted for a CWA Dagger Award. His debut, The Last Town on Earth, was named Best Debut Novel of 2006 by USA Today and was awarded the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for excellence in historical fiction.