Los Alamos

by Joseph Kanon

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The suspense novel for all others to beat . . . [a] must read.”—The Denver Post

WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL

It is the spring of 1945, and in a dusty, remote community, the world’s most brilliant minds have come together in secret. Their to split an atom and end a war. But among those who have come to Robert Oppenheimer ’s “enchanted campus” of foreign-born scientists, baffled guards, and restless wives is a simple man in search of a killer. Michael Connolly has been sent to the middle of nowhere to investigate the murder of a security officer on the Manhattan Project. But amid the glimmering cocktail parties and the staggering genius, Connolly will find more than he bargained for. Sleeping in a dead man’s bed and making love to another man’s wife, Connolly has entered the moral no-man’s-land of Los Alamos. For in this place of brilliance and discovery, hope and horror, Connolly is plunged into a shadowy war with a killer—as the world is about to be changed forever.

Praise for Los Alamos

“A magnificent work of fiction . . . a love story inside a murder mystery inside perhaps the most significant story of the twentieth the making of the atomic bomb.”—The Boston Globe

“Compelling . . . [Joseph Kanon] pulls the reader into a historical drama of excitement and high moral seriousness.” —The New York Times 

“Thrilling . . . Kanon writes with the sure hand of a veteran and does a marvelous job.”—The Washington Post Book World 

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Espionage, Historical, Mystery Thriller

469 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 5, 1997

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this at a library sale (50 cents!) based on its blurbs alone. And according to those, I thought I'd discovered a better book.

Given that I was both interested in the book's physical location and its temporal setting PLUS quickly found that Kanon has a gift for language, Los Alamos should've been a great read. But it had an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feel.

Not interested in murder? How about war? Or espionage? Or the atomic bomb? None of those work for you? What about adultery? Bigamy? Immigration? Ethics?

I was never bored, exactly, but I never cared, either.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had read that Kanon's writing is similar to that of Alan Furst (a favorite author), so I thought I'd give Kanon a try. He's not anywhere near Furst. Once I got past my disappointment, I continued with the book and found it wordy with a pretty simple plot. The dialogue between the main character and his new girlfriend is the most stilted I've read in quite some time. Then the main character, just a minor security agent for some US agency, is going to "protect" Oppenheimer (sorry, Oppie) from the commie hunters out to get him. Not a very good book. Furst has a new book out - that should put Kanon out of my mind.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

To those to whom names like Oppenheimer, Fermi, Teller, and Lawrence ring a bell, as well as those for whom Trinity tolls, Los Alamos is a terrific “period piece.” Naturally, it is set in the latter years of WWII in the midst of those working on the Manhattan Project. Karon’s feel for the period is outstanding. The unnamed effort at the Daily Worker, the funeral of Roosevelt along with its attendant uneasiness about Truman’s unknown quantity, and the reality that the European expatriates at the “site” were more concerned about the Nazis than the Imperial Japanese are perfectly nuanced, as is the rare air-conditioned locale and the slothful performance of rural law enforcement officers (local speed trap and all). It was also news to me that all of the scientists and families had local identification printed up with no names—just numbers.

The set-up features a former reporter who is brought in by the commander of “the site” to investigate the murder of one of the agents in security. Circumstances point to a homosexual hate crime and a man confesses to the murder, but things don’t seem to fit right for former reporter Michael Connelly. He keeps investigating until he uncovers his patron’s worst fears. The murder is not what it seems.

The mystery doesn’t offer a lot of “red herrings.” The clues are all set-up very nicely. The beauty of this book is found in its characterization. The protagonist is a reporter who has to know the truth, but isn’t as concerned with “doing the truth.” The commanding officer seems borderline schizophrenic, but induces a certain amount of sympathy in the end. Enlisted men try to bear their burdens and long for the time when their tour of duty is over. Yet, several have moral dilemmas (whether of their own making as in the homosexual or of another’s as in Mills trying to do his duty).

Karon’s style is straight-forward, but is slightly more ornate than one’s standard mystery novel. A lot of the book takes place inside Connelly’s head, but much of the exposition takes place in very realistic conversation. The all-too-human betrayals, lies, and fears are worth considering and the book was solid enough that I’m looking forward to reading Karon’s novel of the “Red scare” in the ‘50s. If you don’t like the “period,” you won’t enjoy the mystery, but if you’re fascinated by the mid-20th century (like me, considering I was born at the halfway mark), you’re sure to find this a page-turner.

