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The Katyn Order: A Novel
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The Katyn Order: A Novel
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The Katyn Order: A Novel
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The Katyn Order: A Novel

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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The German war machine is in retreat as the Russians advance. In Warsaw, Resistance fighters rise up against their Nazi occupiers, but the Germans retaliate, ruthlessly leveling the once-beautiful city. American Adam Nowak has been dropped into Poland by British intelligence as an assassin and Resistance fighter. During the Warsaw Uprising he meets Natalia, a covert operative who has lost everything—just as he has. Amid the Allied power struggle left by Germany’s defeat, Adam and Natalia join in a desperate hunt for the 1940 Soviet order authorizing the murders of 20,000 Polish army officers and civilians. If they can find the Katyn Order before the Russians do, they just might change the fate of Poland.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherMcBooks Press
Release dateMay 1, 2011
ISBN9781590135983
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The Katyn Order: A Novel

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This historical fiction had too many boiler-plate thriller moments, mainly in the first half of the book: man comes to rescue of woman, hospital volunteer & death bed moments, man/woman bonding, hero bares his sole, running through a war-ruined-city at night, man/woman split up, etc. I could picture the action in many different action movies. I would like to have read creative / original plotting.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great WWII ThrillerThe Katyn Order is a wonderful page turner by author Doulgas W. Jacobson. Part Historical Fiction, Part Suspense, this thriller set in the World War II error would make a great blockbuster movie. Believable, interesting, and captivating, this work will not disappoint.Highly Recommended!!!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I enjoyed the book as a summertime read, more interesting than your standard war suspense novel, with light touches on the prose. However, I read this book following a brilliant Eric Ambler novel half as thick that was able to keep the story taut with character development still involved. I understand the required humanizing required of the characters and was glad that it was shown the resistance was not just young men, rather all those that could, but i felt it was several chapters too long and the love story aspect kinda glopped in. Overall a good read, focusing on WWII, but offering something just a bit different. I look forward to reading the next book from this author.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I am a fan of historical fiction, especially by authors who have done the required research to be able to paint a picture for readers who are familiar with the time/place/events in question. And while I can overlook some inaccuracies and omissions, 'The Katyn Order' is more fantasy than historical fiction. Practically every element of this novel is lacking. The author has created a world placed in the 1940s that has characters using syntax that belongs in the year 2010. Poland itself is viewed through a Manichean lens, a nation full of heroes, aside from that one guy who can't hold his liquor. The main characters lack depth, and at times their wanton killing takes away from any real empathy or sympathy the reader might feel for them. All too often their emotions feel forced, including their ready acceptance of the situation they find themselves in, with the end result hardly ever being believable. Practically every character that is portrayed from the Soviet Union is at best a one dimensional caricature and simply labeled a 'Russian', and hatred for 'Russians' seems to surpass the hatred the main characters feel for the likes of Stalin and Beria (who are Georgian by nationality). Even when you do have a sympathetic Russian character, he speaks English (in fact far too many of the Russian characters have a working knowledge of English if not perfect fluency, hardly believable) and is in fact Polish. Additionally, it is hard to believe that this same Polish general who was purged and then released in 1941 would be condescending to an NKVD officer. The author should research the dynamic that existed between the Red Army and the NKVD. Soviet soldiers and officers feared the NKVD, and they did not deride them when in their presence. Furthermore, no Red Army or NKVD officer would address their superior as 'sir', that was done away with in the wake of the Russian Revolution and deemed bourgeois. The author's lack of research (he should have spent more time researching history rather than architecture and city layouts) is also evident when he creates a fictitious NKVD division, the '105th Frontier Guards Division'. There were actual NKVD divisions during the Second World War, but none were labeled 'frontier guards'. The author should remember that history is better than fiction, and that there is no need to make something up when it already exists.Going through the prologue sets up what becomes a never-ending cavalcade of mistakes and generalizations. The scene is the shooting of Polish officers at Katyn. Instead of NKVD troops, who did the actual deed, the author has Red Army soldiers executing Polish prisoners. Overlooking this inaccuracy, the author rarely hesitates in painting every Polish character, save one, as the epitome of all that is good and righteous, while those around them are mere showpieces always ready to be done away with at the author's whim. That includes the author regularly pointing to the fate of Jews but hardly ever getting into the dirty facts of Polish complacency with Germans (while in fact Poles are first 'among the righteous', there were also just as many, if not more, who hunted Jews or betrayed them to the Germans). Finally, practically the entire first half of the book deals with the Warsaw Uprising in the summer of 1944. What the author fails to mention is the numerous attempts by the Red Army to break through to the Poles and even the commitment of the 1st Polish Army, under Red Army command, to aid the insurgents. It was the failure of the Home Army to establish contact with the Red Army that partly doomed the uprising, not the Red Army's supposed inactivity. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Give this one a pass.