In Beyond The Wire, James Shipman explores a true story about an October 1944 uprising behind the walls of the Auschwitz concentration camp and raises the following sobering and thought-provoking question: “Are we beyond the Holocaust or does it wait in the shadows for us, lurking just below the surface?”

“For approximately 90 percent of those brought to Auschwitz, life would end within the hour.” Those who were strong enough to work were tattooed and “were productive for about six weeks.” With a life expectancy in Auschwitz measured in weeks, not months nor years, it is easy to understand why some became emboldened and accepted the idea that they’d rather die trying than live without doing anything. For many, the reality of surviving another day paled in comparison to a chance of a daring escape to live outside the confines of the barbed wire.

Shipman’s narrative is told from three different points of view, that of Jakub in the men’s camp, Anna in the women’s camp, and Hans, an SS officer. I believe that the author’s characterization is the best I’ve read in Holocaust fiction. I can’t ever recall reading about such multifaceted characters. While I was enlightened about the revolt against the SS and the attempt at liberation and appreciated Shipman’s use of tension throughout his compelling narrative, it’s his characters who will stay with me for quite some time.

I really felt the emotional angst reading about Jewish prisoner, Jakub Bak because Shipman brought this fictional character alive on the pages. Bak was forced into the Sonderkommando work unit where he sorted through the clothes of the dead and moved the bodies from the gas chambers to the crematoriums. A promise made to his father and the possibility of catching glimpses of a fellow prisoner, Anna, gave him the strength to continue. Although I’ve read a great deal of Holocaust fiction and non-fiction, Shipman was able to make me understand the survivor guilt Jakub faced, the ethical problems he considered in stealing food and valuables so that he could trade for food and privileges, his trust issues, and the choice he grappled with in deciding to save himself or risk his life to save others. I can only imagine how this would haunt prisoners for life.
Anna’s character, also fictional, was crafted to evoke an emotional response, too. She works in the munitions factory and smuggles trace amounts of gunpowder back to camp in her clothing. Although I didn’t feel as deeply for her, I appreciated her integrity and her willingness to sacrifice her life for something better.

Hans, also fictional, evokes an emotional response. Although he’s been indoctrinated to hate the Jews, we see his human side. He’s a broken man with family issues and his position within the camp is in jeopardy. Rarely do I read about the homelife of the Nazis, so this character really made me think about ALL who were forced to commit acts they normally wouldn’t have considered had it not been for the war.

An extremely well-written and thought-provoking five-star historical fiction, this novel needs your attention – both in time spent reading and in effort put forth in making sure this never happens again.

I was gifted this advance copy by James Shipman, Kensington Books, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

WOW. I absolutely devoured this book! I love historical fiction and this one did not disappoint. The author had a great way of making you feel like you were actually there, going through Auschwitz with the characters. You could feel the cold they felt, taste the food they were eating. Powerful book that I highly enjoyed, although heartbreaking at the same time, and I will be recommending this book to whoever I can!

My favorite genre of books to read is historical fiction … especially those set during WWII. I continue to be amazed at the horrors that excited during Hitler’s reign of terror. This particular book focuses on the concentration camp of Auschwitz and the story about the revolt that happened in 1944. You are also exposed to the atrocities that the prisoners endured … the way they were treated, the horrible things they endured, the lack of respect for humanity that the guards displayed. You are treated to the viewpoint of two very different SS officers. The story behind the revolt is emotionally moving, but some of the side storyline takes away from the credibility (Dieter’s willingess to join the uprising) and romantic situations.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corporation for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

This story describes how prisoners were tortured and killed in the concentration camps. The story is told from three points of view - Jakub, in the mens camp, Anna, in the womens camp, and Hans, an SS officer of the camp. I really enjoyed reading Jakub and Anna’s chapters. The things these people went through is awful and can be tough to read at times. This was a great book with a beautiful and unexpected ending.

There are no words to describe the horrible acts that happened during the Nazi regime in Germany. This book, though fictional, describes the some true facts of how prisoners' were tortured and killed in the concentration camps. The story told from mainly three points of view - Jakub, in the mens camp, Anna, in the womens camp, and Hans the leading police officer of the camp. Jakub remembers his fathers last words, survive. He'll do nearly anything he can to survive, but still has some morality behind his actions, including wanting to save others.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early read of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was impressed with the research for this book, there are some scenes that are not for the faint of heart. This is not a light read, it is a very vivid portrayal of life in the camps and the attempts for escape. It never fails to amaze me of the dedication, courage, heroism and tenacity the prisoners had in order to endure and survive.
The writing was good and I would certainly say I was engaged in the whole story. One of the better WWII books.
Received an ARC from Kensington Books and NetGalley for my unbiased review – This one comes in with high 4****.

