''Attack Alarm'' is a 1941

thriller novel Thriller is a genre of fiction with numerous, often overlapping, subgenres, including crime, horror, and detective fiction. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving their audiences heightened feelings of suspe ...

by the British writer

Hammond Innes Ralph Hammond Innes (15 July 1913 – 10 June 1998) was a British novelist who wrote over 30 novels, as well as works for children and travel books. Biography Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex, and educated at Feltonfleet School, Cobham, Surrey ...

. It was inspired by the author's own experience as an anti-aircraft gunner at

RAF Kenley Royal Air Force Kenley, more commonly known as RAF Kenley, is a former List of former Royal Air Force stations, station of the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and the Royal Air Force, RAF in the Second World War. It played a significa ...

during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

. In fact, according to Adrian Jack, the manuscript "was written on a gun-site after he had joined the Royal Artillery". It was published in the United States the following year by Macmillan.Vinson & Kirkpatrick p.455

Synopsis

In the summer of 1940, as the battle between the British and German air forces continues a former

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

journalist now a gunner serving in an anti-aircraft battery begins to suspect that there may be a plot on the ground even more dangerous to his country than the enemy planes.

References

Bibliography

* James Vinson & D. L. Kirkpatrick. ''Contemporary Novelists''. St. James Press, 1986. 1941 British novels Novels by Hammond Innes British thriller novels William Collins, Sons books {{1940s-thriller-novel-stub