The Bookmonger: Trust no one in this WWII suspense novel
Published 6:11 am Thursday, November 27, 2025
Out of the frying pan and into the fire – that’s a recurring theme in Kevin O’Brien’s latest historical suspense novel. The bestselling Seattle writer begins this story, “Everyone a Stranger,” in the other Washington – D.C. – in the midst of the World War II years.
Virginia Abrams is a young war widow working in the nation’s capital. She discovers she has been impregnated after being sexually assaulted by a man with powerful political connections. When she reaches out for support, she is not just shunned, but physically threatened for revealing her inconvenient truth.
Fearing for her safety, Virginia cleans out her modest bank account and catches a train to get as far away as possible from the merciless machinations of men wielding power.
She winds up in Seattle, assumes a new name and cover story, rents a studio apartment, and lands a work-from-home job as the typist for a reclusive mystery author. She intends to keep a low profile and begin anew.
But as bad luck would have it, the residents living in her cozy courtyard apartment complex hold dangerous secrets of their own.
Only a couple of days into Virginia’s new life, a neighbor dies in a fall down the stairs. But was this an accident, or was the woman pushed? The victim’s teenaged son thinks his mom was murdered, but can’t get the cops to investigate.
Virginia is rattled because the day she moved in she had been mistaken for the woman who was later murdered. She fears that she may have been the intended target – have her D.C. harassers already tracked her all the way to the Pacific Northwest?
But paranoia reigns everywhere. Rumors swirl about illicit affairs, spies and saboteurs. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the Japanese bombardment of Fort Stevens the summer after that, what does the summer of 1943 hold in store? Everyone is on edge.
O’Brien is masterful in introducing the uncertainties and doubts. He provides vivid descriptions of the nightly blackouts, the air-raid drills, the shadowy surroundings, and the Office of War’s ominous posters warning that “Loose Talk Can Cost Lives” and “Enemy Ears Are Listening!”
Moreover, the author layers threat upon threat, and they are coming from different directions. If it is difficult for readers to figure out to what extent anybody can be trusted, it is even more challenging for Virginia.
And this is where the story falters. Although she knows she ought to be wary, Virginia sure opens up quickly to some of her new acquaintances. More than once, O’Brien relies too heavily on his protagonist to voice hypotheses and connections in great detail. He does this with other characters, too – to their everlasting detriment.
Overall, however, “Everyone a Stranger” does offer up a pretzel-twist of a plot that provides readers with interesting insights into the tensions of the era, salted as well with examples of how society handled issues like gay partnerships, pregnancy outside of wedlock, and race relations back in the day.
The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd McMichael, who writes this weekly column focusing on the books, authors and publishers of the Pacific Northwest. Contact her at [email protected]
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source discoverourcoast.com ’
