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Von Ryan's Express
An Air Force colonel unwittingly delivers a group of British and American officers into the hands of the Germans and then plans an escape
327 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
17 people are currently reading
385 people want to read
About the author
David Westheimer
57 books7 followersDavid Westheimer was a novelist best-known for his for his 1964 novel Von Ryan's Express, which was based in part upon his experiences as a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany during World War II.
Ironically, one of his most popular novels, and perhaps his most enduring, was not credited to him for much of its shelf life: In its original printing, he was by-lined as the author of the novelization of Days of Wine and Roses based on the screenplay by his friend J.P. Miller. However the book proved hugely popular and the story had become so iconic that its publisher Bantam Books (and one supposes the authors, by mutual arrangement) took Westheimer's name off the book to move it into the "literature" category and keep it in print (which they did, for decades). Subsequent printings were branded only J.P. Miller's Days of Wine and Roses without an explicit by-line for the novel.
Westheimer, a Rice University graduate, worked as an assistant editor for the Houston Post from 1939 to 1946 except for those years spent with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. As a navigator in a B-24 he was shot down over Italy on December 11, 1942 and spent time as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III.
Ironically, one of his most popular novels, and perhaps his most enduring, was not credited to him for much of its shelf life: In its original printing, he was by-lined as the author of the novelization of Days of Wine and Roses based on the screenplay by his friend J.P. Miller. However the book proved hugely popular and the story had become so iconic that its publisher Bantam Books (and one supposes the authors, by mutual arrangement) took Westheimer's name off the book to move it into the "literature" category and keep it in print (which they did, for decades). Subsequent printings were branded only J.P. Miller's Days of Wine and Roses without an explicit by-line for the novel.
Westheimer, a Rice University graduate, worked as an assistant editor for the Houston Post from 1939 to 1946 except for those years spent with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. As a navigator in a B-24 he was shot down over Italy on December 11, 1942 and spent time as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
March 24, 2015
A couple of preliminary notes:
1. I first read Von Ryan's Express when I was about 12 years old. It inspired me to write my first novel, 2 years later (as a Christmas present for my sister, which was, sadly, historically rather inaccurate).
2. I have gone on record—in an interview in 2008—citing Von Ryan's Express as my favourite book.
I am a little more mature now when it comes to reading, so when asked about my favourite book, I always say that I don't have one favourite. But this one still remains one of my top five books.
A quick summary of the plot: Von Ryan's Express is a good, old-fashioned war adventure story, set in Italy. It begins in a POW camp which houses about a thousand British and American officers. At the start of the book, a new prisoner has just arrived: Colonel Joseph Ryan, an American airforce officer and a very hard taskmaster. Within minutes of arriving, Ryan asserts his seniority (he displaces the British Colonel Fincham as the senior officer at the camp) and sets about licking the entire bunch—the undisciplined, dirty, sloppy prisoners as well as their slipshod Italian guards—into shape.
Within minutes, too, Ryan has made himself extremely unpopular; just a handful of men—the chaplain Costanzo, the doctor Stein, a young lieutenant named Billy Petersen—are able to get along with him. For the others, Ryan is poison—and he doesn't care.
But things take an unexpected turn when Italy capitulates, and suddenly freedom is in sight for the Allied POWs at the camp. Events, however, play out in such a way that the Germans arrive and take over, quickly transferring all the prisoners into a train headed for Germany. A thousand Allied officers is a huge prize, even in wartime Europe, where trains can hardly be spared.
And Ryan—dubbed Von Ryan by his men, because they think he's more fascist than the Germans themselves—realizes that it all depends on him: he has to come up with a plan to get his men—all his men—out.
There are many reasons for my love for this book. Firstly, there's the plot: very exciting, very well-written, with a superb pace and good twists of plot. Secondly, there's the humour, of which there is plenty, especially in the dialogues. Thirdly, there are the characterisations: everyone, from Ryan and his colleagues to the Italians at the POW camp, to the Germans, comes alive very vividly. I like, too, the fact that while this is an adventure story, there are also glimpses of the realities of war: how it affects both soldiers and civilians, how greed and humanity and every other human emotion still exist side by side, how war can ravage a land.
If you at all like adventure stories, do not give this a miss. It is addictive.
1. I first read Von Ryan's Express when I was about 12 years old. It inspired me to write my first novel, 2 years later (as a Christmas present for my sister, which was, sadly, historically rather inaccurate).
2. I have gone on record—in an interview in 2008—citing Von Ryan's Express as my favourite book.
I am a little more mature now when it comes to reading, so when asked about my favourite book, I always say that I don't have one favourite. But this one still remains one of my top five books.
A quick summary of the plot: Von Ryan's Express is a good, old-fashioned war adventure story, set in Italy. It begins in a POW camp which houses about a thousand British and American officers. At the start of the book, a new prisoner has just arrived: Colonel Joseph Ryan, an American airforce officer and a very hard taskmaster. Within minutes of arriving, Ryan asserts his seniority (he displaces the British Colonel Fincham as the senior officer at the camp) and sets about licking the entire bunch—the undisciplined, dirty, sloppy prisoners as well as their slipshod Italian guards—into shape.
Within minutes, too, Ryan has made himself extremely unpopular; just a handful of men—the chaplain Costanzo, the doctor Stein, a young lieutenant named Billy Petersen—are able to get along with him. For the others, Ryan is poison—and he doesn't care.
