The Fifth Column: A Novel

From New York Times bestselling author Andrew Gross comes a thrilling tale about a family—and a Country—torn apart.

February, 1939. Europe is on the brink of war. In New York City, thousands of Nazi supporters pack Madison Square Garden for a hate-filled rally. A handful of blocks away, Charles Mossman is in a bar, reeling from the loss of his job and the demise of his marriage when a group draped in Nazi flags barges in. Drunk, Charles takes a swing at one—with tragic results. A torrent of unintended consequences follows, and Charles goes to prison.

“Powerful…ambitious…heroic.”—Publishers Weekly

Two years later, America wrestles with whether to enter the war. Charles, now free, is wary of his estranged wife and daughter’s neighbors in the city’s German-immigrant community of Yorkville, where support for Hitler is common. Trudi and Willi Bauer seem like a kindly Swiss couple. But as the threat of war grows, so do fears of a “fifth column,” a group of German spies embedded into everyday American life. Are the Bauers part of a sinister conspiracy? When Pearl Harbor is attacked—and the country can no longer sit on the sidelines—Charles will do whatever it takes to root out an unknown enemy, and protect his family…or die trying.

"Skillfully blends thriller, espionage, and historical fiction into a page-turning novel that will keep you in suspense right up until the very last page.”—Criminal Element