In the Enemy's House: The Secret Saga of the FBI Agent and the Code Breaker Who Caught the Russian Spies

The New York Times bestselling author of Dark Invasion and The Last Goodnight once again illuminates the lives of little-known individuals who played a significant role in America’s history as he chronicles the incredible true story of a critical, recently declassified counterintelligence mission and two remarkable agents whose story has been called "the greatest secret of the Cold War."

In 1946, genius linguist and codebreaker Meredith Gardner discovered that the KGB was running an extensive network of strategically placed spies inside the United States, whose goal was to infiltrate American intelligence and steal the nation’s military and atomic secrets. Over the course of the next decade, he and young FBI supervisor Bob Lamphere worked together on Venona, a top-secret mission to uncover the Soviet agents and protect the Holy Grail of Cold War espionage—the atomic bomb.

Opposites in nearly every way, Lamphere and Gardner relentlessly followed a trail of clues that helped them identify and take down these Soviet agents one by one, including Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. But at the center of this spy ring, seemingly beyond the American agents’ grasp, was the mysterious master spy who pulled the strings of the KGB’s extensive campaign, dubbed Operation Enormoz by Russian Intelligence headquarters. Lamphere and Gardner began to suspect that a mole buried deep in the American intelligence community was feeding Moscow Center information on Venona. They raced to unmask the traitor and prevent the Soviets from fulfilling Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s threat: "We shall bury you!"

A breathtaking chapter of American history and a page-turning mystery that plays out against the tense, life-and-death gamesmanship of the Cold War, this twisting thriller begins at the end of World War II and leads all the way to the execution of the Rosenbergs—a result that haunted both Gardner and Lamphere to the end of their lives.

As the Cold War begins, in a girls’ finishing school transformed into a top secret government facility – its activities so classified that not even the president was informed of their full ramifications – two very unlikely friends begin a dogged hunt that takes them into the very heart of Russia’s covert war against America. And the secrets they will uncover at the end of their daring and tenacious quest not only shock the nation, but change the course of history.

This is the thrilling, suspenseful, and news-making true story told by bestselling author Howard Blum in his latest “dazzling masterwork of narrative nonfiction.”

It is the tale of Bob Lamphere, a hard-charging, fun-loving FBI agent, and Meredith Gardner, a brilliant but difficult code breaker, who team up to do the seemingly impossible. They break the “unbreakable” Soviet codes only to discover the existence of Operation Enormoz – the Russian plot to steal America’s atomic secrets. Energized by this startling knowledge, they begin a secret mission to track down the Soviet agents before the spies can steal the nation’s newest superweapon, the hydrogen bomb.

Yet all the while, Moscow Center, as the headquarters of the Soviet foreign intelligence operations was known, is working against them, ingeniously deploying their agents in a determined effort to make off with America’s technological and military secrets.

In the Enemy’s House is a real-life espionage story, a spy-versus-spy world populated with handlers, fieldmen, codes, and recognition signals. It takes readers on a startling journey, from Arlington Hall, the top secret code-breaking headquarters in Virginia, to the scientific compound at Los Alamos, and on to the sidewalks of New York’s Lower East Side, the foggy streets of London, and the corridors of secret power in Moscow. And it is a trail that ends hauntingly in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison, where Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed. 

A breathtaking chapter of American history and a page-turning mystery that plays out against the tense, life-and-death gamesmanship of the Cold War, this is a tale of friendship and, not least, betrayal. In the end, its two heroes, Lamphere and Gardner, find they have become victims, too.

Based on previously classified documents, personal notebooks, letters, and revealing interviews, In the Enemy’s House is Howard Blum’s best book yet – at once a captivating spy story filled with affecting characters and a news-making contemporary history. It is a nonfiction story that resonates across the decades to give a new and powerful perspective on today.

“The spy hunt set off by the Venona decrypts is one of the great stories of the Cold War and Howard Blum tells it here with the drama and page-turning pace of a classic thriller.” - Joseph Kanon, bestselling author of Defectors, Leaving Berlin, and Los Alamos

“A finely detailed study of crime and punishment in the days of the Manhattan project... [In the Enemy’s House] reinforces several points: how thoroughly Soviet agents were able to penetrate the government and scientific circles and the undeniable guilt of those who were eventually brought to justice—and, to boot, the ordinariness of some of the key players. Taut and well-crafted—of great interest to students of spydom and the early Cold War.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Blum has managed to provide a fresh look at the familiar story of the Rosenbergs. Indeed, his book may be the last piece we need to understand the puzzle surrounding one of the most memorable espionage cases of the 20th century.” - Ronald Radosh, New York Times Book Review

“In this gripping exploration of Cold War spycraft, Blum lays out the complex chain of circumstances that led to the exposure of a major Soviet spy ring responsible for stealing America’s atomic secrets during and after WWII.... Concise yet packed with details, this is a true page-turner, sure to appeal to those interested in the history of espionage or the Cold War.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Blum presents both a historical and a character-driven study here; perhaps even more interesting than the accounts of the spy-breaking moves and countermoves is the way that Blum shows the personalities of both Gardner and Lamphere, with the narrative arc leading to their shared sense of guilt over the fates of convicted—and executed—spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. There’s a lot of excitement throughout… Blum is a standout in the field of espionage history.” - Booklist (starred review)