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had a bit of a hard time getting into this book in the very beginning, but it didn't take long until I was totally engrossed in the story. The characters are excellent and the story is based on actual events in history that I did not know about (or forgot after high school LOL). I would highly recommend this read as a great story and a fun way to learn some history. :-)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Warsaw, 1944 the Polish resistance is making a last major effort to keep the Germans from completely over running the city. This part of the novel is based on the actual events of the Warsaw Rising, which is not as well known as, and is often confused with the Warsaw ghetto uprising of 1943. This is told through the two main characters Natalia, a Polish citizen known the as the Conductor, and Adam, or Wolf, a Polish American. It provides an almost day-by-day account of the resistance’s fight against the Germans. Meanwhile the Russians sit on the eastern edge of the city waiting for the fighting to stop so they can take over the city and impose their own version of order.As well as trying to defend their city Adam and Natalia are searching for a written record that attributes the Katyn massacre to the Russians. In 1940 more than 27,000 Poles were murdered and buried in mass graves. In 1943 the German Wehrmacht discovered the grave of over 4,000 Polish army officers. Their hope in finding a copy of the Katyn Order is to undermine the view of the Russians by the English and Americans as well as to provide a better future for Poland, as a separate country, following the war. History shows us that neither the Rising nor the search for the Katyn order is successful.The plot reminds me of the novels of Alan Furst but with more characterization. There are mistakes that a better editing would have eliminated but I was so taken up by the action of the novel that they didn’t bother me. I highly recommend “The Katyn Order” to anyone interested in espionage and Poland during the latter days of World War II.I received this book through First Time Reviewers.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Overall I enjoyed the book but honestly, I found it to be a little too long and a little too confusing at times. Parts were fast-paced and exciting but then other parts were jumbled and confusing. I think I probably would have liked it better had I had a better understanding of the political environment in Poland at that time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Jacobson delivers a well-researched, intriguing and well-paced WWII thriller. Much of The Katyn Order takes place in the backdrop of Poland. I have not yet had the opportunity to visit this country, but the author brilliantly describes the surroundings, as they likely would have been in the late 1930s and the 1940s. The story itself is one rarely told and is based upon true events, with the author writing a work of fiction using variation of details from the historical event. It is fantastic that Jacobson has managed to find such a hidden and largely unknown chapter from this important era in history and brings it to life so colourfully.The characters were very nicely developed and believable. As the story unfolded and characters introduced and developed I could picture various actors playing their roles – a definite good sign that the novel is enjoyable!The novel once again reminds us of the brutality of mankind – especially that of the Hitler-led Nazi and Stalin-led Red Army of that time. The author beautifully intertwines a delicate and believable love story in this cruel world, and for that should be applauded.The Katyn Order by Douglas W Jacobson
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a great read. I had a hard time putting this one down. The author takes us to Poland during the Rising and during the Russian occupation after the war. While this is a novel it is laced with historic facts that make for a fascinating read. Anyone familiar with the Katyn Massacre will have an idea of how the book ends. Even so, you will yourself sitting at the edge of your seat for the majority of this book, especially during the end. Highly recommended for any fan of WW2 or historical novels.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This again is another excellent book giving us insight into our past. The massacre is a historiacl fact only recently admitted to by Russia. It was very sad to learn that some 22,000 Polish officers and civilians had perrished in this manner. The story as presented by Mr Jacobsen is a mixture of fact and fiction which keeps the reader turning the pages. Adam and Natasha are two very interesting characters with the same goals. Defeat the Germans and find the Katyn Order.It leaves us with the question - if this had been known prior to Yalta or Potsdam- how would this have changed our world - or would it? I was left hanging the way the story ended, but such is life.Again since I am interested in history - factual or fistion, this was on excellent read.Thank you.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Katyn Forest Massacre is a historical fact. In 1940 the Soviet Union executed 22,000 Polish army officers, prisoners of war, and civilians. Initially uncovered by the Germans in 1943, it was not until 1990 that Russia admitted that under orders of Laventiy Beria and the Soviet Politboro, the NKVD (Soviet secret police) executed the Poles in the Katyn Forest and other locales where it it was holding Polish prisoners. Douglas W. Jacobson does a credible job at mixing fact and fiction in this historical novel that follows the efforts of expat Adam Nowak who has been dropped into Poland by British intelligence as part of the Polish Resistance with the task of assassinating German officers. As the Nazi’s are retreating from the Soviet advance they destroy Warsaw in response to the Warsaw Rising and Nowak’s successful efforts. The novel is rich in characters from the Resistance to the Soviet army and Nowak develops a love interest with Natasha, another Resistance fighter. But both have a larger goal - that is to find the Katyn Order — the proof positive that the Soviets ordered the murder of the Poles. A copy of the order is suspected of being in the hands of a Nazi officer. The story is an interesting “what if...” in the sense that what if the world knew that the Soviet Union was responsible for the massacre in 1945...Would it have made a difference at either Yalta or Potsdam where post World War II Europe was carved up between the East and the West? While I was a little disappointed with the way the story ended, it is still an interesting read and good “history.”
