The Little Tokyo Informant
*Starred Review* In Fear Itself (2012), FBI Agent Jimmy Nessheim went undercover in the U.S. wing of the German Bund to expose homegrown Nazi supporters. The second volume in the series finds Nessheim assigned to a minor Hollywood movie studio three months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His assignment: make sure the bureau “looks good” in a new film. Back in Washington, FBI Assistant Director Harry Guttman learns that Russia is moving funds from a Manhattan bank to a Japanese American bank in L.A. Guttman tells Nessheim to follow the money, but Nessheim’s only informant, Billy Osaka, a young Nisei man, disappears. Nessheim soon learns that he’s not the only person looking for Billy, and he must go undercover again, this time in Hawaii in the hours before the Japanese attack plunges the U.S. into WWII. Rosenheim’s portrait of a pre–politically correct America is jarring but fascinating. “Japs,” “Reds,” and Jews are despised or feared, nowhere more than in J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. Once again, the patriotic Guttman must work covertly to do his job. Rosenheim’s use of historical detail is also effective, such as repressive laws aimed at Nisei well before Pearl Harbor; communist sympathizers among Hollywood’s screenwriters; the wondrous 1941 baseball season; and the L.A. ordinance limiting all new buildings—except City Hall—to a height of 150 feet. The Little Tokyo Informant is compelling, intelligent entertainment. --Thomas Gaughan