Heavy Water is a World War II spy novel set in 1942 Europe. The American OSS and British MI6 partner to insert operatives into Nazi held territories, searching for a developmental chemical process for making heavy water, a molecule required to create an atomic bomb. Hitler's scientists are ahead of the Allies in developing new weapons systems, like the V-2 rockets, jet engines, and atomic energy. After invading Denmark and Norway, Hitler's scientists control the heavy water produced in Norway at Norsk Hydro. The British plan to destroy the Norwegian capability with several commando raids.Separately, the allies want to co-opt the new chemical process being developed by a Danish Professor. The US and British goal is not only to prevent the Germans from using the new Danish technology, but also to prevent their ally, Russia, from knowledge or involvement. The implications for a big bomb and the strategic future are too important.After clandestine insertion into Denmark, the spies follow the trail of the technical documentation through Germany to the Dachau concentration camp. Central to the story is "nothing is as it seems". Spies have false identities, resistance cells are hidden, and the Nazi's tout a false rationalization policy for purifying the Aryan race. The Dachau horrors and moral degradation are rationalized as being in the Third Reich national interest. Starvation, rape, and torture are organized by the depraved Camp Commandant.Can the spies find the technical notes and formulas, deal with the horrors of Dachau, and complete their mission? Can the SS discover the ruse, capture the operatives, and uncover the resistance cell? Can the allies escape and show the world documentation of the horrors practiced in the Dachau camp? Can the false perceptions be peeled away to discover the truth, since "nothing is as it seems"?Heavy Water is the author's first book dealing with the exploits of Major Walter Holman-Smith of MI6 and Eric Wolfe of the OSS. In the near future, a second escapade will surface for the two heroes in Nazi Gold.
William Heyn began writing to express some latent creativity after retiring from his real job. Heavy Water is his first book soon to be followed by a sequel, Nazi Gold, another clandestine mission by the two allied operatives. The author lives in Connecticut with his wife of 45 years, with four children and eight grandchildren near by.