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Katyn Order is an historical fiction set in WWII.Natalia is a resistance fighter for the Armia Krajowa (AK), Poland's home army and she has risen up against her Nazi oppressors to take back Warsaw during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Germany is losing the war and the Red Army is set to take control of the situation by strategically placing themselves around the city. The AK's situation is bleak, their food and water supplies are running low, their weapons are out-of-date, ammunition is scarce, and their bodies are piling up. With the Red Army stationed at the Vistula River, the AK are torn between that of salvation that they may bring or will they be captured, as once the Russians were adversaries with Germany, and the AK haven't forgotten. As the Nazi's rampage the city, killing everyone in sight, it's up to the AK to maintain the ground they have taken back from the Germans.Adam Nowak, aka Wolf, is a Polish born American citizen who was trained by Britain's elite, to become an assassin. He is the best sharpshooter the AK have and proves it by successfully removing several SS officers in order for the AK to advance ground and gain weapons caches. When Adam saves Natalia from an invasion, he cannot get her out of his mind. When the two meet again, they become friends and she is able to bring out his past in order for him to confront his demons.Someone has slaughtered over 20,000 men of the Polish army and left them in a mass grave. When it is discovered, the Russians blame the Germans for the atrocity. After Natalia and Adam find a document stating what actually occurred, they know that they must do everything they are able in order for the truth to prevail. Will they survive long enough for Poland to remain her own country, stopping the Russians from claiming it as Soviet territory or will the Order remain unsurfaced forever?I found this book to be well researched and had many interesting historical references. Reading about the events that occurred was appalling, the details given were quite graphic and one's imagination has no problem recreating the scenes being described. The heartaches and hardships of the resistance fighters gives a humanistic edge to the stories, as you realize everyone has a back story and you cannot resist wanting to know everyone's, for you don't know if, on the next page, that person was going to survive.I liked the characters of Natalia, Adam and Rabbit, each of them brought something to the book by becoming real in the readers eyes. Rabbit was my favourite character, here is a child who, by the fates that surround him, have become a man. His front is a brave one and when we get to glimpse the side of him that reminds you he is but a child, your heart breaks. The friendship between the three was very rewarding to read and the aftermath of the war may leave you with a tear or two.The Katyn Order was a commendable read, filled with historical data that may have your researching on your own account. I would suggest it to anyone who likes a good historical dramatic fiction.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting book on the Polish resistance against the Germans. It provides an interesting link between the time before the war ends and what happens after world war two. There's enough action to entertain and the story seems realistic. The ending was a bit sudden and I had to read it twice to make sure that was it. It seemed like a cop out by the author given the effort and time spent to try and recover a document. I would have expected a longer ending rather than one that just ended all of a sudden without much of a flair or any drama. Nonetheless, it was a captivating book that kept me interested until the end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I thoroughy enjoyed this book and was delighted to have received it from Early Reviewers. I had just finished reading Leningrad: State of Siege by Michael Jones so was already immersed in WWII horrors. Both books reviewed details that have only been fully known since the fall of the Soviet Union whereupon more records, including memoirs and diaries have become available.The Katyn Order is fiction and I thought that the story held together quite well. It certainly kept me interested and reading. It was difficult to read the story of the Polish resistance fighters when of course I knew that they would not prevail and Russia would rule Poland for decades. Their struggle to use the Katyn Order to discredit the Russians at the Potsdam conference was an interesting angle. Would it have made a difference?The description of the destruction of the great city of Warsaw was heartbreaking but of course secondary to the terrible human suffering. A romance grafted into such a scene is difficult to achieve but I thought it was handled reasonably well and not too soppy. I would certainly read another book by this author