[Patrick Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well crafted murder mystery (with a little espionage thrown in). It may drag a bit, and the author insists on a hackneyed illicit love affair, which, of course, leads to the murderer (whom you’ve been introduced too as an ancillary character). And there are multiple endings; so much so that the actual climax is kind of a let-down. Don’t get me wrong. This is well written and researched. The mix of historical figures (especially an eerily accurate portrait of Oppenheimer) with fictional works very well. It is atmospheric and historically accurate enough for a good mystery. You’ll see it coming—but that doesn’t matter. It’s faults aside, an enjoyable read.

[Barry Medlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long but very good read!

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel that combines historical fiction with a murder mystery with an added side dish of espionage thriller. It takes place in 1945 Los Alamos, the home of the top secret Manhattan Project and the birth place of the atomic bomb. The plot follows Michael Connolly, assigned to investigate the disappearance and death of a security officer on “The Hill”. His investigation leads him through the very secret nature of the town site of Los Alamos and the surrounding area, the scientific community, possible traitorous activity among the scientists, and into the arms of a married woman.

I was drawn to this novel because I grew up in Los Alamos. I lived there for six wondrous years, from grade 7 through 12. I am a proud graduate of Los Alamos High School and I was very interested to see if this novel got the “feel” of the place right. Of course I wasn’t there in 1945 and much had changed from that time but I felt, overall, the author did a fairly good job of that. He dropped a lot of local place names like Ashley Pond, Fuller Lodge, route 4 up to Valle Grande, etc. The characters also spend a lot of time in Santa Fe, as was entirely appropriate given the secret location of the Manhattan project itself.

Ultimately though I was mildly disappointed with this one. The murder mystery wasn’t entirely compelling and far too much time was spent on the romance aspects. So much so that in the end, this was more a story about a man driven into the arms of a married woman and their love affair than it was about anything else. The espionage twists in the second half of the book improved my perspective quite a bit but it was a case of too little too late. There was also an attempt at some sort of existential comparison of unleashing the forces of fission to finding true love. It’s not that they “found it” but that it was “waiting to be found”.

My final criticism was the length of the novel. Several parts simply dragged on too long. It would have been a much better and tighter read at 100 pages less than its current 517. But still, it had its moments. I am definitely wishy-washy about this one which explains my middle-of-the-road 3 star rating.

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot praise Kanon highly enough. His books have yet to fail me. The storylines have a sort of familiarity about them, as if they have come over into print from the film universe of the 1950s; a black-and-white, comfortable America but constantly living in a haze of suspicion. Romance and intrigue, the Manhatten project and Anasazi ruins... what more could one ask for?

[B.V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot of Los Alamos hinges on a fictional protagonist, civilian intelligence liaison Michael Connolly, brought in to investigate the murder of a Los Alamos security officer, his face bashed in and his pants pulled down. Connolly is asked to discover whether the crime is more than the violent sex crime it appears to be, even while those associated with the project--paranoid over security leaks and the specter of Communists everywhere--would prefer it be just that. Nice and tidy. Of course it isn't nice and tidy, and Connolly's dogged determination to pursue the truth to the bitter end, no matter how bitter it turns out to be, carries him through acts of betrayal from all sides and his own growing interest and eventual affair with the wife of one of the Los Alamos scientists.

The setting, in both New Mexico and Los Alamos, is very detailed and well researched. The most enjoyable aspect in many ways is the interaction between Connolly as a fictional character with the real-life Oppenheimer and General Groves, woven together neatly within the framework of the events leading up to the Trinity test in the desert on that fateful day on July 16, 1945.

To be honest, the plot is fairly easy to figure out, at times almost taking a back seat to the setting. Some readers might quibble with the love interest feeling a bit unnecessary, and a few of the local characters lean a tad toward the cliched. The more restless and impatient readers may get a bit bogged down in Kanon's occasionally dense prose (not I, though), but he has some nice evocations of the tug-of-war of emotions that existed between the project's scientists and their almost abstract view of the war and the ultimate horror of the project's true purpose.

