A couple of years ago I belonged to a writers' association, and there was a book written by one of our members called "Bomb Thief", by a fellow named Mike Gibson (I think that was his name--the Gibson part is definitely correct).

The book, maybe more of a novella than a novel, was about a German spy in World War II whose assignment was to go up to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and see what those crazy Americans were working on up there. Maybe it was just an aircraft factory. Maybe they were making some kind of new and nasty bomb. Maybe, just maybe, they were trying to split the atom up there and make an atomic bomb.

The main character, Rick, had a German father and an American mother. He was born in Germany but grew up in Cullman, Alabama, an area the author says has a lot of ethnic Germans. Rick was living in Germany when the war broke out and for some reason, a reason the author doesn't explain, Rick's loyalty is with Germany. It's not because he is a ideological Nazi ("I never joined the Nazi Party", he says at one point). He doesn't seem to hate Jews or anybody else.

He is working for German Intelligence as an interpreter, but they send him to America to see about this Tennessee thing because he has the best American southern accent they can find. He really hasn't been trained as a deep cover agent. He's not the James Bond type at all.

The book is about his adventures after landing from a German submarine near Panama City, Florida, and making his way up to Tenn. and getting a job at the secret war plant in Oak Ridge as a garbage truck driver. On the way he runs into Clark Gable, Glenn Miller, and a young and then-unknown Hank Williams Sr. (I at first thought, hey, this is pretty contrived, but the author makes it all believable.)

It's a great book, written by an author who isn't afraid of being labeled pro-Nazi (it's definitely NOT a pro-Nazi book). If he ever gets it published anywhere (maybe it already is), and if you like historical fiction (who can beat WW2 for drama?), it's a great book.