The Last of the Seven by Steven Hartov

The Last of the Seven Reviews

• 
  MarilynW

  The Last of the Seven by Steven Hartov
  Narrated by Raphael Corkhill
  
  This story takes real experiences of German and Austrian Jews who fought the Nazis in secret commando units during World War II. We meet fictional Lieutenant Bernard Froelich in Africa, where he is horribly wounded but is miraculously still alive. Having lost his fellow solders to death, he vows to never care about anyone again but he's can't help it. He will continue to care and continue to lose throughout this book of gruesome horrors but also bravery and self sacrifice. My head is still reeling with the scope of it all. The story is so poetic in the way it's written and despite the brutality and hopelessness of all we see, there is humor, friendship, an bit of romance, and amazing determination. Add in the excellent narration of this audiobook and my mind's eyes saw this story as a movie. Now I'm off to learn more about the feats of and members of "X Troop".
  
  Published Aug 9, 2022
• 
  Angela M

  
  This novel is descriptive and very gruesome in places. It is, after all a war story, but then it is so beautiful in other places, as it is also a beautifully sad love story that is deeply moving. The story is heartbreaking telling another facet of WWII that I was not aware of, but triumphant at other times . It’s based on the true story of a band of German Jewish men in a secret commando troop who fight to revenge the loss of their families to the Nazis.
  
  “He sat there alone, for a long while. He wept for everything, his loss and love and youth, and then he stopped it. At last, with the deeper darkness, he rose and walked and took the tram home, to find his father's dry goods store engulfed in fire. Froelich shuddered on the cot, vengeance misting his blurred vision. There was no refuge in his reminiscence. It had been that way for years now. Whenever he sought solace in a childhood scent or sweetness, a roadblock always turned him back toward retribution, another kind of thirst he'd never quench.”
  
  The existence of the real X-Troop as they were known, is well documented. This stunning novel led me to discover more information about this brave group of men. The story is always important as it tells about the Holocaust and once again reminds us to never forget. There are non fiction books which I will look for. Here are a couple of articles. Definitely recommended.
  
  
  https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...
  
  
  https://time.com/6074084/secret-unit-...
  
  I received a copy of this book from Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins through Edelweiss.
  
• 
  "Avonna

  Check out all my reviews at:
  https://www.avonnalovesgenres.com
  
  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.
• 
  Angela

  The Last of the Seven by Steven Hartov
  
  Synopsis /
  
  A spellbinding novel of World War II based on 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.
  
  A lone soldier wearing a German uniform stumbles into a British military camp in the North African desert with an incredible story to tell. He is the only survivor of an undercover operation meant to infiltrate a Nazi base, trading on the soldiers’ perfect fluency in German. However, this man is not British born but instead a German Jew seeking revenge for the deaths of his family back home in Berlin.
  
  As the Allies advance into Europe, the young lieutenant is brought to recover in Sicily. There he is recruited by a British major to join the newly formed X Troop, a commando unit composed of German and Austrian Jews training for a top-secret mission at a nearby camp in the Sicilian hills. They are all “lost boys,” driven not by patriotism but by vengeance.
  
  My Thoughts /
  
  The Last of the Seven is written as an historical-fiction novel, although, at its roots are real people and true events. It’s a stellar example of how we, as human beings, can adapt, overcome, and rise above, when the odds are firmly against our favour.
  
  In this brilliantly written novel, Steven Hartov has introduced this reader to something she knew nothing about. A secret Jewish commando unit that fought for the British against the Nazis on the front lines of all the major battles of World War II. This all German-speaking Commando unit was sometimes referred to as ‘X Troop’ but was more properly known as ‘No.3 Troop, 10 (I.A.) Commando’ - the I.A. standing for ‘Inter-Allied’. In 1942, desperate to turn the tide of war, Churchill created this top-secret commando unit, in which all of the men had to take on fake British names and personas. The men of X Troop were used both as commandos—killing the Nazis—and in counterintelligence—interrogating the enemy on the battlefield.
  
  The Special Interrogation Group, (SIG), was a commando unit of the British Army comprised of Jewish German, Austrian, French, and other European volunteers. Attached to Middle East Commando, they played a significant part in the North African campaigns of WWII, in particular the battles of Tobruk, with some surviving members later designed as ‘X Troop’ under No. 10 Commando. Captain “Bertie” Buck and Lieutenant David Russell were the SIG’s commanders of record.
  
  The story opens.
  
  PART ONE – TOBRUK
  
  North Africa, Spring 1943
  
  Tunisia
  
  The storm was like a sailor’s nightmare, except there was no ocean to be found, and all the waves were roiling sand dunes spitting stinging grit into a howling wind.
  
  For the entirety of this novel, I was held spellbound the writer’s prose. The descriptive text was breathtaking and even more appealing, was that there was not one extraneous word or utterance. Each word served a purpose; and each purpose was well intoned.
  
  A lone soldier wearing a German uniform stumbles into a British military camp in the North African desert. He is the only survivor of an undercover operation meant to infiltrate a Nazi base, trading on the soldiers’ perfect fluency in German. This lone soldier, this man; he is not British born but instead, a German Jew seeking revenge for the deaths of his family back home in Berlin. This man’s name is Lieutenant Bernard Froelich, and he is the last of the seven, and this is his story. An immensely moving story of survival, loss, love and, vengeance – as Froelich, struggles with the Nazi’s treatment of Jews and those of Jewish origin.
  
  The author recounts Froelich’s ‘war’ after his initial exploit in the opening scene – the one that branded him the last of the seven. Promoted to Lieutenant, it is Froelich’s brief to drop well behind enemy lines and infiltrate a Nazi research centre at Peenemünde and capture a scientist who was working on the latest weapon of mass destruction for Hitler.
  
