Dark Invasion: 1915: Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America

By Howard Blum

Book Overview

Combining the pulsating drive of Showtime's Homeland with the fascinating historical detail of such of narrative nonfiction bestsellers as Double Cross and In the Garden of Beasts, Dark Invasion is Howard Blum's gritty, high-energy true-life tale of German espionage and terror on American soil during World War I, and the NYPD Inspector who helped uncover the plot--the basis for the film to be produced by and starring Bradley Cooper.

When a "neutral" United States becomes a trading partner for the Allies early in World War I, the Germans implement a secret plan to strike back. A team of saboteurs--including an expert on germ warfare, a Harvard professor, and a brilliant, debonair spymaster--devise a series of "mysterious accidents" using explosives and biological weapons, to bring down vital targets such as ships, factories, livestock, and even captains of industry like J. P. Morgan.

New York Police Inspector Tom Tunney, head of the department's Bomb Squad, is assigned the difficult mission of stopping them. Assembling a team of loyal operatives, the cunning Irish cop hunts for the conspirators among a population of more than eight million Germans. But the deeper he finds himself in this labyrinth of deception, the more Tunney realizes that the enemy's plan is far more complex and more dangerous than he suspected.

Full of drama and intensity, illustrated with eight pages of black and-white photos, Dark Invasion is riveting war thriller that chillingly echoes our own time.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006230755X
• ISBN13: 9780062307552
• Release Date: February 2014
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Howard Blum brings dull facts to an exciting life.

“The Dark Invader” is an excellent choice for a title as it is taken from the memoir written by Franz von Rintelen, the German spy network’s chief operator in 1915 America. Many books can overwhelm you with an exceptional amount of characters; this makes it hard to keep track of who is doing what when and where. We are lucky because this book explains the characters and their positions before starting the story. There are a few monochrome pictures, including four pages from Paul Koenig’s notebook and the Zimmerman telegram. I would like to have seen more pictures and maybe a few diagrams. The book is well-sourced. The sources give you an opportunity for further reading. It is World War I, and America is supposed to be neutral in trading with Germany’s enemies. This is unacceptable; Germany builds an elaborate plan of espionage against the US, trying to make sure that it does not provoke them to declare war. Not having a homeland security system set up, we rely on, among others, Capt. Tom Turney, head of the New York Police Department's bomb squad and neutrality squad, was to help fathom the depth of the problem. You will find the narrative fun to follow, so you need to carve out some time to read the book without interruption. Be sure to pull it off your shelf next year and find the parts that you did not remember.