Synopsis: "Black Tom: Terror on the Hudson" by Ron Semple is a tale of sabotage, subterfuge and political shenanigans set in that colorful, raucous place that was Jersey City in 1916 when America is on the cusp of war and the fate of a president and the nation might hinge on the decision a young policeman is forced to make. Critique: A superbly crafted work of historical fiction that is fundamentally based upon a true incident of sabotage by German agents on American soil during the course of World War I, "Black Tom: Terror on the Hudson" is a riveting read and highly recommended for both community and academic library Historical Fiction collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Black Tom: Terror on the Hudson" is also available in a Kindle edition ($7.19). ~ Willis M Buhle, Midwest Book Review

Ron Semple combines two rare talents: He’s a captivating story teller and an adept history researcher. He brings to life a relatively brief, almost forgotten period in American history. At the midpoint of World War One, Black Tom and its surrounding area became a battlefield over American munitions . The author’s characters are a vivid, lusty, entertaining mixture of striving European immigrants, corrupt politicians, spies and counterspies, stealthy saboteurs and incompetent security guards. I found it riveting. I recommend it with enthusiasm. Leslie Wilbur Emeritus Professor, University of Southern California ~ Leslie Wilbur, Emeritus Professor, University of Southern California

Mr. Semple has managed to combine fact and fiction along with a family saga of a time in our history when it really was all different, so the book is history and epic and exciting and sometimes laugh-aloud funny, as it tells the down-home stories of the overlapping ethnic groups who peopled those cities that long century ago... ~ Warren Murphy, screenwriter and bestselling author.

After the first act of terrorism on American soil, nothing was ever the same. September 11, 2001? No! On July 30, 1916, German spies blew up the world’s largest munitions dump on the Hudson River in Jersey City. Veteran newsman Ron Semple tells the tale of how this treachery — from the lowest ranks of government to the very highest — set in motion the events that led to the rise of the United States as a great power through the sacrifice of the blood of nation’s youth in the twentieth century’s first European conflagration. Semple masterfully weaves into the expanse of this tapestry the threads of the everyday lives of common people and how a political genius — Frank Hague — squeezed from every event an opportunity to accumulate power in Jersey City. Power that he would use to propel Roosevelt to the White House. Power that Hague went on to hold for thirty years as America changed irrevocably. ~ Anthony Olszewski, Hudson County Facts