I loved this book! It's well-written, enjoyable, and a great read. The author did a great job of writing in a way that captures the readers attention, and makes you not want to put it down until you're finished! I would highly recommend it!

I had heard stories of the Jewish Brigade in relation to their fight for Palestine against the British. However I did not know their history. This novel by Hartov is based on historical fact. It relates the story of a group of German, Austrian and French Jews who served in the British army during WWII. They were secret commandos sent into German territory on special missions. Known as X Troop, they dressed as German soldiers and spoke German. Good storytelling.

Interesting in the beginning and has potential. No many took it out at the library because of an unknown author. I will try and push it back o my WWII patrons.

Thank you to the publisher, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Harper Collins Canada and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A man in German uniform stumbles into a British military camp in North Africa after travelling through the desert, claiming to be a British soldier who has escaped from Nazi captivity. Lieutenant Bernard Froelich, a German Jew, is the last survivor of a covert operation to infiltrate a Nazi base. Brought to Sicily to recover from his terrible injuries, Froelich’s journey is not quite done. A British major recruits him to join the new X Troop, a group of commandos who are all German or Austrian Jews, for a secret mission that will rely on their fluency and ability to pass as Germans, this dangerous task is an opportunity for many of them to gain vengeance.

With each WWII novel I read, I learn something new about the era, and this one was no exception. The X Troop was not something I’d heard about before and I found this to be a fascinating read: a group of German Jews who fought against the Nazis by using their ability to speak and act exactly like the Germans against them. The writing was excellent and I loved the descriptive narration which made me feel like I was really there watching those events. It also conveys to the reader just how difficult it would have been to be a part of the commando troops and undergo the harsh training required for so challenging a task.

There were several flashbacks to Froelich’s time in Berlin and the persecution of Jews that he saw and experienced, which made a great addition to the story, but I felt that the transition between past and present each time one of these came up was rather disjointed, and they also came up randomly which made it harder to follow.

The one thing I didn’t enjoy about this book was the choppy pacing and how late the actual plot started. The first part of the book was interesting as it detailed Froelich’s capture and escape from the Nazis, but then the focus shifts to his time recuperating on board the hospital ship and eventually in Sicily, and the story really began to drag here. There was far too much time spent on this and I didn’t particularly care for the romance and skimmed through a lot of these chapters until the action began again. When the mission begins, it’s pretty much in the last 20% or so of the book and I felt like it wasn’t given enough page time.

Overall, this was a nice read but probably not one I would reread as personally, I found it quite frustrating by the end. However, I would definitely recommend this to fans of WWII novels and historical fiction fans in general!

Read if you like: WW2 fiction, army and soldier focused.
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This book follows a German Jewish man who joins the British army in order to fight against the Nazi’s. During his time in the war he joins an all Jewish fighting brigade.
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I loved the premise of the book, but found myself bored and skimming some parts and some descriptions. But overall the last quarter was engaging with lots of action!
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CW: war, violence, death, anti-semitism, amputation, suicide, execution.

I have to say that I did not finish this book. While the writing was very enjoyable, and the beginning of the novel was absolutely gripping, I began to lose interest about 20% in and couldn't even muster the desire to finish by the half way mark.

I think this is a beautiful story that needs to be told, but possibly with some editing to increase the pace. There are long moments when nothing much happens to anyone, but we try to get through it. Possibly by the end, the details shown in the middle would have paid off, but I can't say that I was willing to spend more time trying.

The Last of the Seven is not for the faint of heart. Hartov certainly knows how to paint a picture with his words, so it's not difficult to "see" the settings as well as the action. Some of that action is pretty gruesome, as I'd expect during wartime. The book also has a harrowing tone and feeling of tension all the way through. We do get the odd moment here and there of romance and humanity, but they don't last long. I would certainly be willing to believe that the intensity represented here is accurate to time and place. The book does suffer a bit with some purple prose, but not so much as to make it completely unbelievable. So, what it all comes down to The Last of the Seven is a heart-wrenching tale from start to finish. I wouldn't call it entertaining due to the subject matter, but it's definitely the type of story that sticks with you long after the last page is turned.

The Last of the Seven is a historical novel based on the little-known history of the “X Troop” during WWII —a team of European Jews who escaped the Continent only to join the British Army and return home to exact their revenge on Hitler’s military.

