The Cassiopeia Grail
Frank Mari D'Alessandro
The story begins in a solitary confinement cell of an old Boston prison, where two inmates are housed in side to side cells. They are suffering a fierce north easter storm over abound with electric lightning that terrifies as it strikes the metal windows and screens while almost reaching inside. They attempt diversion by listening and reading a diary belonging to the younger of the two prisoners.
The book is about a mid age doctor a lifelong stargazer and dreamer who is given a chance he has always hoped for - to return to his early life and friends in Europe and to the years of adventures he had lived.
He was still obsessed by a group of candid photos in his possession obviously taken by a personal photographer of Adolf Hitler during World War II. These now valuable photos (1) that to my knowledge have never been published and the photographer who took them are the center of the story. They appear to have a direct relationship to secret high level groups in charge of the political hierarchy of U.S. government administrators - they are a silent legion. Its also about the presence of sleepers or clandestines in government service who had been allowed into the U.S. as refugees of World War II. After a recent ocean linear voyage to Europe, the doctor is approached by Jewish Nazi hunters to seek help finding the elusive photographer of Hitler. He decides to accept this mission and also to continue to search for his old friends in Europe.
As the story proceeds the doctor finds himself becoming more the prey than a hunter, as he realizes he is being closely watched and followed. He is able to recover the photos (1) from the elusive photographer after trapping him high on a mountain in Yugoslavia. Then follow more entanglements and situations in a world now very strange and hostile. Finally he is able to carefully return to his home and spouse in the U.S. and to come to an epiphany. He discovers the Senator Joseph McCarthy involvement in the story as part of a resolving puzzle. By then his son has re-entered the story and will play a significant role in the resolution of the adventure.
The end teaches all of them a great lesson.