[Kerstin Lampert · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not that the coincidence of 70 years, since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred this August....

It's not that the President and Secretary of State just completed negotiations with Iran on the use of nuclear materials for other than "peaceful" purposes...

It's not that we have millions of Syrian regugees streaming out of the Middle East headed for Germany, to escape sure death at the hands of the dictator-leader of their country.

It's not that we have the wackiest Presidential election campaign going on, ever!

It's that this little book seems to tie it altogether in a flashback glimpse to another horrible time....when we built the first bomb, with the help of immigrant European scientists, who have a decidedly different outlook on world affairs than the average American. And a confused, but focused guy manages to solve a murder mystery, while witnessing this poignant moment in history. And it's that, I finished reading it on 9/11/15, the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in NYC.....so reminiscent of the Pearl Harbor attack....that we speak of them as the two greatest attacks on the USA, ever.

The author manages to give us a lot to think about.....why did we use it (the bomb)?
Just because we built it?
Oh dear, that puts us and the Iranians in the same category.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book of Kanon's that I read, and I was really impressed by the combination of thought and thriller writing that had gone into it. My memory of it is that, when it came to The Bomb, the end justified the means. Or was it the means justified the end? Anyway, The Holocaust justified it all, that's what I remember. Or at least I think that's what I remember. Apart from it being a damn good read.

[Peacejanz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful mystery on many levels. After a death, off base, of a security officer when the atomic bomb is being developed at Los ALamos in the 1940s, the base commander calls in an unknown agent to find out if security has been breached. The new man, Michael Connolly, faces constant objections and false leads. This is a delightful novel, published almost 20 years ago and makes the reader wonder what the government is keeping secret now.

[Debra Faust-Clancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice little thriller that has some unexpected twists and turns. Love the unexpected things that pop up. The historical aspect was so interesting, especially the spy and security stuff. If you've ever been to Albuquerque, you can easily imagine most of the scenes and the Southwestern architecture. Joseph Kanon was an editor for years and it shows! What a great background for a writer. I hope he writes many more.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

In April 1945 a body is found at Los Alamos. With his pants down. What follows must be the slowest murder investigation I ever encountered.

At page 150 or so Roosevelt dies. So far not much has been found out. The victim was a German Jew working in security. And maybe he was not a homosexual.

Then Germany surrenders. We are already in May. And our investigator finds out that a guy who confessed the crime has not actually done it. No wonder there is slow progress because our man concentrates his energy on seducing the wife of a Poland born scientist. (The dialogues between the two are a bit two witty for my taste. They talk like actors in a Screwball comedy.)

Then at page 280 the bright idea occurs to him to interview the MP guy who controls the gates. And he knows now that the victim was the lover of his love interest.

And it drags on. We must after all stay until the first successful Atom bomb Test in July.

I am not saying it is a bad novel. But I really would like to know who started telling the writers of thrillers that they had to fill up 500 pages.

It is the object of a thriller helping the reader to kill time. And this the book does. But a good thriller also manages to give the reader the illusion that he has not wasted his time. And this the book does not.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book since it was first published but never got around to reading until I watched Oppenheimer, and I'm glad as I wouldn't have understood most of the Los Alamos stuff.

I didn't care for the love story, especially the cheating aspect, but I guess the author thought it pertinent to his storyline. It's probably my fault, though, as I've been mostly into nonfiction of late.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This read like one of those old-fashioned thrillers set in a specific historical period that my parents used to read when I was a kid (and I would often sneak a read when they were done) and that's a compliment actually. Joseph Kanon's novel takes place at the end of the war in Los Alamos where Oppenheimer and his band of scientists are working towards the first real test of the atomic bomb--a moment before the world changed forever.

Michael Connolly, a former NYC reporter and now PR guy for the army, is sent to Los Alamos to investigate a murder. Security is tight and tensions are high and General Groves, the general overseeing Oppenheimer's project, feels that Connolly's outsider status is an asset. A security agent, Karl Bruner, was found bludgeoned to death in an alley behind a church in Santa Fe. Because he was found with his pants down, the local police assume that it was a sexual encounter gone wrong, but as Connolly begins to investigate, that explanation seems less and less accurate. Connolly's investigation leads him to learn more about the scientists and their secrets on "the hill" and also to begin a relationship with a married woman, Emma.

