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The Einstein Conspiracy
New York Harbor, 1933. A passenger liner approaches Lower Manhattan and America awaits it with excitement. Renowned physicist Albert Einstein, whose genius and fame are nearly matched by his stubbornness, has fled the Nazi regime to take refuge in the United States. With the past attempts on his life now an ocean away, Einstein will teach America’s best and brightest at Princeton while continuing to voice his passionate resistance against Hitler.
FBI Agents James Amos and Harry Weiss are pulled off a mob case to pursue a bizarre lead that Hitler—who is convinced Einstein holds the key to developing an atomic superweapon—is sending a Nazi operative to abduct the scientist. They are soon plunged into an upside-down America that has festered out of sight across the country. In this surreal world of shadows, Nazi rallies fill out the iconic Madison Square Garden, Upper East Side neighborhoods become pro-Hitler enclaves, and quaint Long Island villages are transformed into mini fascist utopias.
Appearances are not only deceiving, but deadly.
Based on actual events, The Einstein Conspiracy is a gripping historical thriller, rich with haunting reminders of a moment in American history when the line between foreign enemy and domestic threat was perilously thin.
Reviews:
The novel weaves true history about the Nazi’s conspiracy against Albert Einstein with a thrilling plot and fascinating characters. It is a propulsive page-turner as well as a fresh look at the history of Nazi sympathizers and operatives in America, and the men and women—both law enforcement and everyday citizens—who took a stand against them. A gripping, informative, and deeply human novel from a man who understands how power works, and how the moral struggles of the past echo through the ages. - Alex DeMille - Author
Steve Israel delivers a gripping, impeccably researched thriller that captures a nation at a crossroads. The Einstein Conspiracy blends fact and fiction with remarkable precision, offering readers a story that is as propulsive as it is thought-provoking. This is the kind of book independent bookstores will love to handsell. It's bold, urgent, and impossible to put down. - oren Teicher - former CEO of the American Bookseller Association
The Einstein Conspiracy delivers an electrifying historical thriller about two FBI agents racing to protect Albert Einstein from a Nazi plot on American soil. - Melissa Gilbert - Actress, Little House on the Prairie
It’s a timely thriller because it treats foreign menace and homegrown extremism as a single, porous problem—exactly how it felt then, and how it often feels now. It made me think of how often that balance still fails us: warnings arrive too late, ambition races ahead of accountability, and every generation convinces itself it’s different—until it isn’t. - Alexis Coe
FBI Agents James Amos and Harry Weiss are pulled off a mob case to pursue a bizarre lead that Hitler—who is convinced Einstein holds the key to developing an atomic superweapon—is sending a Nazi operative to abduct the scientist. They are soon plunged into an upside-down America that has festered out of sight across the country. In this surreal world of shadows, Nazi rallies fill out the iconic Madison Square Garden, Upper East Side neighborhoods become pro-Hitler enclaves, and quaint Long Island villages are transformed into mini fascist utopias.
Appearances are not only deceiving, but deadly.
Based on actual events, The Einstein Conspiracy is a gripping historical thriller, rich with haunting reminders of a moment in American history when the line between foreign enemy and domestic threat was perilously thin.
Reviews:
The novel weaves true history about the Nazi’s conspiracy against Albert Einstein with a thrilling plot and fascinating characters. It is a propulsive page-turner as well as a fresh look at the history of Nazi sympathizers and operatives in America, and the men and women—both law enforcement and everyday citizens—who took a stand against them. A gripping, informative, and deeply human novel from a man who understands how power works, and how the moral struggles of the past echo through the ages. - Alex DeMille - Author
Steve Israel delivers a gripping, impeccably researched thriller that captures a nation at a crossroads. The Einstein Conspiracy blends fact and fiction with remarkable precision, offering readers a story that is as propulsive as it is thought-provoking. This is the kind of book independent bookstores will love to handsell. It's bold, urgent, and impossible to put down. - oren Teicher - former CEO of the American Bookseller Association
The Einstein Conspiracy delivers an electrifying historical thriller about two FBI agents racing to protect Albert Einstein from a Nazi plot on American soil. - Melissa Gilbert - Actress, Little House on the Prairie
It’s a timely thriller because it treats foreign menace and homegrown extremism as a single, porous problem—exactly how it felt then, and how it often feels now. It made me think of how often that balance still fails us: warnings arrive too late, ambition races ahead of accountability, and every generation convinces itself it’s different—until it isn’t. - Alexis Coe
- GenresHistorical Fiction
394 pages, Paperback
Published October 22, 2025
26 people are currently reading
3862 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 30, 2025
A Novel About Moral Clarity in an Age of Moral Collapse
I don’t generally read novels. In fact, The Einstein Conspiracy, by former congressman Steve Israel, is the first novel I’ve read since Big Guns. But Steve Israel is a friend, and he is a superb writer—clear, disciplined, and morally serious. That combination pulled me back into the world of fiction, and I’m grateful it did. This novel is powerful precisely because it uses storytelling to convey truths that history books alone sometimes cannot.