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The author tells 2 separate stories. The first 40% of the book tells of the Warsaw Rising in which the Germans basically ran over the Polish freedom fighters (AK) with a merciless siege. The Poles did inflict heavy damage on the Germans in their losing cause.The story then shifts to a mysterious document written by the Russians and signed by Stalin that authorized the extermination of 27,000 Poles. About 4,000 Polish officers died in the Katyn forest as a result of the Katyn Order.I found the story to be reasonably well written except that the author is repetitive in descriptions and sometimes far too descriptive causing the story to bog down.The ending bothered me to a great extent. I kept reading to find out what happened as a result of the Katyn Order being found by the hero Adam. It was like the ending fell off a cliff, or the author got tired of the storyline, or the completion date arrived too soon. I was very disappointed at the conclusion.I learned several historical lessons but so much of the book was fiction that I found myself wanting more of history. The entire premise of the book was fiction since it is unknown if the Katyn Order was an actual document. The author even went so far as to include a fictional journal at the end in what may be read by some as being an accurate depiction. If it were not for the Author's note at the very end of the book, the reader could easily be lulled into believing the book was based in fact rather than fiction.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is a grim reminder of conditions during WWII when Stalin made the atrocities of German-occupied Poland even more horrific. In the format of a thriller with a little romance thrown in, The Katyn Order tells a story of Polish resistance and the search for the original document ordering the slaughter. The author deserves credit for researching and writing about the Katyn massacre, a topic that has mostly been neglected by history. However, errors in grammar and spelling are distracting and made more noticeable by the uninspired text and poor writing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a suspenseful action thriller novel about the invasion of Poland in the 1940’s by both the Russians and the Germans. The principal storyline is about the search for a document (the so called Katyn Order) that proves the Russians were responsible for the massacre of thousands of Polish soldiers in 1940. The Russians however claim that is was the Germans who killed the Polish soldiers. The Polish Resistance wants to use this Katyn Order, actually signed by Stalin, to discredit the Russians at the Potsdam conference in 1945 and hopefully avoid integration of Poland with the Soviet Union. The first half of the book is actually about the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The Germans were under orders to destroy the city, but the Polish Resistance was fighting them with guerrilla tactics. In this part of the book we meet the two protagonists who will carry the story in the second half: a trained assassin code-named Wolf and a courier code-named Conductor. Wolf is a Polish American who is sent into Poland by the British to assassinate German officials during the war. Conductor is a Polish student who becomes part of the resistance movement and using a job as a train conductor smuggles stolen documents from Krakow to Warsaw. They are then sent out of Poland to the Allies. This part of the story ends with Wolf and Conductor escaping (separately) from Warsaw as the Germans put down the insurrection.The second half of the book is the story of the hunt for the Katyn Order and it is by far the best part of the book. It starts with the search for Wolf’s uncle, a prominent Polish legal scholar, who was interred in a German prison camp. The action returns to Poland where Wolf and Conductor are eventually re-united. It would be giving away the ending to say more.The author details the geography of Warsaw and Krakow, demonstrating a personal knowledge of the cities obtained through personal experience or careful research. It’s good local colour.The brutality of war is captured too. It is a gritty novel and not pleasant reading for the squeamish. A quibble for me would be the late introduction of the plot to find the Katyn Order. It was not introduced until halfway through the novel, after about 150 pages or so, as if the author wanted to tell the story of the Warsaw Uprising in any event. Despite that, I think this novel is well worth reading and would recommend it.Please note that I received my copy as an Early Reviewer.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Katyn Order is a work of historical fiction centered in Poland during World War II. It details the impact of the war on its citizens and the efforts of the Polish home army to resist the Nazis and protect their country. The book is well researched and full of vivid details easily transporting the reader to the time and place of the novel. I almost felt like I was there in Warsaw, witnessing the horrors brought upon by the war, and the actions of the heroes who fought for justice and freedom. While some details felt a little unrealistic at times, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A well crafted, well written story that is a stark reminded of man’s inhumanity to man. An excellent read if you enjoy mystery, intrigue, and a little romance wrapped up in a period novel about World War II. As a history buff I especially liked the straight forward approach to the atrocities of the period and their impact on the survivors. It is a must read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Katyn Order, signed by Joseph Stalin, caused the death of 4000 Polish officers. Part of the premise of this book is that, had the Western powers known this as a fact they would have denied the Soviets control of Poland after the war. The massacre was first discovered by the German army, but the blame for this was put on the Germans by the Soviets. The second part of this book deals with the race to prove Soviet guilt before the Allies divide up Eastern Europe at the Yalta Conference. But first the book follows the lives of the Polish resistance fighters, through the efforts of two protaganists- Adam Nowak and Natalia Kowalska.