The Palermo affair

by Colin Forbes

Were they with Petrie...or against him? The name of the game was sabotage. Major James Petrie landed in Palermo for one purpose only --- to destroy a German armored troopship. — It was a tough assignment. It meant a two hundred mile trek across Sicily. It meant land mines, the SS, the Gestapo, the Carabinieri, the entire German army. — It looked bad. But it looked worse when Vito Scelba showed up.

Vito Scelba -- the Mafia chieftain, leader of a band of outlaws. They told Petrie they wanted to go with him. They said they wanted to help.

Petrie wasn't too sure what they wanted. But he was going to find out fast enough.

Genres: Thriller, Historical Fiction, War, Fiction, Adventure, Espionage

255 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Raymond Harold Sawkins was a British novelist, who mainly published under the pseudonym Colin Forbes, but also as Richard Raine, Jay Bernard and Harold English. He only published three of his first books under his own name.Sawkins wrote over 40 books, mostly as Colin Forbes. He was most famous for his long-running series of thriller novels in which the principal character is Tweed, Deputy Director of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sawkins attended The Lower School of John Lyon in Harrow, London. At the age of 16 he started work as a sub-editor with a magazine and book publishing company. He served with the British Army in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Before his demobilization he was attached to the Army Newspaper Unit in Rome. On his return to civilian life he joined a publishing and printing company, commuting to London for 20 years, until he became successful enough to be a full-time novelist.

Sawkins was married to a Scots-Canadian, Jane Robertson (born 31 March 1925, died 1993). Together they had one daughter, Janet.Sawkins died of a heart attack on August 23, 2006.

Sawkins was often quoted as personally visiting every location he features in his books to aid the authenticity of the writing. As a result, there is detailed description of the places where the action in his books takes place.

Fury (1995) was inspired by the courage of his wife before she died, and he set it apart from his other novels “because of the strong emotion and sense of loss that runs through it”.

Just one of Forbes' novels was made into a film: Avalanche Express, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw, which was released in 1979 to generally poor reviews.

Reviews

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really solid thriller based on true events from World War II.

The Allies are about to invade Sicily as a precursor to invading the Italian mainland. The Germans want to send a panzer division across the Straits of Messina to stop the allies in their tracks, but in order to do this they need a train transporting ferry to stay afloat long enough to get the German tanks across.

The objective of the allied saboteurs is blow up the ferry, preferably with the tanks onboard. The allied commandoes have to land far away from Messina and make their way across Sicily in just over a day, bypassing the SS, Gestapo, Wehrmacht, and the Carabinieri. In order to be successful in their journey across Sicily, they need help and there's only one organisation capable of this help...The Mafia.

[Warwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, believable mission by 2 army officers with help by cicilian locals against the Germans. Great descriptions of local terrain and conditions in 1943. Exciting, suspenseful and quick compulsive read of only 250 pages. Forbes WW2 tales far better than later Tweed series.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Off-brand Alistair Maclean

[Nigel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly standard WWII commando raid story. This one follows the men who are landed on Sicily (in advance of the allied invasion) with orders to sink the last remaining large train ferry, Carridi, with which the Germans could quickly reinforce the island with armoured divisions which would obviously have a negative effect on the allied landings.
Up against an immovable time barrier the story tracks the progress of the party as they try and traverse the island. It might have been a deal with the devil but they enlist the help of the mafia to get them across the island. As could be expected things don’t go completely to plan. The have to survive attacks from rival mafia gangs, allied air force raids, the heat of the island and a noticeable increase in both Italian and Germany army patrols.
Can they reach their target and sink the Carridi before it can be used to reinforce the island or will the allied invasion be thwarted?

[Steve Markham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read!
This book, features chapters titled by the hour, which gives you a better idea of the tim frame in the book and makes the experience of the reader much more tense as you are pulled into the historical events which may or may not unfold as the too soldiers and the mafia boss travel across sicily to plant a bomb...

[Ashok Raghupathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good fast paced WW II Thriller set in Sicily. The chatpers have detailed description of the terrain, the tension and tenacity through the crack team's mission. An easy to read and finish novel (250 pages in my edition) -- specially if you are looking for a breather between other tomes.

[Vazzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was called Palermo Ambush when i read it. A clssic WWII thriller from CF. a GOod read indeed