THE ONLY THING TO FEAR: A Novel of 1945

"Solid research buttresses Poyer's latest, a consistently engrossing WWII novel featuring FDR and skinny naval officer John Fitzgerald Kennedy. " - Publisher's Weekly

"A consistently readable, fast-paced, intelligent tour of the elite politics of the U.S. as World War II drew to a close." – Booklist

In the tradition of The Day of the Jackal and Death by Lightning, USA Today-bestselling author David Poyer crafts a tale of politics, assassination, ambition, statesmanship, sacrifice, and love, set against the background of a world at war.

It is the apocalyptic spring of 1945. A young Navy lieutenant, convalescing from action in the Pacific, is transferred to Franklin Roosevelt’s personal staff. But 27-year-old John Fitzgerald Kennedy has another mission. His boss, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Leahy, thinks enemy coded traffic points to an assassin in FDR's personal circle. Who is trying to kill the President? Why? And how? JFK and screen star and Roosevelt admirer Lauren Wolfe, "The most glamorous woman in the world," are suddenly the "detectives" as the clock ticks down to April 12, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia . . . where two ruthless men, one Russian, one German, and a shadowy and determined American traitor will attempt to alter the course of history. 

Set against a vast sweep of stunningly re-created backgrounds -- a bombed and burning Berlin, coastal Virginia, the glitter of Palm Beach and Hollywood, the killing fields of Eastern Europe, wartime Washington and small-town Georgia -- THE ONLY THING TO FEAR brings legendary figures to fierce and passionate life. Using hundreds of hours of on-site research, interviews, and declassified documents, a master storyteller re-weaves the tapestry of the final days of World War Two into a chillingly plausible portrait of what might really have happened . . . .and reimagines our greatest heroes in a way that is sure to trigger controversy.