Beyond the Wire, by James D. Shipman, is yet another WWII historical fiction novel that grabbed my attention. While I read a lot of books about this topic, Shipman's main characters are so well developed that I was drawn to continue reading to learn their story and never considered putting this one aside. I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Books like these always get me. Although the MC’s are fictional, the things they’ve experienced and have had to deal with were real.

This story lets you take a peek in day to day life at Auschwitz and the revolt that took place in 1944. The way the prisoners are treated, what they have to endure, the way the guards just go about their “work”. There is (of course) nothing normal about it.

We get to see that even in the most dire of circumstances, there may still be some hope or something to fight for.

At the end of the book the author takes the time to explain some of the history, some insight about the characters and some information about actual prisoners, which I love.

Let us never forget and hope something like this will never ever happen again.

With hell on earth, Auschwitz, as the backdrop…this historical novel makes one question their willingness to sacrifice themselves for others or others for themselves. Jakub is a Polish Jew assigned to the heart breaking job of escorting people into the gas chambers. He and several other members of a prisoners resistance hatch up a plan to revolt and escape. But Jakub won’t escape without Anna, a prisoner in the womens camp. He only sees a future with the two of them together and much to the dismay of others…he is willing to sacrifice everything to save her too.

While this story kept me engaged, I found it to be a bit predictable and with minimal emotion. It was just okay. I’m glad to have read it because I got a bit more insight to the prisoner revolt toward the end of the war as well as some prisoners who smuggled the gun powder used in blowing up the crematorium.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books and James Shipman for early access to this historical nove

A fascinating look at life in the Sodercommando and the Concentration camps with a heartwarming ending. I recommend this story to anyone who enjoys WWII novels.

Posted to NetGalley and Goodreads 10/20
Will be posted to Amazon on publication day, Instagram the week of publication.

Beyond the Wire is a story about the Auschwitz revolt. A true event, told through the eyes of fictional characters.

Jakub Bak is a member of the Sonderkommando, the group of people who work in the part of the camp where the crematoriums are. He deals with death every minute of the day and his focus is survival and on Anna, a female prisoner he has fallen in love with.

Jakob’s story alternates with Hans, an SS officer whose job and marriage are both in trouble. Hans knows something is going on in the camp but he can’t quite figure it out. Hans brings his nephew Dieter to Auschwitz to not only keep him from the front, but also to help him get information on what is happening inside the camp.

The living conditions and treatment of the prisoners of Auschwitz are horrible. I am forever in awe of how strong their will to survive was. The quote from the story that is on the cover, “When all you have is life, you cling to it whatever the cost…” is such a powerful representation of how the prisoners clung to life and did whatever it took to survive.

When the revolt happens, even though I knew how it would end, I couldn’t t help but get caught up in the hope of escape for all the prisoners. The is due to Mr. Shipman’s powerful description of the revolt and how hard the prisoners tried to survive the escape.

I am glad to have had the opportunity to read this book. The story is a powerful one and a good illustration of how far people will go when faced with indescribable horrors. I recommend reading the note at the end of the novel for insight into the characters and detail on what the true parts of the story were. There are parts of the book that can be a little tough to read. The scenes of descriptive treatment of the prisoners is something I will never be okay reading because I will never understand how humans can treat each other this way. While hard to read, it makes the story of survival that much more powerful.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington, and James D. Shipman for a copy of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

It's hard for me to express my feelings about this book, because I don't dislike it but I also didn't feel... compelled? I think perhaps my affinity for historical fiction written in first-person POV has affected my outlook. I ended up shelving this one.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

The novel's plotline deals with the Auschwitz Revolt in October 1944, when a number of Jewish prisoners at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp that worked in the Sonderkommando units rose in a desperate last stand to attempt to fight and inflict as much damage on the SS and the camp's infrastructure before going down.