I love reading both fiction and non-fiction about World War II and I enjoy learning about people and events that I know nothing about and I was fascinated by this novel.

If you're a WWII history fan I recommend this!

Lieutenant Bernard Froelich has barely survived. While what is undertaken in this book by Steven Hartov is a fictional story, it is based on factual events. The historical “X Troop” was comprised of a group of European Jews who were trained for an undercover operation to fight the Nazis. Not only were they dressed like the Germans, they were trained to look and sound like them. Sadly, many of them lost their lives with Froelich being the last of the seven. Found by two British soldiers, he had to prove that he was, in fact, not a German. Not only did he have to prove that, but he had to learn how to trust.

Meanwhile, Froelich suffered a serious injury, and now had to continue to fight for his life. A difficult journey to be sure, especially when many gave up due to the strenuous circumstances.

Steven Hartov demonstrated extensive research in this book in order to compose this captivating, enthralling, and unforgettable novel. War is always a very dark time, and as Froelich’s story was told, this definitely proved to be the case.

For more of my thoughts on this evenly paced book laced with intrigue and mystery, please do not hesitate to watch my accompanying YouTube video - https://youtu.be/bVkfUI70tns

This is a good story of WWll. I really liked Froelich. I liked that this story was about a little known group of soldiers that were Jewish and were originally from Germany. I liked that there was a little bit of romance. The story is a little long winded in some spots but the story is good. I received a copy of this book from Harlequin for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

As this story opens, the scene is so dramatic that the reader could be excused for thinking that the book is already teasing the ending and is going to go back to the beginning of the story to explain how that lone soldier found himself at the literal end of his pretty damn much everything except determination, trudging miles across the Sahara alone, with two bullet wounds, no supplies and what seemed to be no hope of survival.

Only for that survival to appear and very nearly turn to disaster. And that’s the point where we meet young Lieutenant Bernard Froelich, the last survivor of the seven Jewish commandos sent by the British Army to infiltrate Nazi-held Tobruk ahead of a planned British invasion.

Which failed. Catastrophically.

Resulting, eventually, after an astonishing tea with Rommel and a daring nighttime escape from a POW camp, in Froelich staggering into a British Army camp in the tattered remains of a stolen Nazi uniform months later.

Froelich has already had more than enough wartime adventures to satisfy any book or, for that matter, any war. But this isn’t the end of either the soldier, the war, or the book. It’s only the beginning.

Froelich is “the last of the seven”, the last of the seven Jewish commandos who participated in that failed assault on Tobruk. But Froelich still has plenty of payback to deliver to the Nazis who killed his family, his friends, his fellow Jews and everyone who didn’t fit their “Aryan ideals”.

So the story follows Froelich’s war after his initial exploit. The one that was so final for the rest of his squad. Because he’s recruited – or perhaps that should be ordered – to take the skills he learned in that first infiltration to train a new group of Jewish commandos, orphans and lost boys just like himself, to tackle another infiltration with an even more important goal.

It’s up to Froelich and the “Filthy Jewish dozen” as his rabidly anti-Semitic superior officer calls them, to drop well behind enemy lines and slip into a little German base as part of a very big operation. Their “top secret” task is to infiltrate the Nazi research center at Peenemünde and steal a scientist. Admittedly one who wants to be stolen.

It’s the commandos’ job to prevent the Nazis from sticking nuclear warheads – however primitive – on the front of their V-2 rockets by getting the lead scientist for the project out of Peenemünde and safely into Allied hands. Even if they have to sacrifice themselves in the process.

Escape Rating A-: Part of what makes this story so compelling is just how many wild and crazy things happened along Froelich’s way. He has some of the worst good luck, or best bad luck, that ever graced a war story.

What’s even more fascinating is that nearly all of the major events in this story actually happened. They just didn’t all happen to the same person. Which is something I had to look up halfway through because that did stretch my reader’s willing suspension of disbelief a tiny bit. War is hell, luck is unfair in all directions, but that the same individual managed to be both this unlucky and this lucky at the same time stretched things a tad. But it certainly does keep the story exciting!

