The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb

By: Neal Bascomb

Narrated by: Chris Sorensen

From the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of Hunting Eichmann and The Perfect Mile, an epic adventure and spy story about the greatest act of sabotage in all of World War II.

It's 1942 and the Nazis are racing to be the first to build a weapon unlike any known before. They have the physicists, they have the uranium, and now all their plans depend on amassing a single ingredient: heavy water, which is produced in Norway's Vemork, the lone plant in all the world that makes this rare substance. Under threat of death, Vemork's engineers push production into overdrive.

For the Allies, the plant must be destroyed. But how would they reach the castle fortress set on a precipitous gorge in one of the coldest, most inhospitable places on Earth?

Based on a trove of top secret documents and never-before-seen diaries and letters of the saboteurs, The Winter Fortress is an arresting chronicle of a brilliant scientist, a band of spies on skies, perilous survival in the wild, sacrifice for one's country, Gestapo manhunts, soul-crushing setbacks, and a last-minute operation that would end any chance Hitler could obtain the atomic bomb - and alter the course of the war.

©2016 Neal Bascomb (P)2016 Neal Bascomb

Style vs. sound

Not every writing style works well as an audiobook. In the first half of Winter Fortress the author uses names only sparingly, preferring to refer to his subject as "he" or "him" until the topic shifts to another person, whose name will then be mentioned once .As a result, listeners unable to fully concentrate for extended periods of time will have particular difficulty following the story, and separating one Norwegian saboteur from the others. The story picks up midway, as members of the Grouse and Swallow teams battle starvation, needing to use stone-age survival skills in order to carry out their orders to delay or prevent the start of the atomic age. Once Operation Gunnerside kicks into gear, the story picks up speed, and maintains it until the end of the book. Had the publisher assigned an editor with a greater sensitivity to the needs of audiobook listeners, minor changes could have been made that would have made it much less tempting to switch to another book before the most dramatic action really begins.

Heroism and bravery on an epic scale

Awesome true story of incredibly brave and women in impossibly difficult circumstances trying to save their nation and much much more. Norway just went on my bucket list.

Excellent and clear descriptions of these heroes' experiences moment to moment.

Sometimes the narration had an ennui tone to it but I was impressed at how he managed Norwegian names without butchering them.

simple people become great heros

the tragedy of war and the quality in humans that arise from it... very well written, you feel like your there.

If not for such men, we may not be here

We so easily forget how lucky we are. How great men fought to stop the axis powers from acquiring the materials and know how to build an atomic bomb, at great cost to themselves, their families, and their country. If they had not succeeded, we either would not be here, or surely would not be speaking English. This is an excellent book about the exploits of excellent men, and a number of audacious missions. I think you will enjoy it.

Remarkable and important book

This is quite an story. You are transported to Norway during World War 2. The individuals are heroic and interesting. It is a story about the Nazis quest for an atomic bomb and the allies fight to keep resources from them. Excellent read!

Captivating

Reading some of the other reviews, I was concerned that I wouldn't like the book. I'm glad I listened to it. The story of sacrifice some Norwegians made for the sake of the entire world is phenomenal. The book reads like a spy novel. Chapters often end with cliffhangers. If it wasn't true, it works be unbelievable. Fantastic story. The prose is also excellent with each character very well fleshed out.

There are many negative comments regarding the narrator. Maybe not the best but does a competent job. Not distracting. If you like history, espionage or adventure, definitely get this book.

Don’t Dismiss This Book Because of the Narration!

General - I surmise that you will listen to the sample and lament aloud; “what on earth do these publishers think when they pick a narrator!?” I thought the very same thing and I really struggled on this title because of that. I left this book in my wish list for weeks; periodically going back and seeing if I could deal with it for 14-hours. Ultimately, the overwhelming urge to listen to this story outweighed my reluctance to hear the narrator and I decided to give it a go. I always had the option to return it after an hour if I found myself trying to gouge out my inner ears.

Content - I made a spot-on choice by getting this book. The Winter Fortress is fully detailed without getting boring, as often happens with books like this. The moments of combat action, the real guts of the story, are exactly on point as truth becomes stranger than fiction. It does flow like a good thriller novel; yet the reality of what these brave men did was never lost on me as I listened. The book didn’t manage to evoke any emotion, but it did make me reflect on the lives of the people and how they sacrificed for a greater cause.

Length – It’s a relatively long book, but I think it included every germane fact that was essential to properly and comprehensively tell this story. I did miss some information while listening simply because of the amount of content, but I’ll catch what I missed on a second listen at a later date. The story may have been a bit fat in some areas, but the amount of filler pales in comparison to the entire story.

Narration – I think even Mr. Sorensen would admit he’s no Simon Vance, but then again who is? After listening to every minute of this book I can honestly say that Mr. Sorensen is not a “bad” narrator, he’s just very different from what I’m accustomed to. I reached a mental truce with his style after about an hour and even though he didn’t add to the book he certainly didn’t detract from it either. He enunciates very clearly and his cadence is pretty good. Yes, his inflection is a bit odd, especially on conclusion of some sentences. His imitations of people's accents are non-existent, but accents can be a double-edged sword; so I appreciate that he didn’t try, simply to fail badly. Even though this book would likely be ‘better’ with a different narrator the story itself is so interesting that the narration was pretty much irrelevant to me.

Summation – If you are a history or WW II buff, or you enjoy real life stories that read like thriller novels, you will like this book regardless of the narration. I urge you give this book a try even if the narrator is not your cup of tea.

Exciting like a spy novel but true.

Great telling of an incredibly brave, risky and often calamitous adventure that possibility saved many lives. Couldn't put it down.

Great story, terrible narration

The narrator of this audiobook is so bad it distracts from the story. He’s monotone and his style is more fit to be part of a newscast. The plot and the information is superb. I loved that part of it.