Hunting the Hangman

What a fantastic read. The story reveals itself one piece at a time leaving you hungrily waiting for the next piece. I found myself becoming emotionally attached to the main characters as if I knew them personally.

Mention the Second World War, and the first name in people's minds is always Adolf HItler. He wasn't the only man in the Third Reich to be feared across Europe. Reinhard Heydrich, a.k.a. The Hangman, was the man many considered to be Hitler's heir apparent, and was the man tasked with implementing the "Final Solution". Operation Anthropoid, sees two exiled Czech soldiers risk their lives to parachute back into their homeland, and execute The Hangman. Failure wasn't an option, but even they couldn't have foreseen the consequences for the innocent Czech civilians of making such an audacious attempt.

It's a departure from Linskey's previous works, based on and sticking close to real life events, which in some books can often lead to a predictable, plodding pace. Not here though, as Linksey captures the essence of the period superbly; the desperation of the resistance, the cruelty of the Nazi occupation. The central characters of Jan and Josef are deftly conjured up, and the real achievement here is that even though I already knew of Operation Anthropoid, and of the outcome, I still felt the tension building all the same. All in all a great read.

This was really a great read. As someone who reads a lot of history, it was written as if it could easily have been Non-Fiction. Very thought provoking.

Thanks for the chance to read this.

I now read a few fictionalized accounts of Himmler and Gorbbels but haven't really delved that much into the tale about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich which, after reading this book, I realised was a big mistake of mine.
The novel has in-depth research and the historical accuracy is on point. However, where it really delivers is in its portrayal of the real life characters Jan Kubis, Josef Gabcik and Reinhard Heydrich. They are written with such insight into their personalities and thought process. It makes for terrifying reading to be listening in, on Heydrich’s inner most thoughts.
Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik are the two agents, recruited by Emil Strankmuller and Frantisek Moravec, to parachute back in to occupied Czechoslovakia. The mission is one of secrecy, surveillance, strategic planning and all while under the threat of death upon discover. The novel really does depict the bravery of the WW2 SOE agents and the determination to bring down a violent and brutal regime. There is also a real break down of Kubis and Gabcik personalities. What drove them and what they were like as men. 

I thought this was a very well written book by an author who knows his subject