Books › The Great Escape (Bull's-eye S.)
The Great Escape (Bull's-eye S.)
First published 1990 · 359 pages
A masterclass in tension and ingenuity that reads like a thriller but carries the heavy, authentic weight of true wartime sacrifice.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like being let in on a massive, high-stakes secret. The narrative pulls you into the claustrophobic confines of a POW camp, replacing despair with a crackling, restless energy of defiance. You become absorbed in the meticulous, almost obsessive details of forgery, tunneling, and tailoring, experiencing the sheer ingenuity of men working as a unified machine. The prose is straightforward and journalistic, refusing to sensationalize, which only makes the mounting tension more unbearable. As the escape date approaches, the atmosphere grows thick with dread and anticipation. It is a propulsive, deeply immersive experience that thrills with its heist-like execution, yet ultimately leaves you with a profound, somber reverence for the devastating human cost of freedom.
- Mood
- tense
- claustrophobic
- determined
- somber
- Tone
- matter-of-fact
- suspenseful
- reverent
- gripping
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- ingenuity under pressure · brotherhood and solidarity · the drive for freedom · defiance against odds · the cost of resistance
- The writing
- Clear, reportorial, and unadorned, letting the sheer audacity of the historical facts generate the suspense.
- The arc
- Builds from restless determination and thrilling ingenuity to heart-pounding suspense, culminating in a mix of fleeting triumph and devastating tragedy.
- Who it's for
- Readers who devour meticulous heist narratives and true stories of wartime brotherhood and defiance.
Content notes
- imprisonment
- execution
- wartime violence
- grief
About the book
The famous story of mass escape from a WWII German PoW camp that inspired the classic filmOne of the most famous true stories from the last war, The Great Escape tells how more than six hundred men in a German prisoner-of-war camp worked together to achieve an extraordinary break-out. Every night for a year they dug tunnels. Those who weren't digging forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons or tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes to wear once they had escaped. All of this was conducted under the very noses of their prison guards. When the right night came, the actual escape itself was timed to the split second - but of course, not everything went according to plan.
Description from Open Library.
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