The Torqued Man

Books

The Torqued Man marks an extraordinary debut from Peter Mann, a Stanford lecturer and historian who has crafted one of the most compelling and intellectually rich spy novels in recent memory. Set against the apocalyptic backdrop of wartime Berlin from 1942-1945, this brilliant literary thriller weaves together two mesmerizing narratives that explore themes of identity, resistance, and moral complexity under fascism. The novel's ingenious structure centers on two manuscripts discovered in the rubble of bombed Berlin in September 1945. The first is the journal of Adrian de Groot, a German military intelligence officer and closeted gay man whose anti-Nazi convictions have been compromised by his work for the Reich. The second presents a wildly different account narrated by his Irish agent, Frank Pike, a charismatic former IRA fighter who adopts the mythical persona of Finn McCool, the legendary Celtic hero.