Book Review: The Losing Role by Steve Anderson

It's winter 1944 and Max Kaspar is pulled from the Eastern Front for a role in a secret mission. Before the war Max was an actor and having lived and worked in New York, and as an English speaker, he is considered ideal for the task at hand. The role - masquerading as an enemy US officer, his aim -  to use the opportunity to escape the war and return to the States. Having been trained and put into a team Max finds himself caught up in the Battle of the Bulge, and his plan goes far from smoothly.

This book is based on the true story of German false flag operations but the characters are largely fictional. I'm not very knowledgeable about WWII and what happened where and when but from the authors note at the end of the book and what I do know it seems very rooted in fact.

I thought this book was amazing, the author's descriptions are so evocative I could almost feel the chill in the air and really imagine the discomfort the soldiers were enduring. I haven't read many war books, but particularly few written from a German perspective. In the end it didn't really matter as one of the things that comes strongly across is that it doesn't matter which side you are fighting for, the soldiers are people and the casualties are all human.

I'd hate to include any spoilers so had best not say too much more, other than that I will now be hunting down other work by the author, it was a fantastic, well written read. I'll definitely be recommending it to family and friends.