The Darkest Hour: A Novel

A crackling, highly imaginative thriller debut in the vein of W.E.B. Griffin and Philip Kerr, set in German-occupied London at the close of World War II, in which a hardened British detective jeopardizes his own life to save an innocent soul and achieve the impossible—redemption.

London, 1946. The Nazis have conquered the British, and now occupy Great Britain, using brutality and fear to control its citizens. John Henry Rossett, a decorated British war hero and former police sergeant, has been reassigned to the Office of Jewish Affairs. He now answers to the SS, one of the most powerful and terrifying organizations in the Third Reich.

Rossett is a man accustomed to obeying commands, but he’s now assigned a job he did not ask for—and cannot refuse: rounding up Jews for deportation, including men and women he’s known his whole life. But they are not the only victims, for the war took Rossett’s wife and son, and shattered his own humanity.

Then he finds Jacob, a young Jewish child, hiding in an abandoned building, who touches something in Rossett that he thought was long dead.

Determined to save the innocent boy, Rossett takes him on the run, with the Nazis in pursuit. But they are not the only hunters following his trail. The Royalist Resistance and the Communists want him, too. Each faction has its own agenda, and Rossett will soon learn that none of them can be trusted . . . and all of them are deadly. 

London, 1946. The Nazis have won the war and now occupy Great Britain, using fear to control its citizens. John Henry Rossett, a decorated British war hero, is one of those unlucky souls. He's a man accustomed to obeying commands, but he's now assigned a job he didn't ask for and knows he cannot refuse: rounding up Jews for deportation, including men and women he's known his whole life.

Robbed of his family by a Resistance bomb, and robbed of his humanity by the work he is forced to do, fate suddenly presents Rossett with an unexpected challenge that could change everything. He finds someone hiding in an abandoned building and is faced with a momentous decision—to do something or to look the other way. Yet whatever Rossett does, he will be pushed into a place where he could endanger all he holds dear.

“A stunning debut… The action never stops, as John discovers he can no longer trust his friends. Everyone he knows would give him and the boy up in an instant to save their own hides…. A brilliant work for the history and thriller fan who wants to see the past through a truly imaginative mind.” - Suspense Magazine

“[A] convincing and swift-moving debut, The Darkest Hour [is] an alternative-history thriller that makes an imaginary past vivid by dwelling not on larger what-ifs but on the perils of a handful of individuals… Schumacher’s assured and atmospheric writing make this a memorable novel, reminiscent of writers from John Buchan to Ken Follett, and of directors from Alfred Hitchcock to Carol Reed. But it’s the characters in The Darkest Hour-from the scene-stealing child to the SS secretary whose double (triple?) agent duties are provoking an identity crisis-who make the reader care what happens.” - Wall Street Journal

“The Darkest Hour kicks into overdrive, morphing from a bleak tale of what-might-have-been into a high-adrenaline thriller in which the so-called British Lion, a one-man army, breaks into an SS stronghold to free the boy, then goes on the run within a city in ruin… Each cliffhanger chapter moves Rossett from the frying pan into a fire…It’s an exhilarating roller-coaster ride that would have made a great Hitchcock movie.” - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“The Darkest Hour kicks into overdrive, morphing from a bleak tale of what-might-have-been into a high-adrenaline thriller. . . . Each cliffhanger chapter moves Rossett from the frying pan into a fire. . . . It’s an exhilarating roller-coaster ride.” - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Schumacher’s assured and atmospheric writing make this a memorable novel. . . . But it’s the characters in The Darkest Hour-from the scene-stealing child to the SS secretary whose double (triple?) agent duties are provoking an identity crisis-who make the reader care what happens.” - Wall Street Journal

“A stunning debut… The action never stops, as John discovers he can no longer trust his friends. Everyone he knows would give him and the boy up in an instant to save their own hides. . . . A brilliant work for the history and thriller fan.” - Suspense Magazine

“A well-written adventure.” - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“A fast-paced roller-coaster journey of twists and turns. None of the characters are exactly who and what they seem.Tony Schumacher has created a complex character in Rossett, an emotionally damaged man who trusts no one and cares for nothing. This is a spellbinding, exciting, suspenseful novel with a surprising ending. The Darkest Hour is real page-turner.” - Historical Novel Society

“A fast-paced roller-coaster journey of twists and turns. . . . Schumacher has created a complex character in Rossett, an emotionally damaged man who trusts no one and cares for nothing. This is a spellbinding, exciting, suspenseful novel. . . . [A] real page-turner.” - Historical Novel Society

“[An] action-packed, high tension, alternate history which features a deadly game of cat-and-mouse in a Britain run by Hitler’s henchmen. . . . A powerful tale of corrosive suspicion and electrifying danger. . . . The Darkest Hour is an exciting and breathtakingly plausible first novel brimming with suspense and starring a superbly-drawn cast of characters, from the double dealers and brutal Nazis to the damaged, disillusioned detective who put his humanity on ice and the young boy who triggers the thaw and becomes the former war hero’s road to salvation. . . . A cleverly nuanced and convincing thriller, intelligently written, frequently thought-provoking, sometimes disturbing . . . and guaranteed to keep the pages turning right up to the unexpected and stunning climax.” - Lancaster Evening News (UK)

“A powerful tale of corrosive suspicion and electrifying danger. . . . The Darkest Hour is an exciting and breathtakingly plausible first novel brimming with suspense and starring a superbly-drawn cast of characters. . . . A cleverly nuanced and convincing thriller.” - Lancaster Evening News (UK)

“The Darkest Hour is an alternate history, a psychological study, and a thriller all rolled into one fantastic book. . . . A plat that is action-packed and gripping.” - Crimespree Magazine