- Hardcover: 490 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (Mar 30 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 034542624X
- ISBN-13: 978-0345426246
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.7 x 4.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 839 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (100 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,049,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Stalag 17 meets the best of John Grisham in this tremendously exciting and moving new thriller, about a murder trial inside a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. John Katzenbach has taken elements of his own father's history in such a camp, added a racial twist (the defendant is a black pilot, a member of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen), and created a memorable adventure story that soars with hope and cries out to be filmed.
The first thing that former law student Tommy Hart does after his B-25 is shot down and he--the only survivor--is captured, is to fill out a form for the International Red Cross, telling his family he's alive and requesting, under "Special Items Needed," a copy of Edmund's Principles of Common Law. Amazingly, the book is waiting when he arrives at Stalag Luft Thirteen in the Bavarian woods. Hart soon puts it to good use, defending (with the help of two other prisoners, a former London barrister and a Canadian police detective) the prickly, proud Lieutenant Lincoln Scott when he is charged with killing a racist and corrupt fellow prisoner. The Nazis, especially a resident SS observer, have their own reasons for wanting the trial to be seen as a fair one, and it takes place against the backdrop of a planned mass escape.
Katzenbach deftly balances a dozen major characters with credible scenes of legal and extra-legal action. His previous thrillers, available in paperback, include Day of Reckoning, In the Heat of the Summer, Just Cause, The Shadow Man, State of Mind, and The Traveler. --Dick Adler
From Publishers Weekly
Vivid and unpredictable characters and diabolically imagined suspense distinguish Katzenbach's (The Shadow Man) seventh novel. Set in the desperately bleak landscape of a German POW compound during the latter days of WWII, this is a thriller with more on its mind than entertainment, as Katzenbach tackles the theme of racial bias that breeds explosive consequences. Held captive since 1942, 2nd Lt. Tommy Hart?ex-Harvard Law student and navigator on an ill-fated B-25?is one of the most senior POWs at Stalag Luft 13 when African-American 1st Lt. Lincoln Scott, P-51 pilot, arrives as a new prisoner in May of 1944. Abrasively antisocial, lone-wolf Scott isolates himself from the other American officers, and quickly becomes the target of racial hatred from oft-decorated, Mississippi-born Capt. Vincent Bedford, aka "Trader Vic"?a treacherous wheeler-dealer who will barter anything to friend or enemy alike. He is soon found in the latrine with his throat cut and Hart is appointed to defend the obvious suspect, Scott, against what seems to be his impending rendezvous with a firing squad. Facing almost hopeless odds, Hart enlists the aid of two British POWs with astute forensic credentials. Slowly, a pattern of deceit begins to take shape, revealing duplicity from both POWs and captors. Katzenbach's setting is flawlessly grim, and his characters chillingly reveal the divisive bigotry of soldiers ostensibly fighting for the same values, as well as some unexpected sources of redemption. Despite some unnecessary repetitive details (e.g., the ineffectively recurring symbol of Hart's cherished wristwatch), this deeply affecting, artfully paced war epic will hold readers enthralled to the nail-biting end. Military Book Club and Literary Guild alternates; film rights to MGM.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
He had just awakened from the dream when the tunnel coming out beneath Hut 109 collapsed. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
He had just awakened from the dream when the tunnel coming out beneath Hut 109 collapsed. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rated 1st out of 2000+,
By carrie plamondon (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Hart's War (School & Library Binding)
I have studied English for 5 years and am addicted to the written word. This is one of the best books I have EVER read. There is nothing i can say which will do it justice. It is amazing. It is a must have for every library.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Far fetched,
By
This review is from: Hart's War (Mass Market Paperback)
There are almost too many clichés in this book to make it believable, but it seems that the author received most of his material from his father who was a WWII veteran. I would like to know how much of the Hart's War is true form a WWII prisoner point of view. The bumbling Germans remind me at times of Hogan's Heroes, hiding radios in coffee cans and repeatedly shouting, "There has never been an escape from Luftwaffe 13". However, it is very interesting to learn of the day to day lives of WWII prisoners in a German camp, so the book is not a complete waste.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hart's War Story Told.,
By
This review is from: Hart's War (Mass Market Paperback)
The piece of work deserves the five star rating I have given it. John Katzenbach has rally excelled with this story of struggle, might and cruelty of Allied POW camps in Nazi occupied Europe.Racial descrimination is the catalyst for this novel. A young AfroAmerican, Lt Lincoln Scoot, has been set up to take the fall for the murder of a well known but disliked Army seargent, a racist bigot, so as to divert attention away from a plan for a mass escape. An equally young 2nd Lt Tommy Hart (who in civil life studied law at Havard)is sent on a wild goose chase with the help of a Canadian lawyer in the same situation to free the accused. They soon discover that the trail is a complete set up by the highest ranked Allied officer so as to shake off suspicion by their captors, a moderate commandant and a sadistic 2nd in charge. You can take a short cut and watch the movie or read the more fuller version with all the bits the movie left out.
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