Kanon makes both this time period and this place come alive and you care about what happens even as you know that the world is about to change in ways the characters have no idea about. The pacing is deliberate, but not plodding, and the writing evokes a specific atmosphere without being showy. I enjoy a novel that manages to combine actual history with a good story and this is definitely one of those novels.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting account of the development of the Atomic Bomb

There are many accounts of the Manhattan project. Stallion Gate by Martin Cruz Smith is a superb novel. Feynman’s schoolboy larks, like picking the locks on security cabinets, paint a picture of the boarding house atmosphere in the hastily constructed village.

This book is the best novel I have read concerning Los Alamos. The style reminded me of the books by John Dunning, especially Two O’Clock Eastern Wartime. Another excellent read.

I enjoyed cross referencing all the allusions made to real people, real places and real events. Every place person or event mentioned could be found in Wikipedia, so I could view the history and pictures involved.

As one does, one thing often lead to another, so the book was the trigger for a great deal of enjoyable exploration, learning new things, and how faithful the author was to history.

The conclusion of the book was remarkably prescient concerning the decade that followed the first atomic explosion, especially Oppenheimer and his colleagues.

I have visited ground zero at Hiroshima, and the memorial there. Viewed the letter from Einstein to President Roosevelt, so all the events have a fair element of personal reality.

An excellent novel, I really enjoyed it.

[Jak60 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish.....started Los Alamos after reading Defectors, which I found very good, but I could not connect with neither story (boring) nor characters (flat).

Having gone through the complete body of work of Joseph Kanon, I thought I'd be in position to offer an overall view of it. Kanon is a sort of hit and miss type of author, so here is my personal assessment of his novels.
1. Istanbul Passage: a rather exceptional and atmospheric book, with highly satisfying plot and engaging characters (5 stars)
2. The Defectors, Leaving Berlin and Stardust: very good reads, probably one notch down compared to the previous one yet both highly enjoyable (4 stars)
3. The Good German and The Prodigal Spy: two rather average books, the former somewhat stronger than the latter but overall nothing special (3 and 2 stars)
4. Los Alamos: the worst of Kanon's novels, slow and rather boring (DNF)
There's then a new novel coming up in February 2022 (The Berlin Exchange), which I am very much looking forward to.

[Sunhawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tense, satisfying read. As a child of war -- my 1st birthday celebration: Hiroshima, and I can remember being awakened very early one morning to see a purplish flash on the south-eastern horizon from a test at Trinity, 1,000 miles away -- I have always wondered about the Los Alamos story: the secrecy, the people, the incredible tension between the scientific challenge of making the "gadget" work, and the dire consequences of making the "gadget" work. The presence herein of believable real characters, Oppie, Teller, Groves (some of whom I met as a child of UCBerkeley folk) was thrilling. Miraculously well researched by someone who knows and loves the southwest.
Aside from all that, this is a good story well told. That tension between pure science and deadly application creates a fog or uncertainties and mysteries that the author handles well. Always in the third person, nevertheless we see into the protagonist's state of mind, becoming impressionistic and scattered toward the end as the tension builds to ... a satisfying climax.

[AdiTurbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time I've read this novel, and I must say it hasn't disappointed me. I found new things in it that I didn't pay enough attention in the first read, and in some ways it was deeper and more fulfilling than I remembered. Kanon manages to keep the character of Oppenheimer as complex and paradoxical as he obviously was, but he isn't the focus here. The underlying theme of the book is morality - what is moral, who decides what is moral, is morality absolute or subjective, etc. These questions are explored again and again - in relation to the development of the bomb, to homosexuality, infidelity, the Holocaust, and what not. Yes, the net is spread this wide. It's not a perfect book, but it's certainly original and interesting, well written (although I could do without the "noir" Philip Marlow-ish tone) and engaging.

[Harry Forsdick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly read non-fiction. My issue with fiction is that in the need to create a mood and an environment, fiction moves too slowly for me. And when it does move fast enough, the plot frequently seems contrived and important detail too convenient.

