This review expresses my own personal opinion. I have not been asked to post it by the author, their publishing company or anyone connected with the book or author.
The setting is 1943 and the Second World War is raging across the globe. The Allied powers are fighting on …more their respective fronts and cooperating where and when needed, trying to show a united front, but behind the scenes this is far from the truth. Whether he wanted to or not, President Franklin D. Roosevelt has found himself in the unenviable position of having to corral his allies Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill and get them to see they all have a common purpose, the defeat of Nazi Germany and its Axis allies. To do this he must arrange a face-to-face meeting with the three of them.

Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch present this true story of what could have been the most devastating blow to the war, the assassination of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. In painstakingly detail they describe the assassination plot, but before getting into how the plot came about, the authors provide the backdrop. They describe how Roosevelt worked all the levers to arrange the meeting, the setting to be Tehran, Iran. How he had to coddle Churchill and deal with his at times petulance, work through the intransigence of Stalin, all while leading the American war effort. Like most secrets, it’s not a secret if two or more people know about it and once the Nazis got a whiff of Roosevelt’s planned meeting, the assassination plot was put in motion.

The book reads like a spy novel, full of political intrigue, spies, double and triple spies, backbiting, double-cross, action, body doubles, daring escapes and rescues, paranoia, egos, and more. While the book may have all the trappings of a spy novel, these are real world events and the authors pull no punches in describing the horrors of war, the inhumanity of it and how all would have been lost had the Nazis succeeded in their plan. Their investigative detail transports you to the Nazi concentration camps, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, imprisonment and rescue of Mussolini. They take you inside the minds of the major and some minor characters of the war, tell the stories of unknown heroes on both sides of the conflict, take you to front line battles, and provide a view of the war from a macro and micro level. This is a mini history lesson.

I listened to the audio book read by Scott Brick. Scott brings a level of passion to his narration that pulls you in and never lets you go. He doesn’t miss a beat when describing the changing landscapes of the war, the characters, the plot. His narration brings the words of the authors front and center, captivating you from the first word spoken until the end.

Pick up this book if you want to know about the little known plot to turn the tide of the war by assassinating the three most powerful Allied leaders. (less)