Pantheon
-
-
3.9 • 43 Ratings
-
-
- £2.99
Publisher Description
The darkest secrets of World War II… finally revealed. The Number One bestseller returns with his most explosive book to date.
Europe is ablaze. America is undecided about joining the fight against Nazism. And James Zennor, a brilliant, troubled, young Oxford don is horrified. He returns one morning from rowing to discover that his wife has disappeared with their young son, leaving only a note declaring her continuing love.
A frantic search through wartime England leads James across the Atlantic and to one of America’s greatest universities, its elite clubs and secret societies – right to the heart of the American establishment. And in his hunt for his family, James unearths one of the darkest and deadliest secrets of a world at war…
Reviews
***** ‘Shifting his focus from hi-tech present day conspiracies to a very dark chapter of the second world war, Bourne has proved he can more than rub shoulders with the likes of John Le Carre and Robert Harris.’ Mirror
‘Pantheon is a propulsive, satisfying novel which burns with moral indignation, earning Bourne his place at the thriller-writers' high table.’ Guardian
‘Ingeniously constructed … a page-turner which maintains the tension’ Observer
‘An intelligent thriller with a vividly drawn wartime atmosphere’ Independent
‘A compelling story that combines the personal traumas of war, its headline dramas and the tragic tension that can arise between them. A disturbing delight.’ A D Miller, author of SNOWDROPS
About the author
Sam Bourne is the pseudonym of Jonathan Freedland, an award-winning journalist and broadcaster. He has written a weekly column for the Guardian since 1997, having previously served as the paper’s Washington correspondent, and presents Radio 4’s contemporary history programme, The Long View.
In the annual What the Papers Say Awards of 2002 Jonathan Freedland was named Columnist of the Year, and in 2008 he won the David Watt Prize for Journalism. His first novel, The Righteous Men, was a Sunday Times Number 1 bestseller. His subsequent novels have all been top five bestsellers. He lives in London with his wife and their two children.
Customer Reviews
Fascinating historical insights
I have read all JF's books and confess I thought this one not as well structured and written or characterised as some of the others. But it was still hugely enjoyable and also great in terms of interesting historical facts. It was worth buying and reading simply for what I learned about Marie Stopes' response to her son's marriage. It's too easy to forget how fortunate we are to live in a liberal democracy in such an enlightened age. It is terrifyingly close in history that people suffered the most appalling injustices for the most trivial reasons, such as wearing glasses, and for well-documented reasons that still pertain in some parts of the world today, such as faith.
A Finlay
Great could not put it down. Drama and adventure and a clever reminder of ideology in the early 20th century. make a great film.
Underwhelming
A strange book. Our main character, James, has chronic anger management issues, an injured shoulder from his involvement in the Spanish civil war (and probably because of the giant sized chip on it).
His wife takes their child to the US, and James first instinct is to rush after them to bring them back home, whether his wife wants to come home or not.
The story is then mixed up the differences between UK and US life, eugenics, Nazis, and spies in the US embassy in London.
Lots of all too loose ends...