The Codebreaker’s Secret: A WWII Novel
The Codebreaker’s Secret has dual timelines. In the 1943 plot, Isabel Cooper tries to prove her worth as the only female codebreaker at “the dungeon” at Pearl Harbor. She is also trying to come to terms with the death of her brother Walt, who was killed during the Japanese aerial attack. The 1965 plot has Luana Freitas, an inexperienced journalist, returning to her native Hawaii for the grand opening of the glamorous Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. There she meets and is mentored by renowned Life magazine journalist Matteo Russi. Russi is the bridge between the two plotlines and women.
I expected the novel to be centered primarily around codebreaking and the implications for intelligence, but it remains in the background. The novel centers around a suspicious drowning in 1943 and a missing high-level guest in 1965. Their eventual resolution brings the two plotlines together. Isabel does crack a code that has significant implications for the war effort, but the main focus with her storyline is about reconciling the death of her brother and opening her heart to love. Luana also opens herself up to love as she finds her calling in the world of journalism. The unsolved mysteries that tie both storylines are weak, but The Codebreaker’s Secret is easy to read, with lots of insight into Hawaiian culture and life as well as the workings of the intelligence community at Pearl Harbor.