At its core, The Einstein Conspiracy is a meditation on evil; specifically, the depths of cruelty human beings are capable of when ideology eclipses empathy. Steve Israel captures Nazi ideology not merely as political extremism, but as a worldview marked by an absence of empathy and logic: a philosophy of cruelty and madness, grotesquely disguised as the salvation of society. The novel never lets the reader forget how thin the veneer of “order” becomes when a society abandons its moral compass.
Through relentless propaganda, brute force, and fear, Hitler convinced ordinary people across a broad spectrum to embrace the ideology. Some did so enthusiastically and with conviction, others actively participating without moral resistance, and still others acquiescing through silence and tolerance of the intolerable. The book makes clear that mass evil rarely depends on unanimity; it thrives when enough people stop resisting.
The novel also probes an uncomfortable truth about order itself. Societies require rules to function, and rules require enforcement. But when a moral framework collapses, the very mechanisms designed to preserve order can become instruments of cruelty. Israel shows how, in moments of societal madness, the choice is often not between good and evil, but between two disastrous outcomes—a modern version of Scylla and Charybdis—where moral clarity is scarce and consequences are unavoidable.
At the center of the book stands Albert Einstein, portrayed not only as a towering intellect but as a profoundly human figure burdened by competing obligations. Israel captures Einstein’s relentless efforts to support the Zionist movement, to help displaced Jewish professors find refuge and work in America, and to continue scientific work of monumental importance—all while remaining deeply committed to pacifism. This portrayal is nuanced and humane, avoiding hagiography while honoring Einstein’s moral seriousness.
Perhaps the most haunting tension in the novel is the paradox of pacifism itself. Einstein’s lifelong commitment to peace ultimately collides with a terrifying reality: a world in which Adolf Hitler may obtain a weapon capable of annihilation. The book confronts the painful truth that sometimes pacifism, if held rigidly, can undermine the very peace it seeks to protect. Israel explores the idea—uncomfortable but necessary—that a righteous war may be required to prevent a far greater evil. World War II was such a moment. To fail to stand up forcefully, the novel suggests, can itself be a moral failure.
It is difficult not to read The Einstein Conspiracy as a novel written for our time. I look forward to asking Steve Israel about this in conversation at a private event in a few weeks. The parallels are unmistakable. The Russian invasion of Ukraine looms in the background as a reminder that appeasing bullies does not preserve peace. A rules-based international order survives only if it is defended. Dictators are not dissuaded by goodwill alone.
The novel also speaks urgently to the resurgence of extremist ideologies today—whether neo-Nazism and white supremacism on the far right, or authoritarian-aligned extremism on the far left. These movements often converge with dictatorships, erode democratic norms, and exploit moral naïveté. Israel’s warning is clear: we must remove the blinders. There are belief systems and actors in the world that are genuinely dangerous, and pretending otherwise is not enlightened, it is reckless.
The Einstein Conspiracy succeeds because it does what the best novels do: it enlarges our moral imagination while sharpening our moral clarity. It reminds us that history is not safely behind us, that evil does not announce itself politely, and that defending a humane, rules-based society sometimes requires painful and difficult choices. This is a novel with urgency, depth, and relevance. It is one well worth reading, even if, like me, you don’t usually read novels.
I don’t generally read novels. In fact, The Einstein Conspiracy, by former congressman Steve Israel, is the first novel I’ve read since Big Guns. But Steve Israel is a friend, and he is a superb writer—clear, disciplined, and morally serious. That combination pulled me back into the world of fiction, and I’m grateful it did. This novel is powerful precisely because it uses storytelling to convey truths that history books alone sometimes cannot.
At its core, The Einstein Conspiracy is a meditation on evil; specifically, the depths of cruelty human beings are capable of when ideology eclipses empathy. Steve Israel captures Nazi ideology not merely as political extremism, but as a worldview marked by an absence of empathy and logic: a philosophy of cruelty and madness, grotesquely disguised as the salvation of society. The novel never lets the reader forget how thin the veneer of “order” becomes when a society abandons its moral compass.
Through relentless propaganda, brute force, and fear, Hitler convinced ordinary people across a broad spectrum to embrace the ideology. Some did so enthusiastically and with conviction, others actively participating without moral resistance, and still others acquiescing through silence and tolerance of the intolerable. The book makes clear that mass evil rarely depends on unanimity; it thrives when enough people stop resisting.
The novel also probes an uncomfortable truth about order itself. Societies require rules to function, and rules require enforcement. But when a moral framework collapses, the very mechanisms designed to preserve order can become instruments of cruelty. Israel shows how, in moments of societal madness, the choice is often not between good and evil, but between two disastrous outcomes—a modern version of Scylla and Charybdis—where moral clarity is scarce and consequences are unavoidable.
At the center of the book stands Albert Einstein, portrayed not only as a towering intellect but as a profoundly human figure burdened by competing obligations. Israel captures Einstein’s relentless efforts to support the Zionist movement, to help displaced Jewish professors find refuge and work in America, and to continue scientific work of monumental importance—all while remaining deeply committed to pacifism. This portrayal is nuanced and humane, avoiding hagiography while honoring Einstein’s moral seriousness.
