This was a very disappointing book, for several reasons.
First, it was full of filler. For whatever reason the authors assume you haven't read any other books in the series. Every time a character or event is first mentioned in the book they spend three to five pages filling you in on the history of that person or event. Needless to say, there are numerous characters in the book.
Second, throughout this book, and others in the series, they often mention how the British secret services don't trust their American counterparts and don't like working with them. Yet, a major part of this book concerns the preparation of Operation Mincemeat. That operation was a major influence convincing the Germans that Sicily was not the next invasion objective of the Allied armies. Operation Mincemeat was totally a British effort. Yet the authors spend most of the book showing how the Americans made most of the contributions to Mincemeat. They even go into what can only be called EXTREME detail---more filler---about the writing of the letters "Major Martin" carries. Not only does this mean the authors don't read what they write about the British not completely trusting the Americans, but it could be considered "Stolen Valor" due to the Americans "stealing the credit" for Mincemeat. As a result, I skimmed most of the many, many pages dealing with this.
Third, the authors have absolutely no idea how the Yellow Fever disease is vectored to humans. They have the Nazis "storing" the disease in corpses. Well, if the host is dead then the virus is dead too! And mosquitoes do not feed on cold, dead bodies. So either the authors are stupid or just believe their readers are.
First, it was full of filler. For whatever reason the authors assume you haven't read any other books in the series. Every time a character or event is first mentioned in the book they spend three to five pages filling you in on the history of that person or event. Needless to say, there are numerous characters in the book.
Second, throughout this book, and others in the series, they often mention how the British secret services don't trust their American counterparts and don't like working with them. Yet, a major part of this book concerns the preparation of Operation Mincemeat. That operation was a major influence convincing the Germans that Sicily was not the next invasion objective of the Allied armies. Operation Mincemeat was totally a British effort. Yet the authors spend most of the book showing how the Americans made most of the contributions to Mincemeat. They even go into what can only be called EXTREME detail---more filler---about the writing of the letters "Major Martin" carries. Not only does this mean the authors don't read what they write about the British not completely trusting the Americans, but it could be considered "Stolen Valor" due to the Americans "stealing the credit" for Mincemeat. As a result, I skimmed most of the many, many pages dealing with this.
Third, the authors have absolutely no idea how the Yellow Fever disease is vectored to humans. They have the Nazis "storing" the disease in corpses. Well, if the host is dead then the virus is dead too! And mosquitoes do not feed on cold, dead bodies. So either the authors are stupid or just believe their readers are.