  Hartov’s account of Froelich’s wartime experiences were brutal and harsh, and at times made by eyes water; but I’m grateful they were not sugar coated, for it would have detracted from the intensity of the story. And as always, the prose was on point.
  
  Froelich peered beyond the thin gray blanket covering his legs, where his naked feet looked like a Bombay fire walker’s. The socks inside his German boots had worn through long ago, so wherever leather rubbed his skin the boots had won the day. His toenails looked like broken teeth because he’d tried to file them with rocks, and all the flesh was salmon-belly white with blackened scabs, some still oozing blister water. At one point in the Sahara, he’d actually tried to drink it.
  
  The author’s commitment to research should be applauded and his notes at the end are well worth reading. Stories like this one, although confronting, need to be read, so that the like of Froelich and his X Troop counterparts are not a forgotten part of history.
  
  We all told each other that the losses would grow easier over time, yet we all knew it was a lie. The first shock of it dulls, but then, as years toll by, one’s left thinking about all they’ve missed. That’s the truth of it. One grows older, yet they stay just as they once were when they left. His shoulders slumped a bit. In a melancholy way, war is the fountain of youth.
• 
  Morgan

  3-1/2*
  
  Second Lieutenant Bernard Froelich, is a German Jew, who escaped to Britain and joined the British Army. He and other Jews from other European countries volunteered and joined “X” Troop whereupon they were put to use infiltrating German held areas dressed as German officers where their native German language could be used to advantage.
  Based on true events this is a little known WWII story told in a harrowing, graphic and ruthless narrative.
  Their successes eventually encouraged Winston Churchill to create a Jewish Brigade within the British Army where none had been acceptable before.
  As WWII heroes go the men of “X” Troop are certainly among them!
• 
  Elliot A

  
  
  
  
  
  ***Link to video***
  
  
  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.
• 
  Jeff

  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.
• 
  Robin Loves Reading

  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
  
• 
  Marlene

  Originally published at
  Reading Reality
  
  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.
  
• 
  Lisa

  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.
• 
  Mark Carnelley

  I grew up reading fictional and factual WW2 thrillers. With my grandfather fighting in France in WW1, my Uncle in WW2, and both parents in the UK Air Force, there were so many stories I grew up with.
  This story ranks amongst the best I’ve read. It is breathtaking, raw, brutal, heartbreaking, heart warming, and humorous.
  It feels authentic, reads like historical fact, and whilst I know that it’s not, it should be. For those that love this genre, it needs to be the #1 read for not just my generation, but for generations to come.
  Stories, like this wonderful book, need to be read, so that the historical facts that this book is based on, can be long remembered, and not just resigned to dusty pages in history. I bought the hardback version, as it deserves to have each page literally turned.
  Truly, a five ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star memorable read.
• 
  Pete

  Excellent story!!
  Compelling, wonderfully written, hope to read more by this author
• 
  Dawn

  I don't read many books set around World War II, mostly because I just find them too upsetting, but when "The Last of the Seven" came my way, I knew this was one I had to read. It's a brilliantly written story that blurs the lines between what is fact and what is fiction (which is exactly what I want from any historical fiction). I'll admit, there were a few tears while reading, and some parts were hard going for me, but this was a very good read.
  
  This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.
• 
  Shmuel Yaccoby

  A vivid war style story
  
  “And the Lord has chosen you of awl the peoples who are on the face of the earth...“ A well-researched periodic plotline. The description of each scene is so real, and remarkable, while the metaphors are just terrific to my soul. The dialogues are, balanced, rounding the characters, and moving the plot forward, some are even amusingly memorable.
  
• 
  Kira

  Pacing was a bit slow in part 2, but the action, heroics, and tragedies were all there for a good war story. Froelich's experiences were brutal, as were all the other members of the X troop, but these "lost boys" used that as motivation in such dangerous operations. A great piece of historical fiction based off of the real X troop, a group of German Jews who became spies for the British Army, and the author's military experience.
• 
  Poppy

  The last of Seven
  
  this is a wonderful novel. the characters were well done, more than anything I learned by reading this book. Previous to this I had heard of the Jewish Brigade but with this I was able to learn more about it.
• 
  Becky Baldridge

  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.
• 
  Virginia Winfield

  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.
• 
  Rena Holcomb

  I never give a synopsis of the story when writing a review-that is the job of book blurbs-I am more concern with the development of characters, the writing and how the story (stories) infiltrates my life while reading and the feeling I am left with after the story concludes.
  
  This is a beautifully developed and written story filled with brutally honest reflections of the horrors of war, suffering and the drive for justice.
  
  The writing is superb.
  
  Thank you for sharing this story.
• 
  Cara

  There are a lot of WWII historical novels at the moment and thus one is brutal, beautiful and absolutely page turning. I adored it! Plus, the special unit the book explores really existed and that’s so powerful to reflect on today. Also, the various locations around Africa and Europe where the book takes places are incredible and well described. A wonderful novel!
• 
  Lindsey

  I really enjoyed this story. The entire time I was engaged and invested in Froelich. I was particularly impressed with how the mental aspect of war came in. I'm happy that Hartov didn't shy away from how all of this trauma would impact people and how they interacted with others around them.
  I also enjoyed that characters really seemed to flit in and out of the story, the same way everyone seemed to be passing everyone across the front lines. Froelich also acknowledged this and made the reader understand that it was expected and appreciated based on the aforementioned relationship avoidance.
  Hartov really created a GREAT ww2 story here. I can't wait to read it again.
• 
  Leo

  Great book! Loved the historic aspect, but felt that the build-up was drawn out and the climatic finale was too brief. Otherwise highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a good war novel.
• 
  Susan King

  Excellent book, I couldn't put it down. Recommend to all readers