The Hornet's Sting: The Amazing Untold Story of World War II Spy Thomas Sneum

( 4 )
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up in Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Paperback
$10.76
BN.com price
$14.95 List Price (Save 28%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$3.52
$14.95 List Price (Save 76%)
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
All (22)  
Used (6)  
New (16)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 3
Showing 1 – 10 of 22 (3 pages)
$3.52
(Save 76%)
New Chapter Recycling
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(3285)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Good

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$3.95
(Save 74%)
Paper_Tiger_Books
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(3696)

Condition: Like New
1616081708 Warehouse Special! Overstock from publisher with light superficial wear from shelving. Never used.

Ships from: Pittsburgh, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$4.34
(Save 71%)
Ebooksweb
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(1776)

Condition: New
2/1/2011 Paperback New 1616081708 Ships Within 24 Hours. Tracking Number available for all USA orders. Excellent Customer Service. Upto 15 Days 100% Money Back Gurantee. Try ... Our Fast! ! ! ! Shipping With Tracking Number. Read more Show Less

Ships from: Bensalem, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$4.34
(Save 71%)
BookHouse COM LLC
Seller since 2011

Feedback rating:

(316)

Condition: New
PAPERBACK New 1616081708 FROM A COMPANY YOU TRUST, HUGE SELECTION. RELIABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! ! HASSLE FREE RETURN POLICY, SATISFACTION GURANTEED****

Ships from: Philadelphia, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$4.37
(Save 71%)
Best Bargain Books
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(12865)

Condition: New
New, unread, unused and in perfect condition.

Ships from: East Patchogue, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$4.38
(Save 71%)
Country Book and Things
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(359)

Condition: New
1616081708 New book. All orders in US have delivery confirmation. We provide prompt friendly customer service.

Ships from: Freeport, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$5.16
(Save 65%)
Bear Lake
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(1386)

Condition: Very Good
1616081708 There is some minor wear to the cover.

Ships from: Grove City, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$5.98
(Save 60%)
Daedalus Books
Seller since 2012

Feedback rating:

(71)

Condition: New
New. 386 pages, Skyhorse (pap). Daedalus Books, quality books, CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs at bargain prices since 1980.

Ships from: Columbia, MD

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$6.07
(Save 59%)
ANGELFIRE BOOKS
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(336)

Condition: New
1616081708 NEW * GIFT QUALITY. In Stock

Ships from: BALDWIN, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$6.07
(Save 59%)
ANGELFIRE BOOKS
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(336)

Condition: New
1616081708 CLEAN, TIGHT AND UNMARKED. NO WEAR. MINOR CREASE ON BACK COVER

Ships from: BALDWIN, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 3
Showing 1 – 10 of 22 (3 pages)
Close
Sort by
NOOK Book (eBook)
$0.99
BN.com price
$24.95 List Price (Save 96%)

Available on NOOK devices and apps

  • Nook Devices
  • NOOK
  • NOOK Color
  • NOOK Tablet
  • Tablet/Phone
  • NOOK for iPad
  • NOOK for iPhone
  • NOOK for Android
  • NOOK for Android (Tablet)
  • NOOK Kids for iPad
  • PC/Mac
  • NOOK Study
  • NOOK for PC
  • NOOK for Mac

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

More About This Book

Overview

Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with Sneum, Mark Ryan describes how Tommy made an incredible escape from Denmark in a battered old Hornet Moth aircraft - which he had to refuel in mid-air by climbing out on the wing. Later, he escaped from Denmark again - by walking across a treacherous frozen sea on which two of his companions died. Tommy brought over precious intelligence about the Nazi radar installations in Denmark and their atom bomb - his reward was to be imprisoned in Brixton as a suspected double agent and threatened with execution.

He cheated the hangman - but it is only with the publication of this enthralling book that Sneum can be celebrated as, in the words of Professor R.V. Jones, Churchill’s chief of scientific intelligence, ‘one of the true heroes of World War II’.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Even fictional spy masters James Bond and Jason Bourne would be hard-pressed to match the real-life adventures of Thomas Sneum (1917-2007), a Danish national who spied for the British during WWII. His first mission was self-assigned, risking his life to photograph a German Freya radar station and catch a daring plane flight from Denmark to England in order to trade intelligence for an opportunity to serve as a Royal Air Force pilot. British Intelligence, however, had other plans for Sneum, convincing him to return to Denmark and continue his espionage. The twists and turns his life takes after parachuting back into Nazi-occupied Denmark are more involved and excruciating than Fleming or Ludlum could dream; Sneum himself says, "There were times during the war when James Bond would have gone back. I carried on." This involving chronicle from UK writer Ryan, based on extensive interviews with Sneum, is an excellent example of the old truth-and-fiction adage, and a treat for fans of wild WWII yarns.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Library Journal

In 1940, Thomas Sneum, a 22-year-old pilot in the Danish Air Arm, refused to stand by while the Germans took over his homeland. He gathered data about Nazi radar installations, using a camera and German contacts. Then he and a fellow pilot pieced back together a disassembled Hornet Moth biplane they had found and flew it to England to share their information. The Hornet lacked the range to make it all the way, requiring Sneum to climb out of the plane onto the wing in midair to refuel. Sneum was eventually recruited by the British and provided valuable information during the war despite the many obstacles in his way, including being jailed as a suspected double agent. Using original documents and hundreds of hours of interviews with Sneum (who died in 2007), Ryan's book is the first to chronicle the journey of the audacious Dane whose real-life exploits include all the key elements of any good spy story: sex, danger, and intrigue. In fact, Ken Follet's The Hornet's Sting was based on this World War II episode, but the real account is more exciting than fiction: readers will find the book hard to put down. Highly recommended.
—Patti C. McCall