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Douglas Jacobson says in his forward that the second novel is tougher than the first for him. I actually preferred this book over his first - Night of Flames - as I felt it has a tighter focus and stronger story line. He picked a good topic with the Katyn Massacre as it is little known in the US and the Warsaw Uprising is rarely mentioned in popular works. He manages to weave a good story through both with sympathetic characters and a good mix of action with intrigue. The mix of actual history and fiction was well blended.My main complaints were that it seemed he stretched a bit too much to make this a romantic novel with some contrived scenes between the main protagonists and unlikely dialogue. The ending also was somewhat lacking with Jacobson relying too much on leaving what happens to the readers imagination.Despite those two things I did look forward to my reading sessions with this book and would recommend it to readers who enjoy thoughtful action in an overlooked arena of WWII.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This exciting thriller set in Word War II plunges readers into the life of an assassin aiding the Polish underground during the Warsaw Rising of 1944. Towards the end of the war, Poland’s government-in-exile in London instructed Poland’s underground army, the AK, to fight the Nazis for control of Warsaw. The Russians refused to help the Poles save the city or its people. Jacobson captures the horror of the war for the AK and the almost complete destruction of a great old city. After the end of the War in Europe, the British Secret Service sends the assassin, an American citizen born in Poland, to Germany and ultimately to Poland to locate a document from 1940, the Katyn Order. The Brits hope to use the document, which would show that Stalin ordered the killing of Polish Army officers and civilians, to prevent the Russians from taking over Poland. This part of the book focuses on spying and reunites the assassin with his love interest in the AK. Most of the literature I have read about WWII is written from the British, French or American point of view. I found the historical information on the Warsaw Uprising and on the Russian occupation of Poland after the war fascinating and give the author kudos for introducing readers to a fairly obscure (at least to many Americans) part of the WWII story. Jacobson does a good job of writing historical fiction in a thriller format that pulls readers in and keeps them turning the pages. His development of characters and the love story is less successful but more than satisfactory for this genre. [I received this book as part of the Goodreads First-Reads program.]
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Adam Nowak is a naturalized Polish American back in Poland as an assassin, for the British. He is very good at his job,he is known only by a code name and has no friends. Dismal, of course, but there is little else. His character and that of his paramour, Natalia, another agent in the Polish underground, are dedicated to the cause, Free Poland, and hate the oppressors Nazi or Russian. That's it. There are details of their exploits against the backdrop of the final days of the war and the Pre-Potsdam hopes, but the lack of any depth to the character of Wolf and the Conductor (Adam and Natalia) is painful. The author had a good idea, but not enough to flesh out the heroes or villains. The writing is repetitive (Natalia crosses her arms over her chest, knees or both at least 6 times) and simply does not fulfill the promise of Jacobson's first book "Night of Flames".
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book. Having just returned from Warsaw and Krakow, seen the Warsaw Uprising Museum, Monuments to the Polish fighters and the Polish intelligensia, officers, killed in the uprising and by the Russians, I appreciated this tale of what the history might have looked, and felt like. It was meanigful to have revisited those streets and scenarios in this way. The story was compelling weaving the story from the Polish Uprsing or rising in 1944 with poignant references to how the Jewish people lived and then were exterminated in Poland in this time. But the main story was was about the Polish resistance and the cover up of the murders of Polish officers at Katyn and other places in the USSR which was first admitted by Gorbachev in the 1990's.There was a subplot of a love story. The descrptions of the bravery of the Polish underground help us understand how horrific those times were in Poland. This is a book of fiction but the author made the history come to life for me.