Perhaps the most haunting tension in the novel is the paradox of pacifism itself. Einstein’s lifelong commitment to peace ultimately collides with a terrifying reality: a world in which Adolf Hitler may obtain a weapon capable of annihilation. The book confronts the painful truth that sometimes pacifism, if held rigidly, can undermine the very peace it seeks to protect. Israel explores the idea—uncomfortable but necessary—that a righteous war may be required to prevent a far greater evil. World War II was such a moment. To fail to stand up forcefully, the novel suggests, can itself be a moral failure.
It is difficult not to read The Einstein Conspiracy as a novel written for our time. I look forward to asking Steve Israel about this in conversation at a private event in a few weeks. The parallels are unmistakable. The Russian invasion of Ukraine looms in the background as a reminder that appeasing bullies does not preserve peace. A rules-based international order survives only if it is defended. Dictators are not dissuaded by goodwill alone.
The novel also speaks urgently to the resurgence of extremist ideologies today—whether neo-Nazism and white supremacism on the far right, or authoritarian-aligned extremism on the far left. These movements often converge with dictatorships, erode democratic norms, and exploit moral naïveté. Israel’s warning is clear: we must remove the blinders. There are belief systems and actors in the world that are genuinely dangerous, and pretending otherwise is not enlightened, it is reckless.
The Einstein Conspiracy succeeds because it does what the best novels do: it enlarges our moral imagination while sharpening our moral clarity. It reminds us that history is not safely behind us, that evil does not announce itself politely, and that defending a humane, rules-based society sometimes requires painful and difficult choices. This is a novel with urgency, depth, and relevance. It is one well worth reading, even if, like me, you don’t usually read novels.
December 11, 2025
This is Steve Israel's third novel. The first two were good, enjoyable reads. I highly recommend both Big Guns and The Global War on Morris. The Einstein Conspiracy is his best and most compelling work to date. I had a very hard time putting the book down, and I hasten to add that I generally read non-fiction books. Both the research involved in creating this work of historical fiction and the quality of the writing are impressive. The reader will, presumably, know the outcome. This will not, however, keep you from turning the pages and engaging with the characters. For those not aware of the pro-Nazi elements in and around New York in the years before the Word War, or New York (and Long island's) place in the atomic bomb race, the book provided even more surprises.
November 15, 2025
I just finished The Einstein Conspiracy by Steve Israel and I loved it. It was tough to put down for even a minute because the pace of the story has you on the edge of your seat! His detailed descriptions of not only the time period but the geography really resonated with me… especially being a Long Island native. The history and the science combined with the intricate character development created a must read thriller. Not only did I enjoy it for the sheer entertainment value but having learned/been reminded of so much of that dark history I feel smarter and more aware of how important history is to our successful future. Thank you for writing such a great novel!
November 18, 2025
The Einstein Conspiracy is one of those thrillers that pulls you in before you realize it. Steve Israel mixes high-stakes science and political intrigue with a light touch, making the whole thing feel surprisingly breezy to read. The two FBI agents at the center feel grounded and human, and the plot moves with an easy momentum that keeps you turning pages just to see what’s hiding around the next corner. It’s sharp, entertaining, and delivers its surprises without ever taking itself too seriously. An enjoyable ride from start to finish.
February 1, 2026
The Einstein Conspiracy is a fast paste, very well written historical roman a clef that brings y9u back to the Nazi infiltration of our country right before World War II. We lived in Oyster Bay a long time and often purchase books at the former Congressman's Theodore's independent bookstore. Even though I thought I knew a great deal about World War II and have been a life-long Long Islander, there was much I learned from this book, which was really hard to put down. David E Robbins, Oyster Bay.
December 17, 2025
Read the “Einstein Conspiracy “ over a two week period. The author Steve Israel combined created a thriller The story telling shared deep character insights from the Hitler period, there and in the U. S. Facts I never knew of how the Supporters of Hitlers Nazi’s lived in the U.S. How Einstein migrated to the U.S. to pursue freedom and tranquility. Fiction, storytelling which evolved to heightened thrilling character acts. Well written. Strongly recommend.
January 11, 2026
An excellent historical fiction thriller that I read straight through in one day. While much of the plot is imagined, the story is certainly believable as it unfolds and holds your interest until the end.
As a lover of history and longtime Long Islander, I particularly enjoyed this book with its many mentions of LI locations and local history, as well as many aspects of prewar New York and the immigration process and restrictions in place at the time.
Highly recommend.
As a lover of history and longtime Long Islander, I particularly enjoyed this book with its many mentions of LI locations and local history, as well as many aspects of prewar New York and the immigration process and restrictions in place at the time.
Highly recommend.
December 15, 2025
If you are looking for a fast paced historical thriller, with true to life characters, The Einstein Conspiracy is for you. Set during The Great Depression in both Germany and the New York Metropolitan area, Steve Isreal takes the reader on a wild thrill ride with one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century.
December 7, 2025
An excellent book. The characters are vivid and real. The plot is interesting and you learn a bit of history. The prose is even thought-provoking. Very worth reading.
January 4, 2026
Another winner from Steve Israel! Great storytelling and character development. Enjoyed the historical ties to Long Island.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews