Horribly written. Only read a little. ( )

Mark Frost, one of the creative forces behind the acclaimed Twin Peaks series, does not write enough fiction: his Conan Doyle books were high adventure in the best tradition of Dennis Wheatley [only much better written] so I had great hopes for The Second Objective - but alas, it is a different kind of tale completely.

The Second Objective reads like faction, and I gather most of the characters are based on fact as is the plot and action. Frost cleverly introduces a fictional member into Otto Skorzeny's 150th SS Panzer Brigade, an English-speaking unit who infiltrated the American lines just before the Battle of the Bulge.

Dressed in American uniforms and driving captured American vehicles, their mission was to sow confusion and disorder while their leader Skorzeny pressed on to Paris to assassinate General Eisenhower. Much of the story is told from the point of view of a member of the unit, Bernie Oster, an American whose family returned to Germany in the late 30s: threats to parents ensured his co-operation but he desperately wants to escape the Nazis.

The book is definite dick-fic and aimed at serious scholars of the Americans in World War Two, especially the Battle of the Bulge: if you want to be transported back to 1944 for a glimpse of the Nazi war machine and the tensions within the Allied camps, The Second Objective is a must read. But if you are looking for more of the eerie intrigue of The List of Seven and The Six Messiahs, you wont find it here. ( )

Interesting historical context from the time leading up to the Battle of the Bulge in WW II. The ending was aa bit of a stretch but for the most part I really enjoyed this book. ( )

i really enjoyed this book. i wasn't aware that it was mostly fact/based on truth, however you want to put it. i recognized the names and different things and wondered the further i got into it but there you go. this is a bit of history (mostly) that is written well enough it reads completely like a story. the author does a good job at making you feel it and really see what and where they are. i also liked the afterwords that go over what is true and what isn't. i love when they do this and it's getting to be more common which is nice. this story is like the back drop to the battle of the bulge . skorzenys 150 panzer brigade. if you are interested in that and even if not because it's a smothe very well written story, i highly recommend. ( )

Great page turner. It satisfied my love for historical fiction and suspense/thriller in one book. Would make a good movie. ( )