VALHALLA REVEALED by Robert A. Wright, a historical thriller

The year is 1945, and governments around the world are debating how to navigate the political and economic fallout from World War II. The trials in Nuremberg seek to punish those who participated in the Third Reich, whether they are members of the military, or businessmen who produced the armaments that gave Germany its fearsome power. Former officers of the Third Reich have fled to South America, hoping to evade capture. Though the Marshall Plan is helping to rebuild the war-ravaged economies of Western Europe, all eyes are turning toward the Stalinist Soviet Union, wondering whether an even larger threat now looms.

Businessman Paul Hoffman, whose family was first introduced in Beyond Ultra, struggles to deal with his grief over the ravages the war has forced upon his family. With a mother and brother dead, another brother missing, and a father exiled in Spanish Guinea, Paul must hold the family together while managing its business interests on three continents—the vineyards in Spain, commodities businesses in Africa, and import/export companies in the United States.

While dealing with divided family loyalties and attempting to lead his family forward, Paul also copes with his grief and survivor’s guilt over the deaths of his family members, as well as a haunting desire to discover what happened to his missing brother Hans, a German U-boat captain who disappeared at the end of the war. Paul’s search for answers will take him to the corners of the globe and uncover secrets with ties to international military and spy networks.

Employing meticulous research, in-depth knowledge of real historical events, and a deft hand for describing famous figures of the post-World War II era, Robert Wright has crafted a novel rich in detail and amazing in scope. Readers are introduced to people such as Heinrich Mueller, infamous leader of the Gestapo, exiled former SS officers in Paraguay, Stalinist Soviets, and William Donovan, head of the wartime OSS and predecessor to the CIA.

While the people of Western Europe and America re-awaken after a long and arduous war, complacent in the knowledge that their governments are back in control of world events, Wright reveals the true historical impact of decisions made by a small group of powerful businessmen largely unknown outside their inner circle. Valhalla Revealed is an astonishing novel—it is hard to cover the breadth of it in a review. The informative 540 pages will fly by with intrigue and surprise. Fortunately for its readers, Beyond Ultra, the prequel, will help satisfy the desire to unravel more of Robert Wright’s epic saga of two families whose destinies are intertwined.  

Highly recommended to those who love historical fiction and international espionage thrillers.