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 the United States from within. 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 dangerous 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. 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 Bookreporter’s Favorite Books of 2025. The novels stand alone and may be read in any order.
Author
NEW: Jake Lassiter tackles high school football and becomes the most hated man in Miami in EARLY GRAVE, Paul Levine's new legal thriller. "An extraordinary hero stars in a legal tale as believable as it is riveting." - Kirkus Reviews "Levine scores with this complex and witty legal thriller. This winner works even for those new to the series." - Publishers Weekly (★starred review★) When his godson suffers a catastrophic injury in a high school football game, lawyer Jake Lassiter sues to abolish the sport and becomes Public Enemy Number One. The former NFL linebacker also battles CTE, the fatal brain disease caused by repetitive head injuries. His personal life, too, hits a rocky patch. He's in couple's therapy with fiancée Dr. Melissa Gold and vows to live long enough to fix his relationship and achieve justice for his godson. "Grounded in reality, EARLY GRAVE is a novel with heartfelt emotion, flashes of humor, and high-octane excitement." - Franco Harris, NFL Hall of Fame Running Back STILL GOING STRONG: CHEATER’S GAME is a stand-alone entry in the Jake Lassiter series. "Clever, funny and seriously on point when it comes to the inequities of society and the justice system, CHEATER'S GAME is top-notch stuff from Paul Levine. His Jake Lassiter is my kind of lawyer!" - Michael Connelly You may ORDER HERE. ALSO AVAILABLE: BUM DEAL. “Fascinating, fully developed characters and smart, well-paced dialogue keep the pages turning. Levine manipulates the expectations of the reader as skillfully as Jake manipulates the expectations of the jury” — Publishers Weekly (★starred review★) "Drop everything...Read it now...BUM DEAL is fantastic." - Lee Child “BUM DEAL is the real deal. A funny, compelling and canny courtroom thriller, seasoned with a little melancholy and a lot of inside knowledge.” — Scott Turow Defense lawyer Jake Lassiter switches teams and prosecutes a surgeon accused of killing his wife. There’s just one problem…or maybe three: no evidence, no witness, and no body. But Lassiter’s used to fighting impossible battles on the gridiron and in court. After all, he’s not totally burned-out—just a little scorched. BUM DEAL is a stand-alone entry in the Jake Lassiter series and available for ORDER HERE. Available now: BUM LUCK "Thirty seconds after the jury announced its verdict, I decided to kill my client." That's the opening line of BUM LUCK, which brings together Miami's offbeat lawyers Jake Lassiter, Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord. What's behind Lassiter's bizarre behavior. Solomon and Lord think that one-too-many concussions on the football field have left their pal with C.T.E., the fatal brain disease. Is it lights out for Lassiter? “The pages fly by and the laughs keep coming in this irresistible Florida romp. A delicious mix of thriller and comic crime novel.” – Booklist (★starred review★) The author of 23 novels, Paul Levine won the John D. MacDonald fiction award and was nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller, and James Thurber awards. More information on Paul Levine’s