I also kept having reading flashbacks that I’d read something very like this, at least when it comes to the events at Peenemunde, some time ago. Eventually I figured out that it must have been Moonglow by Michael Chabon, although Sons and Soldiers by Bruce Henderson also has some similar bits. This is a hint that if you liked either of those you might like this and vice versa.

In spite of those quibbles, the story itself is riveting. It’s also the kind of war story that we don’t see quite as much of anymore. There is a LOT of the nitty gritty that makes war such hell, combined with the bleakness of World War II in general. The commando units are all made up of what Froelich calls “lost boys” like himself. They’ve all lost the families, their friends, the future they thought they’d have and the life they thought they knew. They all want revenge, payback against the Nazis – and it’s impossible to blame any of them for that.

(The casual anti-Semitism of the British can be hard to take for contemporary readers, but it is very much a part of the period. Whatever one thinks of Arab-Israeli relations in the 21st century, at that point it was all still to come. The Jews were a minority in Palestine and were desperate for a place to call home after fleeing Nazi Germany. That the British foresaw trouble in the future for their empire was realistic even if the rhetoric behind it was pretty awful – those fears were realistic and pragmatic. That the days of empire were ending and they didn’t want to recognize the fact, is not exactly surprising either.)

But the story in The Last of the Seven focuses on Froelich. It follows him through part of his war, and that war is hell. Not just the fighting, but what comes before and after it. His recovery in aid stations and hospitals is every bit as harrowing as his trek across the desert. His brief moments of happiness are snatched away by the war as well.

And then there’s the training and gearing up for the mission to Peenemünde, which is, at points, even more brutal than the fight yet to come. Because war is hell and this soldier’s journey just exposes one slice of that hell all the way down to the bone.

Froelich is the only survivor of an undercover operation. When he wanders from the desert into a British camp, he is mistaken for a German soldier. After some fast talking, he is finally believed and sent to the hospital. But his war is not over. It is just beginning!

I very much enjoyed the beginning of this book. Froelich is such a tough guy and he has a big heart. His strength comes through the pages like the warrior he is! He has sustained some terrible injuries. However, through some chance encounters, he finally receives the help he needs to put him back into the line of fire.

There were parts of this book that I loved and parts I just skimmed. I usually don’t mind war books. But, I had trouble with those sections in this novel. I just could not get interested in it. But, don’t let that stop you! It was most likely me. I am very much a mood reader and I may not have been in the mood!

Need a good historical war novel…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

THE LAST OF THE SEVEN by Steven Hartov is an emotionally intense WWII historical fiction story featuring the fictional portrayal of a member of the historical “X Troop” who were a group of European Jews trained for covert operations by the British Army and sent behind enemy lines.

Lieutenant Bernard Froelich stumbles upon a British military camp wounded, dehydrated and barely alive after having escaped a Nazi camp in North Africa. He has traveled across the desert on an unbelievable journey. He is the only survivor of an undercover operation.

This is the story of Froelich’s odyssey of survival, loss, love, and vengeance as a Jew of German origin during WWII. The author paints beautiful and at times stark word pictures of every location of Froelich’s journey. I felt as though I was right along with him in every location and in every harrowing scene were he could have been killed. The author’s extensive research is evident throughout the story. I felt this story is important for readers to realize that there were Jewish commandos fighting the Nazis even as they faced antisemitism from some in the British army they served bravely.

I highly recommend this historical fiction based on an amazing troop of men during WWII.

Thank you to the publisher, Hanover Square Press and NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC of The Last Of Seven in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist
Steven Hartov definitely knows what he is writing about. He joined the U.S. Merchant Marine Military Sealift Command in 1973 and has weaved his experiences into his novels.

This story is bold, based on true events and a true male version of WWII.
But it also held the hopes and heroic attempts of ordinary soldiers and for that I had to bow.

The Details
Bernhard Froehlich, a German soldier, or is he??
I don’t want to reveal too much here, but this man is part of a secret group, known as X-Troop. Their existence is well documented and the story is based on those brave men.

Maybe this is why I could not really connect with them or in particular Bernhard Froehlich. Even though all was very descriptive, it still felt abstract to me.

I assume this story was supposed to come across as brave and captivating, even exciting.
But in fact, it felt hectic. That’s the word that came to my mind when reading it.

