Double Cross Blind » (Reprint)

Joel Ross studied history at Hampshire College and taught English abroad for a short time before writing Double Cross Blind, his first novel. His father served in WWII, along with all five of his uncles, and their stories provided some of the background for the book. Currently, Ross lives in Maine with his wife, Lee.

December 1, 1941. Seven days before the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. The days are numbered for Sondegger, a Nazi spy in London. Captured on a mission to take down the Twenty Committee, a network of German spies the British have turned, Sondegger steadfastly refuses to reveal how and where he transmits his intelligence to Germany, and his captors are getting impatient.

For American Tom Wall the days have run together, as he awakens to find himself locked in a British military asylum. Wounded and shell-shocked, he remembers only that his brother Earl betrayed his unit in Crete, causing one of the bloodiest massacres of the war.

MI5 releases Tom by way of a bargain. Pretend to be Earl and convince Sondegger to reveal how and where he has arranged to transmit his intelligence to Germany. Fail, and Tom will spend the rest of the war in jail. Succeed, and though still considered a danger to himself, he will be allowed to leave the hospital to find Earl — the brother who stole his girl and may well be a Nazi informant.

But Sondegger proves himself to be a formidable opponent. Even as he surrendered himself to the British, Sondegger knew the Japanese fleet had sailed for Pearl Harbor. The question is: Who will gain more if the Allies prevent the attack? Sondegger, MI5, the OSS, Tom, and Earl’s wife, Harriet, all have different answers — separate theories on what will become known as the Day of Infamy. Unable to trust anyone, Tom attempts to save the Twenty Committee and stop the attack on Pearl Harbor as the clock counts down.

In his electrifying debut, Joel Ross combines political insights based on newly declassified evidence with thehigh stakes and fast pace of a classic WWII spy novel. No wonder New York Times bestselling author Dan Silva describes DOUBLE CROSS BLIND as "intelligent, fresh, exhilarating…a new career is launched.”

Author Bio:

JOEL N. ROSS studied history at Hampshire College and taught English abroad before writing DOUBLE CROSS BLIND, his first novel. His father and five uncles served in World War II, and their stories provided some of the background for the book. Ross and his wife, Lee, live in Yarmouth, Maine.

Publishers Weekly

On the morning of December 1, 1941, at the start of Ross's debut thriller, American Thomas Wall wakes up in a London hospital, where he's recovering from wounds he suffered as a member of a Canadian unit massacred in battle on Crete. Thomas blames his diplomat brother, Earl, for betraying his unit to the Nazis and wants to know where Earl is. Later that day, a British intelligence officer persuades Thomas to pose as his brother in order to pump a captured German spy. Aware of Thomas's identity, the spy sets him on the trail of hidden microfilm containing information regarding the upcoming Japanese attack in the Pacific. Thomas attempts to enlist the aid of Earl's wife, Harriet, but as she works for British intelligence, she has her own plans. A by-the-numbers plot, clich d minor characters (including cockney hit men and a gold-hearted stripper), protagonists as unlikable as the antagonists and a foreseeable conclusion (hint: America will go to war) all add up to a routine read. Agent, Henry Morrison. (July 12) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.