One Clear Call

One Clear Call is 9th in the 11-book World's End Lanny Budd series. The covers the climax to WWII in 1943-44 as Budd continues as Presidential Agent 103. Lanny uses his art expertise & connections while traveling throughout Europe & the Middle East buying masterpieces & reselling them. His European clients include both Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring & Adolph Hitler, former picture postcard artist. This volume presents Lanny in the position of attempting to delude the Nazi's as to where the Allied invasion will occur. For almost 20 years Lanny has enjoyed the confidence of Hitler & for over 12 years with Goring. He's been able to accomplish this thru his boyhood friend, his mother's former lover, Kurt Meissner. Meissner is thought to be a great Komponist & is close to Hitler. However Lanny has never had much contact with Gestapo head Heinrich Himmler. After the years of deception, Himmler finally discovers the true purposes of Lanny's intimacies with the leadership. Lanny's half sister, Marceline, a dancer who ran off with a German officier, warns Lanny to get out of Germany quickly. The ensuing struggle by Lanny to evade the Gestapo is the most dangerous of his many exploits up to this point. Using his resistance connections, which he's funded & nurtured for years, he tries escaping by car but is forced to abandon it & beg for food & sleep in barns & forests. It's one of the most exciting adventures in the series. His eventual freedom is secured as the Allies take Italy city by city. Hitler's dreams are coming apart. There's mutiny among the highest levels of the military to assassinate him. The German military consider Hitler an incompetent & believe he's destroyed the Motherland. The plot is explosive & comes close to reaching the desired end. After DDay, Lanny is commissioned an Honorary Army Captain. He's put in charge of a number of American art experts charged with capturing what the Nazi's have stolen & returning it to the rightful owners. At this same time, the irrepressible Laurel Creston, Mrs Lanny Budd, decides to come to Europe as a commissioned officer & writer for the military press. In addition to capturing & organizing the paintings & other artwork, Lanny is asked to be a military interrogator. Due to his German fluency, he interviews top German prisoners including Gen. Emil Meissner, Kurt's older brother. In a fabulous scene, Lanny & the profane Gen. Patton have a conversation about capturing Paris before going on to Germany. There are many more exciting subplots as well.