To tell this story of hopeless bravery, James D. Shipman chose a fictional pair of characters to tell the revolt from both sides: on ne hand, we have Jakub, the Jewish Sonderkommando whose job is to herd the incoming fellow Jews into the undressing room, where they have to strip bare and then be led into the gas chambers whilst Jakub and his fellow prisoners have to pick up and classify their belongings with a fake air of "nothing's wrong here" to avoid cluing the victims in; and on the other hand we have Hans, the conscientious SS officer in charge of camp security at the Birkenau compind, who can smell something rotten is cooking in the prisoner barracks and must prevent a massive escape at any costs or it'll be his head on a pike instead. Both men couldn't be more different, one apathetic and with his soul crushed, merely waiting for death to come, and the other such the stereotype of the German bureaucrat that sees no wrong in the horrors of the camp but merely a job necessary for the efficient running of the country; both providing with a view of how things go in different parts of the camp, which is the novel's best point, as it doesn't narrow the scope to one single side.

The novel starts off strong, showing Jakub going about his routine with dead eyes and a dead heart, showing us what kind of work that is which has killed him in the inside, and adds in a best friend character that provides a more cheerful, if resignation and "let's live each day one at a time" can be called cheerful, and who tries to instill into Jakub a measure of a will to live in spite of the horrendous circumstances. Shipman doesn't waste time with a long set up leading to the revolt, he assumes the reader already has some foundation on the basics of Auschwitz, and proceeds to introduce the planning of the revolt pretty early in the story through having Jakub be approached and insistently courted by the Sonderkommando plotters, which he flatly refuses to join.

Until he gets a reason to join. And a good reason that is.

Hans' chapters aren't as good, not only because he's rather dull and has too much marital melodrama baggage that's a drag on the story. I almost wish Jakub had been the sole POV, also because he's far more believable than Hans is, and definitely far more engrossing to read about, at least until romance becomes a more central point in his storyline. It's when Hans starts to plot a manner of infiltrating the prisoners' circles to rat out plots and Jakub gets his soap opera of a romance with a fellow prisoner that the novel starts to go down in quality, in my opinion.

The inclusion of Dieter wasn't a bad idea, but he turned out to be written so unbelievably and implausibly that he ruined the story for me. It's simply not plausible that someone like him would've joined the revolt, just look at how the actual historical events unfolded and then tell me he's credible in that role. I would believe him as reluctant perpetrator or sympathetic to the cause, but outright joining the uprising is asking for suspension of disbelieft on a level that's not possible for someon familiar with the real history. The girl Anna, Jakub's sweetheart, is also rather weak on the credibility aspect but not implausible as there are recorded cases like hers. But not Dieter. These two secondary characters do more to hinder the arcs of the protagonists than help it; it would've been better if these two hadn't been there, or at least written more convincingly and less soap-operatically.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau uprising is a tragic story, one that doesn't usually get its own novel but is mentioned as part of other Holocaust novels, so I appreciate the author deciding to give it its time on the spotlight, though I still wish romance and action-film antics hadn't marred the otherwise awe-inspiring true story of a group of people with nothing left to lose that try to recover a bit of their dignity before dying.

“Beyond the Wire” by James Shipman, is a World War II novel designed to bring home the horrors of what humans can do to each other. It is set inside Auschwitz concentration camp in late 1944 and is based on a true story. The key character is Jakub Bak and several other prisoners and a few of the Nazi guards and camp administrators.

Bak’s murdered father had given advice that Jakub promised to follow –basically “live at any cost.” There were times when Jakub wondered if he should do some of the things he was being ordered to do. He and other young, able-bodied people were pulled out to essentially be slaves in the camp. He and others were assigned to a group known as Sonderkommando who were to go through the clothes and possessions of those arriving who were going to gas chamber and then to move the bodies to the crematorium.

It was hellacious work and were it not for a fleeting few minutes, he was able to spend with another Jewish woman, Anna, he might not have done it. Anna was marched many kilometers to a munitions plant to work helping make ammunition for the Nazis. She and others squirreled some of the powder away for a time in the not-too-distant future when the resistance could have an uprising. Even Jakub did not know this.

The inhumanity in Auschwitz-Birkenau is brought into the light in numerous ways along with the human failings. All this action is set against a backdrop of the Russians approaching and the liberation of the camp at hand. Escape was a dream but one that was an aspiration. For those of us for whom this war and these camps are only from history books and maybe older parents and other family members, this is a heart-wrenching story but well worth the read.

This fascinating tale of a true story of incredible heroism and courage against all odds should be required reading in all high schools in my opinion. I literally do not have the words to describe the emotions this book gave me. I think the one book that made me feel this much was Night by Elie Wiesel. I am just awed at the determination of these prisoners as they seek to overtake their SS guards and gain their freedom from Auschwitz. Read it for yourself. I always ask myself, would I have had the courage to do the same thing? The answer is always, "I hope so.' These people were some of the bravest people to have ever lived. Read their story.