Jack

Outstanding

Reviewed: 21-03-24

An outstanding factual portrayal of the history of this most famous of the special forces. The men, their courage, foibles, mistakes and characters are unfolded piece by piece as the history of their war is presented in a truly engaging format. Perfectly narrated by the authour.

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A refreshing perspective

Reviewed: 21-02-24

A very enjoyable listen to a wartime story from a refreshingly different perspective with good characterisation and well read.

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Flexible Geography and more

Reviewed: 26-01-24

You do need to suspend logic and knowledge of geography amongst other things to enjoy this book.
The large distances covered on foot/bicycle or funeral hearse in France and Germany are frankly laughable given the mileage, fuel shortages, security checkpoints etc that were evident at the time.
And the RAF pilot who is suddenly able to fly a metric calibrated ie metres, kmh aircraft and easily refers to said measurement etc when UK was still VERY Imperial measurements ie "We need to keep the speed at 100kmh" not "WTF is the stall speed on an aircraft I've never flown and how fast is 100kmh?"
There's lots more but if you can ignore them you get a very traditional 'Boys Own" story.

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An interesting take

Reviewed: 30-11-23

The narration was good and I enjoyed the story which came at it from a mostly new angle ie it used a Feldjäger officer as the main character fomenting rarely if ever done but from the more familiar angle of a dissatisfied and disillusioned soldier of the Third Reich. But the setting of Yugoslavia was again a new angle, decent plot, well paced, twists and turns.

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1 person found this helpful

A Good Listen

Reviewed: 23-11-23

A decent albeit somewhat predictable WW2 SOE story but well read and characterised which made it good entertainment.

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Disappointing

Reviewed: 09-03-23

I have enjoyed many books by this author but this one was for me disappointing. The tale was so so very strung out and as another reviewer has stated the evidence in respect to the target was tenuous.
The portrayal of various British and foreign services was rather jaundiced and inaccurate and there is a wholly inaccurate portrayal of processes and procedures from Schengen to the use of police firearms teams.

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A Great Listen

Reviewed: 27-09-22

I really enjoyed everything about this book from the story to the narration by way of the writing style. Whilst I haven't checked the veracity of historical accuracy I'm confident I have learnt a good deal about the period of time in rerelation to the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, its makeup of nations and languages and the stratified populace. Great stuff about early submarines too making this breed of mariner even harder to comprehend for volunteering to go to sea in these craft.

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Gripping Stuff

Reviewed: 08-06-22

An excellent narration of an intriguing story line cutting across family and national boundaries in war times and peace.

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2 people found this helpful

Bad Writing and Worse Editing

Reviewed: 11-05-22

I had to listen twice to make sure I wasn't remembering things wrongly. I didn't. Just too too many mistakes which should a) have not occurred b) been resolved by any half decent editor.

There are numerous basic historical and social history mistakes let alone a complete lack of understanding of German military and SS ranks, hierarchy and protocols.

The author has a Polish resident apologise for the lack of air conditioning in the small (not luxury) apartment; highly unlikely in the extreme to have air con anywhere in Poland in the 1940s.
The same with reference to the refrigerator, again highly unlikely.

The main character finds a safe in the apartment on the day of arrival and later says it was months before he discovered it.

Describing a farmers truck bed as being of aluminum (aluminium). This material was a rare and expensive commodity in those times, commercial truck beds would be steel or wood.

He finds the death certificates for his mother and sister in camp records. In the next chapter he is driven some 1200 miles from Istanbul to Palestine in a British army jeep ie through Turkey, Syria and Lebanon to meet his mother and sister in their house! Not o mention that it is dealt with in a few lines as if this journey was short and easy.

Heaping on the lack of sense, in the final chapter he is inexplicably back in Poland rescuing a baby.

There are many more of these inaccuracies and contradictions suffice to say if you want to hear them buy it and listen. I regret spending my Audible credit on this book.

It is read well enough.

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1 person found this helpful

Interesting Personal, Political and Social History

Reviewed: 24-03-22

The narration by the author was excellent and lends a more personal flavour.
Some rather macabre ekementa near the beginning but just telling how his life actually was. Provides a wide political perspective and appreciation whilst reflecting on the effects for the country, it's people, family and friends.

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