Black Chamber (novel)

Black Chamber is an alternative history novel by Canadian-American author S. M. Stirling, published in 2018. It launches a series where Theodore Roosevelt secures the 1912 U.S. presidential election. The narrative opens on September 1, 1916, and depicts a Black Chamber that operates as much more than the real-world U.S. code-breaking organization. The plot begins with William Howard Taft, Roosevelt’s 1912 opponent, dying of a heart attack, which guarantees Roosevelt’s victory. Once in office, Roosevelt conquers Mexico “for its own good” and pushes a rigorous progressive agenda. By September 1916, the United States has not entered World War I, and Roosevelt aims to stay out. However, Germany is faring well in the war, and Roosevelt learns of a new German weapon with unknown characteristics. Luz O’Malley Aróstegui, a senior field operative for the Black Chamber, impersonates a Mexican-Irish revolutionary to contact a German agent, Baron Horst von Dückler. They become lovers, and Luz discovers the weapon, “The Breath of Loki,” is a poisonous gas that kills on contact. She recruits Ciara Whelan, an Irish-American with a grudge against the U.S., to help. Luz eventually confronts a German plan to keep the U.S. out of the war by bringing the gas to the East Coast. Factual characters include President Theodore Roosevelt, General Leonard Wood (chief of the U.S. general staff), John Wilkie (director of the Secret Service and Black Chamber), John Hoover (a Black Chamber operative), General Paul von Hindenburg, General Erich Ludendorff, and Colonel Walter Nicolai. Fictional characters are Luz O’Malley Aróstegui, Ciara Whelan, and Captain Baron Horst von Dückler. In critical reception, Liz Bourke called Black Chamber a “rattlingly good spy thriller,” praising the characters but noting that none could be considered truly good and expressing concern over the plot involving chemical weapons on civilians. Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, praised the “lavish historical, linguistic, and cultural detail—including sly digs at real-life figures, such as a youthful J. Edgar Hoover—enhance well-rounded characters to make this a highly enjoyable espionage romp.”