I’m delighted to share this interview with Bonnie!

 Bonnie, the story, The Consummate Traitor, left what I call a “lingering” in my mind. Although there are many reasons, one that stands out is this – what would have happened to the world had Hitler reached his goal of perfecting a nuclear weapon? From what you’ve been able to learn, how close was he?

If Hitler had succeeded in producing all the nuclear weapons, jets and rockets not only on the drawing board but being tested in the closing days of World War II, there are two possibilities: 1) We would not exist for he would have unleashed a nuclear Armageddon without understanding that in destroying us he was also destroying himself and his dream for Germany. 2) He would have selected certain cities as the U.S. did in Japan to demonstrate his power and then forced the Allies to surrender to him to save the rest of the world. Because he was visibly ill at the end of the war, he would not have survived to enjoy it but his chief Nazi leaders would have. The Holocaust then would have become the standard for cleansing all those the Nazis deemed “undesirable” and we would be living in a police state today. Some would argue we are anyway, but that’s for another discussion.

How close was Hitler?

From the outset, his nuclear scientists were way ahead of everyone else. My novel is based on only one aspect of the “nuclear” race. Other authors have explored different acts of extreme bravery among the German scientists to delay or sabotage their own work. Britain, the U.S. and the Soviets separately worked to convince German nuclear physicists to defect to their projects because they understood the country to use the atomic bomb first would be the next world power. It’s why I believe Harry Truman decided to use the atomic bomb against the Japanese. He said it was to save more American lives because the Japanese were refusing to surrender, but that action made the U.S. the most powerful nation in the world for the next 50 years

What other historical facts were you able to weave into the pages of this novel?

The use of the English king’s cousin to convince the Danish atomic scientist, Neils Bohr, to defect to London was true, and she did not survive her imprisonment by the Gestapo. A movie producer in England has phoned me twice to see if my research has unearthed more than he has found so far, but I only looked at that single mission from the “what-if-she-lived” perspective whereas he has dug more deeply than I did. He believes she was descended from the German side of British royalty and was already living in Germany near Peenemunde, Germany’s rocket-testing site, when British Intelligence asked her to help the Danish scientist to escape. It is part of Churchill’s “Intrepid” operation the world will never know.

What compelled you to write this book and the rest of the series?

Anger, at first. We glorify war, but it is nothing more than a chess game to those manoeuvring it. For them, the victims have no faces. They are merely tags on a wall map moved back and forth as battles are won and lost.

In Book One, I show you the human side of war and its folly. Those who have never believed that the German people did not know about the Holocaust have only to look at our own actions of indifference and apathy at what happens around us. One day I stood on our condo balcony and realized I had no idea about what was going on three blocks away from me never mind miles away. We live in our own worlds dictated by our own interests until the outside world touches us.

In Book Two, I am revealing the scandalous disregard for humanity in the continual distribution of an anti-malaria drug to the public and to NATO fighting forces that for some is a neural toxin. It is the backdrop to the main plot that brings closure to some of the main characters in Book One.

In Book Three, I examine the treachery of our own trusted institutions and how nothing is as it seems. Mennonites play an important role in my examination of how political intrigue twists their values, morals and beliefs as they grapple with the events shaping their decisions to escape to Paraguay with concealed Nazi war criminals. Tracking them are two main characters from Book One.

While I didn’t sense an “agenda” while reading the book, what do you hope your readers will realize about war?

It’s only in the last 15 years that Winston Churchill’s ruthlessness during World War II has come to light. I wanted readers to see that no war is a good or honorable war. How wise the Greeks were when they first used the Olympics to settle their conflicts, but that ideal did not last because ambition and greed exceed honor and grace. War is a profit-making machine for the winners and so war is perpetuated in one form or another.

 You created two female characters, who while very different, are both strong and capable in their own ways. As you wrote, did you find yourself liking one more than the other? Who is your favorite male character?

I’ve been asked this question in a similar way before, and I have a problem with the concept of favorite. I try to look for redeeming characteristics in everyone, even villains. I’m also aware that all our characters grow from facets of our own personalities, character and experience, so we do explore things about ourselves we like and dislike each time we create a new character in our imagination. Grace reflects the innocent child in me, the one filled with faith; Lee represents the angry advocate, that part of me that declared at age three: “It’s not fair.” It’s like asking me which of my grandchildren is my favorite? Each is unique and precious. I’d go before a firing squad and never declare a favorite before I died.

The true heroes are the British double agent Baron von Loren and OSS agent Morgan Saunders. Ah, and briefly there was the American Norwegian agent. And how could you not like the Irish Quinn Bergin? When I began writing, I pictured him as Pierce Brosnan. For two hundred pages into the story I never knew who the traitor was, and I was in utter shock when the reveal came. I then had to backtrack and foreshadow the revelation so the reader wouldn’t be in the same shock I was. I can’t pick a favorite. I’m sorry.

When will the next book in the series be released?

September 2012.

Is The Consummate Traitor also available at Kindle and Nook?

There will be a Kindle edition within the next four weeks and I am told it can be downloaded into any e-reader. As this is my first e-book experience, I won’t know how true this is until I try each one.

Anything else you’d like to share with your readers?

I haven’t mentioned God’s part in all this. That’s because I either haven’t figured it out or He hasn’t chosen to reveal it to me yet. The one chapter that I swear He wrote for me no one has ever mentioned. I felt it was the real purpose for my being inspired to write the story, but if I have to point it out to people, is that really fulfilling God’s purpose? Maybe it’s a private insight He wants people to experience, not a public one. 

Thanks Bonnie – I know you’re busy with your launch – I’m glad you had time for this interview.

www.bonnietoews.com

 http://www.amazon.com/Consummate-Traitor-1-Bonnie-Toews/dp/1461015383/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1307138700&sr=8-2