The
One Man
and The Saboteur, the latest books of Andrew Gross,
are a departure from his usual writing genre. Instead of writing
thrillers with storylines of criminal activity he has ventured
into the historical novel field. Yet, his writing style has
not completely changed with these two plots in that they both
are thrilling and gripping. The characters must find solutions
to their dilemma, and the stories affect the readers’
heart.
The One Man is a story about guilt, survival, and
heroism. Yet, having the main setting in the Auschwitz Concentration
Camp it is unavoidable to touch on the atrocities, the fatalistic
feeling, and the helplessness of those interned. The title
is taken right out of Jewish law, a passage from the Mishnah
Sanhedrin, "It was, for this reason, that man was first
created as one person, to teach you that anyone who destroys
a life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed an entire
world, and any who saves a life is as if he saved an entire
world." Gross explores how one man is worthy of being
saved over others. But as the plot progresses readers will
question who shall be saved and who shall die?
Gross
had the idea, from his father-in-law’s life. “He
came here from Poland in April 1939. As it turned out, he
was the only member of his family to survive the war. In fact,
he never learned the fate of any of the family that was left
behind. Like a lot of survivors, he never talked at all about
his family or even about his life back in Poland before he
left. It was just too painful. In 1941, after America entered
the war, my father-in-law signed up to serve his new country,
and because of his facility with languages, was placed in
the Intelligence corps, never divulging a word of what his
role was there. His whole life he seemed to carry around a
weight of guilt and regret, despite his successes here, and
everyone pressed him to find out just what was behind it.
In some ways, I set out to write the story I thought my father-in-law
might tell.”
The three main characters are extraordinarily written. Readers
will feel the same emotions of fear, hatred, and a desire
to be courageous. Dr. Alfred Mendl is the renowned electromagnetic
physicist whose research and knowledge is the key to America’s
secret efforts to build an atomic bomb. The problem is that
he and his family are now trapped in Auschwitz. The OSS, the
predecessor to the CIA, had devised a plan to get him out.
A desk-bound Jewish intelligence officer, Nathan Blum, who
escaped from Nazi-overrun Poland, is recruited for a near
suicidal mission, to sneak into Auschwitz to rescue Mendl
in 72 hours. Mendl is smart enough to realize his days are
numbered and he wants to up the ante so that the allies will
get this vital information. Possessing an astonishing memory,
Leo, a sixteen-year-old boy, is recruited by Mendl, who hopes
to preserve his work, by having him memorize the vast amount
of scientific knowledge.
The scenes with Greta Ackermann, the wife of the Assistant
Gestapo are extremely powerful. She represents the conscience
of the readers. She is isolated and imprisoned, unable to
do anything or stop the brutality around her. A thought provoking
quote by her shows how those suffering under the Nazis were
not numbers, but individual human beings. “They were
people. Your precious numbers… Not digits. They were
mothers. Husbands. Little children. They had lives. Hopes.
Just like we did once. People.”
Not only readers but the author also felt he was traveling
back in time to the Holocaust. "As a writer, we have
life and death power over our characters' survival. I am the
one to choose the settings, the time and the place, what language
they speak, the different variables. But when you write a
book of this kind, it's not like reading one. You're not an
observer. So to me, it was like having to go through something
I'd only read about, both a life-affirming and an invigorating
process."
The
One Man was heartbreaking, inspiring, and realistic.
But this was not the only first-rate historical thriller novel
Gross has written. The second of the World War II books released
this August, The Saboteur also has these qualities. Each story
has daring missions, characters who were brave, and plots
that showed how the Nazis must be stopped at any cost in obtaining
a nuclear bomb first.
-----
The
Saboteur is more historical than fiction, based strongly
on actual raids during World War II in Vemork, Norway. A secret
committee called the SOE (Special Operations Executive) was
formed, in England, to deal with the threat at the Norsk plant,
the Nazis production of “heavy water,” critical
to making an atomic bomb. An earlier attempt resulted in the
loss of forty elite men, but the allies knew this danger had
to be eliminated. The critical mission depended on six resistance
fighters parachuting into Norway, penetrating the plant, demolishing
the heavy water supply, and destroying the means of its production.
The plot is tension filled, as readers understand that the
allies will stop at nothing to make sure the Germans do not
have the means to make the bomb, even if it means a secondary
raid is necessary.
Gross knew of the story from “doing the research for
The One Man I came across information on this actual
daring raid during WWII. I knew I had to write about it. The
actual raids themselves were very realistic; the fiction came
in where I wrote the time periods between them, inventing
a background history for the characters.”
The setting acts as a major supporting character, both antagonist,
and protagonist. The plant is set atop unscalable cliffs with
an impenetrable gorge, connected by a single suspension bridge,
and is under constant heavy guard. Both the surrounding terrain
and the weather were unforgiving. Wind gusts could drag a
man off his feet, cold and freezing snow with zero visibility,
and a ridge drop of fifty feet covered by rocks and boulders.
Yet, this terrain and weather would end up eliminating their
tracks and provided cover from Nazi patrols.
With
these books, it is apparent that Gross has a knack for writing
captivating quotes. In his latest, there are two that stand
out and show the courage of the allies and the depravity of
the Nazis. The Saboteur has a quote that could apply to the
books heroes, "A true man is a man who goes on till he
can go no farther, and then goes twice as far." The other
quote from this latest shows how the Germans "just took
things. Ground them up in its indifferent jaw, like a tank
running over friend and foe alike, spitting them back out
as memories." The one aspect they could not take was
someone's memories of a life before the atrocities.
What
links both books, according to Gross are "The humanity
of man and the inhumanity of the Nazis. I wanted to maintain
that balance, between brutality and death, as well as heroism.
The stories tap into some universal quality of the human spirit.
Both heroes were willing to put their life on the line for
a nearly impossible mission with a ticking clock that is winding
down, and wanted to measure up to their father's expectations."
Each
book is tension filled with unexpected endings. The plots
are awe-inspiring, action-packed, and gripping A must-read
for anyone who wants to be captivated by these World War II
stories.
Reviews
of other titles by this author
Don't
Look Twice (Lt Ty Hauck) #2 [review
1] [review
2]
Reckless
(Lt Ty Hauck #3)
One
Mile Under (Ty Hauck Series #4)
Eyes
Wide Open - stand alone
No
Way Back - stand alone
Everything
To Lose - stand alone
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