V2

A Novel of World War II

By: Robert Harris

Narrated by: David Rintoul

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

New York Times Best Seller

From the best-selling author of Fatherland and Munich comes a WWII thriller about a German rocket engineer, a former actress turned British spy, and the Nazi rocket program.

The first rocket will take five minutes to hit London. You have six minutes to stop the second. 

Rudi Graf is an engineer who always dreamed of sending rockets to the moon. But instead, he finds himself working alongside Wernher von Braun, launching V2 rockets at London for the Nazis from a bleak seaside town in occupied Holland. As the SS increases its scrutiny of the project, Graf, an engineer more than a soldier, has to muster all of his willpower to toe the party line. And when rumors of a defector circulate through the German ranks, Graf becomes a prime suspect. 

Meanwhile, Kay Caton-Walsh, a young English intelligence officer, is living through the turmoil of war. After she and her lover, an RAF officer, are caught in a V2 attack, she volunteers to ship out for newly liberated Belgium. Armed with little more than a slide rule and a few equations, Kay and her colleagues hope to locate and destroy the launch sites. But at this stage in the war, it’s hard to know who, if anyone, she can trust. 

As the death toll soars, these twin stories play out against the background of the German missile campaign during the Second World War. And what the listener comes to understand is that Kay’s and Graf’s destinies are on a collision course.

©2020 Robert Harris (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Engrossing.... Harris brings the past to life through vivid characterizations and clever plotting. Fans of superior historical fiction will be rewarded." (Publishers Weekly)

"A veteran historical novelist homes in on one of Hitler’s last desperate hopes.... [An] enjoyable thriller with plenty of well-researched historical nuggets." (Kirkus Reviews)

"[An] historical-fiction master.... Crosscutting between those launching the rockets and those on the receiving end proves to be a superb narrative device.... [This] novel combines fascinating technical detail with a wartime drama that finds human ambiguity on both sides of the battlefield." (Booklist)

Ho-Hum

Could have been a decent book but it lacks suspense and character development. After a few chapters you don't care if they all get blown up. In spite of the marketing blurb, little new information on the V-2 is revealed beyond what can be found on Wikipedia and other web sources. The author seems undecided whether to write a historical novel or a non-fiction documentary and story falls lifeless between the two. The ending is rushed and unsatisfactory. In reality there was considerable more intrigue involved with the allies' capture of Von Braun and all the V-2 hardware and data than indicated in the book. As explained in the afterword, the novel was written in COVID-19 isolation, which apparently also applied to any meaningful interface between author and editor.

Harris delivers again

Robert Harris is one of the best historical fiction writers today and he delivers again. The twin stories of the German scientist and the British WAC officer is nuanced and gripping. Though we know how this story ends, Harris never rushes and keeps the characters real. His portrayal of VonBraun is delicious.

Not Harris's best

This is not Harris at his best. The plot is threadbare with a phony contrived ending. The facts about the V2 are interesting but the story is pure formula -- and not a very good one at that..

Good story, great narration

David Rintoul's narration is so excellent he can make a bad story pretty good. But this is a good story that Rintoul makes into a great audio book. I just wish it were a little longer.

On of Harris’s best

A great “listen”. Keeps you in the car, listening, after you’ve gotten to where you’re going.

Intriguing and Compelling

Robert Harris' brilliant story draws you into the world of the German V2 project and the lives of two people on opposite sides of the War, whose destinies become intertwined. I finished this in one day because I could not stop listening/reading. An absolute page turner. David Rintoul's performance of this story was masterful.

WW2 historical fiction at it's best!

interested in rocketry since my early years, a friend gave me this book.Iit was a fascinating read that kept my attention from start finish. Well performed and an excellent story very true to the facts of the time frame. It gave great insight to what could have been going through people's minds at the time. Highly recommended.

Interesting listen

I really enjoyed the back and forth and series of events between Kay and Dr. Graff and how one chapter would be the English side of events and the next would be the German side of events. You begin to feel bad for and root for Kay and the same for Dr. Graff. Great listen

Interesting, but not up to Harris standards

I loved a number of Harris' books. Maybe I consider his standards based on those I read or listened to (and definitely not his long list of titles), but this one did not measure up to, for example, the Cicero trilogy. The story was interesting but similar to a lot of WWII fiction. The performance was quite good.

First rate, as usual.

Trademark Harris. A spare effective style, gripping plot, and intertwined set of historical events - and here, technical detail - that is informative, entertaining, and subtly instructive. A tad clichéd for Harris but this an entirely forgivable quibble.