The Ninth Man

Collier Spymasters

by John Lee

Eight Nazi spies attempt to infiltrate the U.S. after Pearl Harbor but are intercepted by the FBI, although a dead woman and some stolen explosives make a security agent at the White House suspect there is someone they missed

Genres: Fiction, Suspense, Espionage, Historical Fiction

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 1976

About the author

Lee’s first professional writing experience was with newspapers. After graduating from Texas Tech, he went to work with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal as a sports writer, sports photographer and sports cartoonist. He worked there until he was invited to join the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, working for city-side. Lee worked in Fort Worth for five years, then went to Spain as a freelancer, to try his hand at a first novel. After a year in Europe, he went to work for the Denver Post, where he stayed for five years, until an international PR firm (Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.) hired him to work in Akron, Ohio, where he stayed for two years. He then went to Mexico for another year of freelancing. When he returned to the states, he worked on two new novels. He was offered a job as editor-in-chief of the Tehran Journal, an English-language newspaper in Iran, but chose to return to graduate school. While studying for his master’s in West Virginia, he served as stringer for the Associated Press and taught a photography class for the WVU School of Journalism. Once he finished his master's degree and started teaching at American University in Washington, D.C., he was asked to handle magazine-article classes. He knew little about magazines, so he started writing articles for a broad range of magazines, from top consumer markets to lower specialized markets. He published materials in some thirty different magazines during this period. Later, after he quit teaching, he added several hundred magazine articles when he began reviewing computer games for four different computer magazines. His list of writing credits is extensive, and you will find partial lists in several categories on his web site, www.johnlee-ninthman.com, including art, photography, magazine writing, academic writing, and books.

Reviews

[Pramod Nair · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Lee gained recognition, as a thriller writer through ‘The Ninth Man’, which was among the best sellers when it initially came out in 1976. Once a popular spy thriller, this book set in the Second World War settings of 1942 narrates the gripping tale of a bold Nazi underground mission, which saw eight saboteurs being dropped in American soil via two U-boats to cause general mayhem and destruction. Unknown to these agents another ultra-secret agent named Dietrich - who is a trained assassin with ruthless efficiency – also gets landed with an audacious mission of infiltrating the White House and assassinating President Roosevelt.

Loosely based on the historic facts surrounding the failed German mission of ‘Operation Pastorius’, the book has its moments of glory as it narrates the cat and mouse games between the American inland security forces and the saboteurs – especially Dietrich as he comes so close to full-filling his mission - with enough taut suspense, which can intrigue thriller fans.

[Gram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read "The Ninth Man" about 25 years ago and had forgotten most of it. But I discovered again that it's a gripping thriller, based on historical fact - the landing, by submarines, of 8 Nazi saboteurs on the East Coast of America in June 1942. Four were landed on a beach at Amagansett, New York & the other four at a beach in Florida, south of Jacksonville. All had been or still were residents of the United States. Operation Pastorius was the brainchild of the top man in German military intelligence, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the German Abwehr.
In real life, the plot failed - as it does in this book (that's no spoiler, it happens early on). But John Lee's story tells of a 9th man - a trained killer - who is forced to improvise a daring assassination plan after the 8 would-be saboteurs are rounded up by the FBI after one of them rats out his fellow agents.
The 9th man goes it alone, leaving a trail of deception, mayhem and death in his wake and it seems only one man - an Army security officer attached to the White House - can save the day as the FBI refuse to accept there might be a 9th man with a mission which could devastate the US war effort. The incredibly fast paced story builds to a thrilling climax and is followed by an epilogue which details what happened to the 8 real life saboteurs and the one fictional assassin. This is a great World War II thriller and Lee manages to evoke a terrific 1940's atmosphere in the story. I'm glad I read this book again.

[Guillermina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book two stars for two reasons:

One, this is clearly a piece of propaganda. The nazis are all so dumb and cowardly it's a wonder they get anything done, the americans are all wholesome and efficient, and the only reason this ninth man gets as far as he does is by chance and bureaucracy. Not that nazis aren't evil, mind you. But this book works on the usual premise that they were also so dumb it was Impossible for them to actually succeed. I think my favorite part (read, the one I loathed the most) was referring to american concentration camps as a "successful operation to dismantle axis spy rings". I know it was the 70s but fuck you, dude.

There's also a lot of lowkey prejudice in this. I'm pretty forgiving to older stuff but, the constant insults to basically everyone not a straight white american male got old really fast (the endless ribbing on Roosvelt using a wheelchair being probably the worst of it).

Second, How can a book about spies be so boring. I started this one last year, it's only 300 pages and I just couldn't finish it. Although in theory I like the idea of giving every saboteur a backstory and character, in practice the book meanders around from whatshisname the Good Guy and his issues with his girlfriend, to everybody else's issues with their bosses, to each nazi's particular personal dramas, and it just Never. Gets. On. With it.

This is the problem of writing a book about something that in the end didn't get done. 150 pages of stuff that should have been condensed in a single chapter.


(Me during 90% of this book)

[A.J. Blanc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got about two-thirds of the way through when I realized I wasn't invested enough in the story to finish. Not that it was a bad read, the characters were just not all that interesting to me, so I put the book down and started two more books instead. Considering I've already finished one of those two novels, and have a growing stack of more, I'm in no rush to picking The 9th Man back up anytime soon.

One interesting thing I learned about this story however is that aside from the 9th Man himself, and most likely Andy Blazkowicz (that's what I called him anyway), the other people and events were real. Two four-man teams of German spies who spent time in the US previously did indeed land via submarine in NY and FL, and their actual experiences were pretty much the same as portrayed here. This was known as Operation Pastorius; ironically named after the first German immigrant to found an all-German settlement in America (Germantown, PA).

I normally enjoy historical fiction stories, particularly in the WWII era, so I'm a little dumbfounded as to why T9M didn't land with me but there it is. Perhaps if the real events were simply exaggerated more rather than adding an additional character it may have struck a stronger chord, who knows. Cheers

[David Leemon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main character of this book is a very nasty man, a German assassin sent to kill Franklin D. Roosevelt. And he almost succeeds. Meanwhile, the way he treats this American woman he is staying with is absolutely beastly, but she puts up with it.

The characters in this novel are very well-drawn. We understand who they are and why they do what they do. This is definitely the best World War II thriller I have read.

[John R. Wells Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if?

A good what if story from WWII. A good read that keeps your interest. Interesting characters and a fast pace.

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1976. Germans infiltrate America during World War 2 to create chaos from within.

[Babbdawg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this years ago when it first came out. Loved it then, loved even more the second time.

[Dan Galloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoyable thriller, with some areas of somewhat profound prose!

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

If read before 1980 I use 1970.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nazi spy story. Not too bad and a very solid read. This one is going to eBay for someone else to enjoy. =)

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic read of my youth. Page-turner blending fact and hypothesized fiction. Looking forward to reading it again soon.