Interesting was that the author brought in a kind of poetry, a bit of a flowery style, while he was talking about the gruesome aspects the characters experienced.

If the author wanted to show that there is no beauty in any aspects of a war, just very small pockets of hope, when there is a tender moment or unexpected beauty, then he accomplished that.
The “nice” moments in this book lasted one breath and it then went back to the bold cold truth.

Bernhard Froehlich is part of a group of men who were German or Austrian Jews and fought the Nazi regime, not for any heroic reasons, but vengeance and vengeance alone.

They want revenge for what happened to them and their families.
That drives them to work with British allies to fight against Hitler and his butchers.

The Verdict
Overall, reading this book was exhausting.
I felt like I was fighting and trying to survive, not knowing for what.

I did not enjoy it. And more than once I wanted to quit, but I knew I had to write a review and as disciplined as I am sometimes, I finished it.

It is well researched, but I would only recommend it, if you have a scientific interest in that subject, a strong stomach and endurance.

This book. The opening sequence, describing Bernard Froehlich’s desperate trek across an unforgiving desert hoping against hope for rescue, is brutal. I’m not super squeamish, but some of the descriptions almost put me off the book.

I’m so glad they didn’t.

Bernard Froehlich is found near a British outpost in the north African desert, wearing a German uniform. The Brits want to, if not shoot him on sight, at least capture him. But he convinces them he is, in fact, one of them. He tells a remarkable story, of being the lone survivor of a group of German Jewish soldiers going undercover as Nazis. As it turns out, he is not yet done serving for Britain.

I’ve never been in the military. I’ve certainly never been an undercover commando training for vital missions. But Steven Hartov writes in such a way as to make it clear how challenging such a task, such a role must be. We’ve all heard it said that war is hell, and so it is here.

I’ve read a fair amount of World War II historical fiction told from the perspective of women. The Last of the Seven is not that. It’s much more descriptive in its scenes of battles and wounds, of the training Froehlich and his men endure. But while it doesn’t focus on the more emotional side of war stories as seen from a woman’s point of view, it is not without emotion. Froehlich earnestly desires vengeance on the Nazis for what they did to his family. Deaths of comrades are truly mourned. War romance is bittersweet. The story runs the gamut of emotion and does an excellent job drawing the reader into each scene.

I knew nothing about the “X Troop,” the German Jews who fought for the Allies and used their heritage and native language against the Nazis. I can only imagine that imitating those who they most had cause to loathe brought an extra layer of difficulty to their service.

I found The Last of the Seven to be an engrossing, well-written, well-researched work of historical fiction, and I appreciated the fact that it taught me something new about World War II history.

Slow Start Builds To Action-Packed Finish. This book is one that starts with an intriguing mystery - a man shows up at a British post in the northern Africa desert during the Africa Campaign of WWII wearing a German uniform and claiming to be British - and builds a bit slowly and at times seemingly disjointedly - random flashbacks to this soldier's memories from Jewish persecutions in Berlin - to a bit of a romance middle and then an action packed final mission reminiscent of most any WWII movie. Overall a solid war tale for guys, with a lot of the emotional punch of women's fiction WWII historical fiction largely removed in favor of showing people actively being blown apart or shredded by machine gun fire. Recommended.

One of the reasons I love historical fiction WW2 based stories is because they introduce me to parts of history of WW 2 I never knew happend , and that what this one did ,it brought to life the little-known history of the X Troop—a team of European Jews who escaped the Continent only to join the British Army and return home to exact their revenge on Hitler’s military which like I said before i had no idea about , it's part of history that's never talked about and it should ,it shows the bravery of these men who risked their own lives to help their people get freedom from Hilter. As well as their struggles and fears of what could happen if they got caught.

Survival, yes, you will wonder if these men will survive, and especially Froelich, I don’t know how he went on! Although, this is fictional story, it is based on truth.
A horrible time on World History, and we walk through blazing desserts, and paratroop out of airplanes, all with the desire to stop the madness.
Hate for a religion, a group of people, but this band of men give their all, a story filled with perseverance, throw in a bit of humor, and a little romance.
This journey became a page-turner as we look for answers and survival, and we walk with them! A story that we need to read and not forget!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Harlequin Trade Publishing, and was not required to give a positive review.