New in Paperback: They Dared Return: The True Story of Jewish Spies Behind the Lines in Nazi Germany by Patrick K. O’Donnell

There are so many remarkable things about They Dared Return (DaCapo) one barely knows where to begin. When you reflect on all of the stories you’ve heard about spies in Nazi Germany, the last thing you consider is the possibility that some of those spies might have been Jewish. Yet that’s just where O’Donnell (Give Me Tomorrow, We Were One) goes in They Dared Return, telling the story of “the Jewish five.” Chosen by the OSS to infiltrate the Third Reich, the Five were naturalized Americans who returned to help hasten the end to the horrible struggles going on in their homeland.

Publishers Weekly nailed it in their review when the hardcover edition of this book was published last year: “A true-life companion to Quentin Tarantino’s recent pulp-grade wish-fulfillment WWII movie Inglorious Basterds.”

They Dared Return compares easily to the most engaging thrillers you might care to read, but the fact that none of this is fiction makes the story all the more compelling. A compelling and thought-provoking book.