More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
A ripping real-life yarn of espionage and daring that also inspired Ken Follett's novel Hornet Flight (2002). Shortly before feisty 89-year-old Thomas Sneum died in 2007, British journalist Ryan tracked down the former pilot and elicited his amazing story of spying for British Intelligence in Nazi-occupied Denmark. Sneum grew up on the island of Fanoe, off the West coast. In April 1940, he was a 22-year-old flight lieutenant, furious that his superiors had refused to engage the mighty Luftwaffe as the Germans rolled into Denmark. Vowing to help the British, Sneum was careful to ingratiate himself with the occupiers. When a Nazi officer responded to his questions about a mysterious installation the Germans were building on Fanoe by boasting of "special technology" that could spot aircraft from far away, Sneum didn't realize it was radar (then a little-known innovation), but he did guess it was a dangerous new tool. When he got to the British Legation outside Stockholm with this information, the naval attache suggested he return to Fanoe and take photographs of it. Sneum not only got the photos, he insisted on flying them to England himself. With the help of his friend and co-pilot Kjeld Pedersen, he refurbished a beat-up Havilland Hornet Moth and took it on a hare-brained flight across the North Sea. Ryan's depiction of this six-hour odyssey is studded with jaw-dropping facts: To refuel, for example, Sneum had to walk out on the wing while airborne. The author also crafts a convincing description of his subject as a scrappy, immodest, slightly oily charmer. The SIS sent him back to Denmark to learn more about the Germans' boasts of a "super-bomb," and he transmitted information by radiowith the help of Danish Resistance engineer Duus Hansen. However, Sneum's berth within Britain's complicated intelligence network was always uneasy. He became fatally entangled in interdepartmental rivalries, and his allegiances were eventually called into question. Ryan skillfully builds and sustains interest through a narrative that grows increasingly convoluted.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781616081706
  • Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
  • Publication date: 2/1/2011
  • Pages: 408
  • Sales rank: 353,520
  • Product dimensions: 8.90 (w) x 6.10 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Mark Ryan interviewed Tommy Sneum at length before the former spy died last year aged 89. Mark Ryan is a writer and lives in England.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments x

Maps xii

Introduction 1

1 The Tightrope to Radar 7

2 Trapped 18

3 Himmler and the Longbow 25

4 A Taste of Freedom 31

5 On Location 38

6 Flight Plan 45

7 The Jigsaw Puzzle 52

8 A Close Shave 61

9 Take-Off 68

10 Up Close and Personal 74

11 Wing-Walker 81

12 The Welcome 88

13 Disbelief 93

14 Sennding for the Doctor 99

15 The Spymaster 108

16 SIS, SOE and a Strained Mariage 115

17 Spy School 126

18 A Recipe for Disaster 134

19 Into Action 140

20 A Fragile Foothold 146

21 Bed Manners 153

22 The Threat 160

23 Meet the Wife 167

24 Brothers in Arms 173

25 History-Makers 178

26 Infighting 186

27 Christmas Horrors 193

28 Hunted 199

29 Bohr's Bombshell 205

30 London Beckons 213

31 Trek to the Unknown 218

32 Closing In 226

33 Surrounded 233

34 Definance and Loyalty 239

35 Living on the Edge 247

36 Walking with Ghosts 252

37 Spilling the Beans 261

38 The Gamble 267

39 The Consequences 272

40 The Ordeal 277

41 A Diplomatic Incident 287

42 Smear Campaign 293

43 Powerless 297

44 A New Betrayal 304

45 All's Fair in Love and War 310

46 When Life is Too Short 314

47 The Accident 321

48 Rewards and Memories 328

49 Coming Home 336

Epilogue: The Hornet's Sting 343

Notes 358

Index 374

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 4 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(1)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(1)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews

  • Posted May 31, 2009

    A Spy Thriller of WW II that is unbelievable because it is true!

    Mark Ryan has written a spy story of WW II that should be made into a movie. Except the exploits of Thomas Sneum are so incredible that his story defies reality. Richly researched and documented Ryan spent countless hours with Sneum before Sneum's death in 2007. Not only did Sneum become one of the great "unknown heroes" of the secret war against Hitler, he repeatedley volunteered to return to Denmark to take on ,missions that the SOE,SBS,or OSS professionals may have been somewhat hesitiant to take on.
    A real life adventure that keeps readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish the story of Tommy Sneum has to be read to be believed. From photographing radar stations, working with the Danish resistance, escaping across frozen lakes that cost his companions their lives, and returning to do it all over again makes one wonder where these men and women drew on the intestinal fortitude to stare at certain death from the Nazi's and the feared Gestapo. And, to live on the knife's edge of the world of espionage. Some of his toughest battles was convincing his own spymasters he was not a double agent, and that he came within a breath of being hung by British Intelligence only makes his story more gripping.
    This story could have come from spymaster Ian Fleming and his fictional agent 007, except, it is real and more interesting.
    Mark Ryan is outstanding in his telling as one of the great spy stories of WW II. Of which there are many. The story of Tommy Sneum deserves to be ranked among the best.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted September 5, 2011

    Kindle edition is only $1.99

    Why such a big price difference?

    2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 15, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted September 21, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews
If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit