Understandably, security is very tight, so when a security officer/body guard is found murdered with his pants down around his ankles in nearby Santa Fe, the military brass is worried. Was Karl Brunner killed in a lover’s quarrel or is the whole project at risk?

In comes Michael Connelly, a former Crime beat reporter turned spin doctor for the military. The brass doesn’t know who to trust and even thought they don’t trust him either, they think it is safer to send in an outsider to investigate.

The murder scene points toward a lover’s quarrel and there had been a similar murder in Albuquerque the month before. Could it be something as simple as being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Michael Connelly doesn’t think so, even when the police get a confession.

Part mystery, history and a dash of Romance, Los Alamos has something for everyone. It offers and interesting peek into the all out race to be the first to build the atomic bomb and the scientists that did it. No move they or Connelly make is without far reaching ethical concerns. He keeps going, like a bull dog after the truth while doing his best not to interfere with the real business of what Los Alamos was created for. Connelly is constantly juggling his many “masters”, Robert Oppenheimer, the military brass and most important, his own conscience and sense of right and wrong.

Towards the end, he and the others are faced with deciding what is more important, finding one man’s killer or going ahead with the bomb, which just might save the lives of thousands, while destroying others.

Historical fiction works like Joeseph Kanon’s Los Alamos always intrigue me. They are fiction, yet they give you such a great picture of famous characters that history books just can’t do. Kanon’s portrayal of Oppenheimer as one of his main characters, made me learn more about him and the project itself. For me, a great book is one that makes you think and want to learn more. Fiction seldom does that, so when you find a book like Los Alamos, you treasure it.