Perhaps after being on vacation for 2 weeks, I have finally slowed down enough to enjoy this piece of fiction. Almost certainly, the author, Joseph Kanon is a good writer who has written a fictionalized story about facts that I am quite familiar with. And the story includes a lot of human emotions that occur in any story, regardless of the subject that occupies the people in the story.

In any case, I recommend this book as better than the average non-fiction book I have read.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second Joseph Kanon book and I really found it interesting. I loved the information about the historical development of the nuclear bomb and the actual characters involved with its creation. The mystery (fiction of course) that formed the basis of this book was okay but it was the author's ability to create the reality of that fascinating era that made the book for me. There is also a romance involving the main character but that didn't add much to the story. As with the other book I read by this author, I found the woman rather cold and unsympathetic. A good book that I enjoyed and will be adding Mr. Kanon's name to my favorites list.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really had a hard time reading this book. It didn’t keep my interest and moved very slowly and there were to many characters to keep track of. I guess the author felt he had to spice up the book by creating a love story to go along with a mystery occurring in Los Alamos where the Atomic Bomb was being built. I really didn’t like the love story and Infidelity, with lurid descriptions of the sex act. I guess the best part of the book is the background of The Manhattan Project and the birth of the Atomic bomb. Also of interest was the quandary of what the Atomic Bomb meant for mankind and the morality of the device the scientists were about to release on the world.

[Don Gorman · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3 1/2). I was entranced by the old style feel of this book. Three rays of sunshine past noir, the read is gripping. Some violence, some sex, some intrique and lots of mysteries. Mike Connolly is a great protagonist and the New Mexico lab where nuclear weapons were first developed is an even greater setting. Working within and without the Army barricades is no problem for our Mike, but getting the right spin turns out to be harder than imagined. We are lucky enough to be along for the ride. Good stuff.

[Goge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great thriller. It takes place during the World War II and the work or group of scientist who are building an atomic bomb. It was top secret thing but still people start to die. The pace of the story is fluid and natural, the characters are well built and the story itself is thrilling, intriguing and you can't even guess the guilty party until almost the end of the book. Don't you just love people with flaws? This is a great read.

[Mary Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good spy mystery with an ending I couldn't guess. The main characters, while smart and on the right side of the matter (sort of ), were a bit short of being morally upright. That kind of spoiled the fun.

Set in the Los Alamos community during the Manhattan Project, just as Hitler surrendered, I couldn't have asked for a better spy setting. Still, I was bored at first. Sometimes sex just isn't enough.

[Ron Seybold · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterwork of suspense and love and history

The first book is the best, sometimes for authors. It seems to be true here. I read The Good German from Kanon first and loved it. This is even richer, full of love and faith and the dire consequence of a mission that would change the world. The language of the writing is a set of gems, too. He's the master of works from the 40s, bursting with history and the small but apt detail.

[Bobbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting story about a murder at Los Alamos during the creation of the atomic bomb. I can imagine that the atmosphere was similar to that described in the book. The search for the killer was well told until the end. I won't tell you what it is, but it was so weak that it sort of spoiled the whole book for me.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very noir book. It begins with the killing of a security officer at Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 1945, in the months before the creation of the atomic bomb. The body was found with his pants pulled down, and the first assumption is that the killing was the result of a homosexual assignation gone wrong. But nothing is what it appears to be ...

[Tim Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joesph Kanon's debut historical mystery, Los Alamos, deftly and authentically tells the story of Michael Conolly, a reporter working for the government, who is sent to the secret lab of Los Alamos to investigate the murder of a security agent on base. He is soon caught up in a world of secret lives of the personnel and scientists assigned to the project, as well as espionage. While the mystery is often slow paced, what lights up the novel is the thorough research. I especially enjoyed the way Kanon recreates the world of 1945 New Mexico and duplicates atomic bomb project at Los Alamos. I feel Kanon does a great job of interweaving historical characters without becoming overbearing. He has obviously done an exceptional amount of research, yet he doesn't bog down the novel with it. He justifiably won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best First Mystery with this engaging novel.

[Gu Kun]

Read the 118 of 411 pages today, then abandoned it. Very slow-paced.