As moving as it is gripping. A winner on all fronts. Booklist (starred review) Heart-pounding This is Gross s best work yet, with his heart and soul imprinted on every page. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Poland. 1944. Alfred Mendl and his family are brought on a crowded train to a Nazi concentration camp after being caught trying to flee Paris with forged papers. His family is torn away from … flee Paris with forged papers. His family is torn away from him on arrival, his life s work burned before his eyes. To the guards, he is just another prisoner, but in fact Mendl a renowned physicist holds knowledge that only two people in the world possess. And the other is already at work for the Nazi war machine.
Four thousand miles away, in Washington, DC, Intelligence lieutenant Nathan Blum routinely decodes messages from occupied Poland. Having escaped the Krakow ghetto as a teenager after the Nazis executed his family, Nathan longs to do more for his new country in the war. But never did he expect the proposal he receives from Wild Bill Donovan, head of the OSS: to sneak into the most guarded place on earth, a living hell, on a mission to find and escape with one man, the one man the Allies believe can ensure them victory in the war.
Bursting with compelling characters and tense story lines, this historical thriller from New York Times bestseller Andrew Gross is a deeply affecting, unputdownable series of twists and turns through a landscape at times horrifyingly familiar but still completely new and compelling.
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I hesitated at first because World War II is filled with sad stories but I really like Andrew Gross. After waiting awhile I decided to bite the bullet and read One Man. This story tells how one man can change the course of the future except in this book. One Man is also about the many that this one person comes in contact with during book who each in his/her own way change destiny. The book starts out with back story on Alfred Mendl and a young Nathan Blum which catapults them both into a captivating meeting and storyline. Nathan has escaped Nazi oppression in Poland and now lives in the US serving as an Army Officer. (I admit I had questions about Nathan and the ability to work in a secret capacity as it is never stated if he ever became a US citizen) Nathan is assigned to go to Poland and sneak into Auschwitz and remove Alfred Mendl, a physicist and bring him to the United States. The book covers true facts along with the fictionalized ones so the flow of the book is good. I really enjoyed reading this book.
Excellent historical fiction/thriller! Andrew Gross’ writing had me captivated and turning the pages very quickly. The setting of WWII is a favorite of mine and this author had me truly believing a seemingly implausible plot was very possible. Keep the tissues ready for the ending!
THE ONE MAN is one of those novels that you think about every waking minute between sittings until you’re finished. I think that’s a more telling statement than the over-used and becoming annoying “unputdownable” descriptor I’m seeing everywhere. The book moved me…I’m glad I read it.
This was a great book…nearly true…couldn’t put it down…loved it!
This book was amazing.
The One Man, by Andrew Gross, has to be one of the best WWII books I have read.
It is the fictional story of Polish Jew Nathan Blum, an intelligence officer in Washington, D.C., sent by the American government to Auschwitz to break out a highly important Jewish physicist who may hold the key to speeding up the development of the atomic bomb.
There was no question in giving this novel 5 stars as I was totally captivated with this complex and emotional story. This historical thriller had my heart racing through the many twists and turns of a extremely dangerous mission as well as through the horrors that occurred inside the concentration camps.
This novel is unputdownable, full of suspense and gripping action with an ending that leaves you breathless.
Bravo Mr. Gross!
Great read loved the characters and flow of the story. You feel good after reading
Wow! I had to keep reminding myself this was fiction! Based on so many facts that it could almost be true!!
Worried all the way to the end!!
Interesting from page one. A few good twists. Reading about life in a concentration camp is difficult at times
I stayed up all night to finish this book. The suspense made it impossible to put down. The idea that s man could escape from the Nazis in Poland to the safety of America, and then be willing to sneak into Auschwitz to bring out the one man who could help the Allies win the war defines altruism. The hottors of Auschwitz were sickening. The bravery of the characters was amazing.
Fictional tale based on getting a physicist out of Auchwitz to help build the atom bomb – page turner
Riveting
Added to my favorites list. A great historical fiction. Well written and informative. I hated for it to end.
Very good story but hard to read about the concentration camp horrors. Moving and well done.
Five stars for Gross’s thriller, “The One Man. When it comes to suspenseful page-turner novels, this is the “real deal.: Unrelenting, rising tension right up to the explosive end. If you like suspenseful stories, you’ll love “The One Man.”
Any book written about Auschwitz is intense, and this one is the same! The author did an excellent job of describing the characters and the horrific events that occurred there. It is well written, informative, and many twists in the narritive. Compelling and difficult to wrap your mind around; however, he does a good description of a horrific blight on humanity.
Exceptional writing! I rarely read the same book twice. This one I will.
Gross’ characters and the descriptions of the concentration camps were so very real that it gave me nightmares. I had to put the book down for a couple of days. All in all, one of the best books I have read.
It was exciting almost from the beginning, and I was amazed at how much was actually true.