Very good. It kept my attention . ( )

3.5 stars

The American military recruits a Jewish Polish man, Nathan Blum, who managed to get out of Europe before the rest of his family was rounded up to Auschwitz. He already works for the U.S. military and they convince him to go to Auschwitz with a detailed plan to help get someone out! But he only has 72 hours.

Meanwhile in the camp, Professor Mendl is an expert in physics and recruits a young 17-year old, Leo, to memorize a bunch of his formulas. The professor is pretty sure he won’t make it out, but is hoping Leo might one day. This info he is having Leo memorize is very important, though he won’t tell Leo why it’s so important. In his “spare” time, Leo plays chess with one of the camp’s SS officer’s wives.

This was good. It may also be a “victim” of me being fully saturated with WWII books (as I know many others are, as well). I listened to the audio and I had no issues with it. In all honesty, I can’t imagine anyone would agree to do that rescue, as they knew enough about Auschwitz by then. Oh, but the test they had Nathan do ahead of time to “prove” he could? No. Just no. If they wanted him to go so badly, I think he could/should have called them on it and not done it. He was already trained by then. I can’t imagine they’d find anyone else to do it, so let them call it off; I can’t imagine Nathan wanted to go in so badly… ( )

3.5 stars. Full of action. Thought-provoking at points. ( )

1944. Physics professor Alfred Mendel and his family were trying to flee Paris when they are caught and forced onto a train, along with thousands of other Jewish families. At the other end of the long, torturous train ride, Alfred is separated from his wife and daughter and sent to the men’s camp, where all of his belongings are tossed onto a roaring fire. His books, his papers, his life’s work.
Nathan Bloom works behind a desk at an intelligence desk in Washington, D.C., but he longs to contribute to the war effort. He has particular skills needed. He is fluent in German and Polish, and he proves his scrappinessat a young age when he escaped from the Krakow ghetto. Now, the government wants him to break into Auschwitz n a mission to find and escape with one man. ( )

I think I listened to it once then put disc 1 back in again to listen all over again. It was an intriguing story. ( )