Very enjoyable. Makes me want to read something about or by Rommel ( )

Historical fiction, closely following factual events of British forces during the north African campaign of WWII. Well told story of the human side of the war, believable and sustains interest. ( )

My second-favorite Pressfield novel, after Gates of Fire. Killing Rommel similarly features vividly-drawn characters (though even more relatable since more contemporary) whose compelling story is told through a perfectly crafted narrative structure. The opening material describing the source of the fictional manuscript that forms the bulk of the novel got me choked up before the main narrative thrust even began, and the ending didn't disappoint either. And Alfred Molina's narration of the audio edition is absolutely superb.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1HP9424DZ2NUJ ( )

This was a fabulous book. It sucked me in after just a few pages and kept my attention, it taught me a fair bit about WWII in Africa, of which I really knew nothing previously, and the same goes for Rommel. I had no idea he was such an amazing man, and here I learned about him in an enthralling tale of men honorably fighting for their lives and their countries. The account as a whole is a bit fictionalized, but it all revolves around real situations. Easily recommended. ( )

Written as a memoir this historical fiction novel is, well, odd. If it were non fiction the first third of the book would have been rather interesting. However, as it's fiction you find yourself reading about seemingly irrelevant childhood experiences of someone who doesn't exist and that don't particularly relate to the main thrust of the plot. The only thing that you really need to know is that he admires a bloke called Stein, has the hots for Rose whose brother is Jock - yet it takes over a hundred pages to learn this.

After passing this stage of the book the war starts and you think 'hey it's a book about killing Rommel, we'll finally be on his heels now'... and you're wrong. You then spend some time in the fictitious characters life as a tank commander. Then his redeployment to the Long Range Desert Group... which does some more rudimentary missions before finally heading off to kill Rommel. Finally the Rommel chasing begins? Not really, it's only a portion of the book as well, and afterwards we deviate back to the activities of the Long Range Desert Group again.

If the first part was dropped, it was just written as a fiction book and gave the impression it was about the Long Range Desert Group as opposed to specially a novel about killing Rommel it would be a great book. However, it's hard to rate it in it's format. The first half drags, it's only tangibly about Rommel, yet once it finally gets going you find yourself nearly having to brush the sand out of your hair & mouth but then it destroys the atmosphere by flicking back to the present under the guise of it's-a-published-non-fiction-memoir, which it isn't.

Could have been a compelling historical fiction novel - as is, it just passes. ( )