Book Review: The Auschwitz Escape

Going into any book about The Holocaust you know your in for an emotional roller-coaster. The Auschwitz Escape follows the fictional tale of Jacob Weisz a German Jew who ends up in the worst of all of the death camps, Auschwitz. The novel is beautifully written. It keeps a very steady pace while taking the necessary time to build up characters and give us even more to cry about later.

Like many other books on The Holocaust, this will absolutely pull a few tears out of anyone that reads it. The brutality of these camps and all that the Jews had to endure was horrific. It's a tough read and there were a few days that I just couldn't get myself to listen. In particular around half way through there are scenes during Jake's time at Auschwitz that are a level of brutality that don't even seem possible. 

For all the excellent writing there were some plot elements that get in the way from this being a truly stellar book. The last quarter of the book turns Jake away from the character we read about for the first three quarters and makes him more of an action hero. It didn't fit his character nor his personality which made it seem out of place. There were also a few times where things seemed to work out to perfectly for Jake just to help move the story forward. 

All in all I would still highly recommend this novel. Even with its few faults this is still one of the best novels I've read in 2014. Not to mention the last couple of chapters were a beautiful way to finish off what is a great story.