An Einstein-Chaplin Thriller
Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars 
Book Blurb:
While war raged in Europe, the battle for America’s soul was already underway.
Blending fact and fiction, MIDNIGHT PATRIOTS follows real-life friends Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin as they confront powerful enemies threatening America.
It’s 1940. Europe is in flames. Germany occupies much of the continent, and the Blitz rains terror on London. Fritz Duquesne, a German spy straight from the history books, plots to kidnap Einstein and steal America’s nuclear secrets. Enraged by Chaplin’s mockery in The Great Dictator, Adolf Hitler dispatches an SS assassin to silence the man who ridiculed him. The story features Charles Lindbergh, Lena Horne, and J. Robert Oppenheimer—along with a beautiful German spy on a mission of her own. As Nazi agents and FBI operatives close in, all roads lead Einstein and Chaplin to a deadly showdown aboard the Santa Fe Super Chief as it races from Chicago to Los Angeles.
His Review:
Pre WW II the United States was in a turmoil. Lend Lease was providing England with tons of equipment and munitions to thwart the threat that Adolph Hitler posed. His desire to control the entire planet and develop a “thousand year reich” crippled the entire planet. People were being conscripted and killed by the millions while the philosophy in America was “let Europe fight its’ own battles.
Einstein had become a citizen 6 years earlier and loved his new country. Chaplin stirred the pot with a parody of Hitler as the little dictator. Hitler was sending hit squads to kill Chaplin and kidnap Einstein to bring him back to Germany and force him to work on their nuclear bomb. Meanwhile, some of their best agents are dying unexpectedly as they try to achieve Hitler’s goals of snuffing out and kidnapping these two miscreants.
Dr. Oppenheimer is working with the United States to help us win the nuclear arms race. Einstein resists any involvement in this madness and is a real skirt chaser. Between he and Chaplin they chase skirts all over the country. Their exploits are legendary! This book is fun to read and casts a whole new light on the nuclear arms race and the participants.
Edgar Hoover is portrayed as a megalomaniac who is very distrustful of President Roosevelt and sends death squads to eliminate Chaplin and grab Einstein. The F.B.I. meanwhile is tasked with protecting Einstein while trying to kill Chaplin.
I found the characters unbelievable in the way they might actually have been as opposed to the way we’ve always thought of them. Surprise, surprise! Fun characters in a way you’ve never envisioned them with a satisfying conclusion. 5 stars – CE Williams
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this ebook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.
Book Details:
Genre: Political Thrillers & Suspense, Historical Thrillers, Political Thrillers
Publisher: Herald Square
Publication Date: June 16, 2026
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s):
Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble
The Author: Paul Levine is the Amazon Number One bestselling author of the “Jake Lassiter” and “Solomon vs. Lord” legal thriller series, and new in 2025, the “Einstein-Chaplin Thrillers.” His novels have sold millions of copies, won the John D. MacDonald Fiction Award, and been nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller Writers, Shamus, and Thurber prizes.
MIDNIGHT BURNING
[Best Thrillers Book Review Names MIDNIGHT BURNING “Best Historical Thriller of 2025″]
The Genius and the Tramp fight fascists in 1930s Hollywood. Clouds of war gather over Europe, and American fascists are on the march. While the FBI obsesses over suspected communists, Nazi agents plot an insurrection on U.S. soil. When the world’s two most famous men—Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin—uncover the plot, they fight back with only their wits, raw courage, and the fierce resolve of Georgia Ann Robinson, the LAPD’s first Black female officer.
The book draws from real history: Einstein and Chaplin were close friends; Robinson was a trailblazer with the LAPD; and “Operation Hollywood”—a Nazi plan to assassinate Chaplin and others—was chillingly real. Historical figures like Charles Lindbergh, Joseph and Magda Goebbels, William Randolph Hearst, and Woody Guthrie appear in the novel.
MIDNIGHT PATRIOTS is the second novel in the Einstein-Chaplin Series. The first entry, MIDNIGHT BURNING, was named “Historical Thriller of the Year” by Best Thrillers Book Review and one of the “Favorite Books of 2025” by Bookreporter. The books stand alone and may be read in any order.
Levine also wrote 20 episodes of CBS’s JAG and co-created the Supreme Court drama FIRST MONDAY, starring James Garner and Joe Mantegna. A former trial lawyer, he’s a graduate of Penn State and the University of Miami School of Law. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.
©2026 CE Williams – V Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 