The Lisbon Crossing Tom Gabbay Morrow $24.95 HC

The Lisbon Crossing is a prequel to Tom Gabbay's first Jack Teller novel, The Berlin Conspiracy. Here Jack Teller is a twenty-five year old movie stunt man who slept with the wife of a Hollywood bigshot. His friend, actress Lili Sterne, asks him to come with her to Portugal to search for her close friend, Eva Lange. Eva has fled Germany and the Nazis. Lili feels compelled to bring Eva to the US.

Upon reaching Portugal Jack discovers that he and Lili are not the only ones looking for Eva. The detective, Ed Grimes, who Lili sent prior to her and Jack's trip is dead which means the police are involved. A reporter is snooping around, the Nazis too have an interest in Eva. Jack plays everyone off each other as well as he can. Finding Eva is half the adventure. Whip smart dialog, a brisk pace, plenty of action, multiple plot lines all make The Lisbon Crossing a well above average read. Eva's expository chapter slows things down a bit and could have been rewritten and two little nit picking details caught me up but this is one of the better books available. Sit down with Jack Teller and The Lisbon Crossing. You won't be disappointed.

Dave Biemann