The 12th Man
A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance
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4.5 • 19 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A stunning story of heroism and survival during World War II. The book that inspired the international film of the same name. “A must-read …. Intrigue, suspense, and adventure."—The Norwegian American
"I remember reading We Die Alone in 1970 and I could never forget it. Then when we went to Norway to do a docudrama, people told us again and again that certain parts were pure fiction. Since I was a Norwegian that was not good enough; I had to find the truth. I sincerely believe we did,” writes author Astrid Karlsen Scott.
The 12th Man is the true story of Jan Baalsrud, whose struggle to escape the Gestapo and survive in Nazi-occupied Norway has inspired the international film of the same name. In late March 1943, in the midst of WWII, four Norwegian saboteurs arrived in northern Norway on a fishing cutter and set anchor in Toftefjord to establish a base for their operations. However, they were betrayed, and a German boat attacked the cutter, creating a battlefield and spiraling Jan Baalsrud into the adventure of his life.
The only survivor and wounded, Baalsrud begins a perilous journey to freedom, swimming icy fjords, climbing snow-covered peaks, enduring snowstorms, and getting caught in a monstrous avalanche. Suffering from snow blindness and frostbite, more than sixty people of the Troms District risk their lives to help Baalsrud to freedom. Meticulously researched for more than five years,
Karlsen Scott and Haug bring forth the truth behind this captivating, edge-of-your-seat, real-life survival story.
Customer Reviews
Noble intent; A Trainwreck in Story Telling.
If you’re looking for a detailed novel that contains a realistic, truly suspenseful narrative that grips the reader from beginning to end, this is not it. Jan’s story 100% is awe inspiring. A true milestone in human endurance and the pursuit of liberty.
However, the limited academic writing style of the authors place this novel in a universe that is repetitive, predictable, and something that belongs more in the realm of a history textbook than in a novel labeled “historical fiction”. The characters have little literary life injected into their behavior. When telling of Jan’s trials the author continuously veers off into a nationalistic rant about Norwegian mental and physical superiority while barely piercing the true personality of the main character. Each segment of his journey is almost predictably identical to the segment that was achieved 10 pages earlier.
Maybe my expectations of this novel were incorrectly surmised. However, I think this telling needs to contain as much story telling as the authors did research. That balance was not achieved here.