But things take an unexpected turn when Italy capitulates, and suddenly freedom is in sight for the Allied POWs at the camp. Events, however, play out in such a way that the Germans arrive and take over, quickly transferring all the prisoners into a train headed for Germany. A thousand Allied officers is a huge prize, even in wartime Europe, where trains can hardly be spared.
And Ryan—dubbed Von Ryan by his men, because they think he's more fascist than the Germans themselves—realizes that it all depends on him: he has to come up with a plan to get his men—all his men—out.
There are many reasons for my love for this book. Firstly, there's the plot: very exciting, very well-written, with a superb pace and good twists of plot. Secondly, there's the humour, of which there is plenty, especially in the dialogues. Thirdly, there are the characterisations: everyone, from Ryan and his colleagues to the Italians at the POW camp, to the Germans, comes alive very vividly. I like, too, the fact that while this is an adventure story, there are also glimpses of the realities of war: how it affects both soldiers and civilians, how greed and humanity and every other human emotion still exist side by side, how war can ravage a land.
If you at all like adventure stories, do not give this a miss. It is addictive.
June 4, 2013
Enjoyed this book. It had memorable characters and a quick-paced plot.
It begins with Colonel Ryan (an American) being brought into an Italian-run POW camp. He chews out the Italian sentry for failing to salute, having a dirty weapon, and needing a shave. Then he turns his scrutiny on the British and American prisoners, quickly expressing his distaste for their sloppy appearance and clear decline in discipline. As the new senior officer, he quickly restores discipline, winning few friends in the process. I laughed out loud at Ryan’s efforts to get new uniforms for his men, and was surprised by a plot twist involving an OSS agent. I would have enjoyed the book more if I liked the way the book ended, but Overall it’s a book I plan to read again.
A few other notes: It was written in the sixties, so it’s told in omniscient viewpoint. Also, there is some swearing. It’s more PG-13 than R rated, but it’s there.
It begins with Colonel Ryan (an American) being brought into an Italian-run POW camp. He chews out the Italian sentry for failing to salute, having a dirty weapon, and needing a shave. Then he turns his scrutiny on the British and American prisoners, quickly expressing his distaste for their sloppy appearance and clear decline in discipline. As the new senior officer, he quickly restores discipline, winning few friends in the process. I laughed out loud at Ryan’s efforts to get new uniforms for his men, and was surprised by a plot twist involving an OSS agent. I would have enjoyed the book more if I liked the way the book ended, but Overall it’s a book I plan to read again.
A few other notes: It was written in the sixties, so it’s told in omniscient viewpoint. Also, there is some swearing. It’s more PG-13 than R rated, but it’s there.
December 30, 2012
I read VRE for the first time, in my early teens, after picking it up at a library book sale. It was the first book that kept me up into the early hours of the morning just to see how it all turned out. I wasn't much of a reader then, but VRE had the right mix of suspense and daring-do and that served as the perfect escape for teenaged me. Through middle and high school, I would re-read VRE every few months.
Fast forward 20 years and I felt like giving it another go. Call it nostalgia. Call it curiosity. Call It I don't know what. But in any case, reading VRE was a sort of time capsule, or better yet a partial time machine. While reading VRE, a good part if me was that kid again.
As for how I feel about the book now...who cares what I feel about it? What matters was, for a few hours I was transported.
Fast forward 20 years and I felt like giving it another go. Call it nostalgia. Call it curiosity. Call It I don't know what. But in any case, reading VRE was a sort of time capsule, or better yet a partial time machine. While reading VRE, a good part if me was that kid again.
As for how I feel about the book now...who cares what I feel about it? What matters was, for a few hours I was transported.
June 28, 2019
Really good edge-of-your seat story. A cliff hanger of one kind or another every few pages even before they got on the train- or so it seemed, lol. When Col. Joseph Ryan arrives at the prison camp in southern Italy, he turns everything upside down with his autocratic and unyielding manner. He is the SOB of commanding officers. And that's before they are all loaded on a train heading north to a new camp in Germany. On the terrifying ride north everything depends on the Colonel's cunning and audacity and, most importantly on his ability to maintain order and discipline over almost a thousand desperate and frightened men who hate his guts. A nail biter to the very end!
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November 29, 2021I couldn’t finish the book. 100 pages in and nothing major pertaining to escape, which this book is supposed to be about, has happened. The Italians have surrendered, but the boys are still in the bag. The only exciting thing that happened was they burned all their clothes to get new uniforms.
Ryan also isn’t a likeable character. He’s demanding and insistent everything be up to snuff. And everyone just lets him get away with it.
Ryan also isn’t a likeable character. He’s demanding and insistent everything be up to snuff. And everyone just lets him get away with it.
October 14, 2022
I was seven years old when this movie debuted, and I never watched it. Without audio description, it would probably be a waste anyway. But the book? Oh, the book! This was a fun, cathartic, romping good experience.
Colonel Joseph Ryan is a fictional American Air Force officer during World War II. The Italians took him prisoner after his plane went down in rural Italy. His capture occurred months before the allies liberated Italy.
Ryan is an unusual, unlikable person by every measure. He neither seeks nor cultivates friendships. He arrives at a POW camp mostly populated with British prisoners. There’s a smattering of Americans there, too.
The place is a slovenly disordered mess, and Joe Ryan sets out to bring military order back to the camp. There’s so much packed into this. You’ll think about the psychology he employs to get the men to do his bidding. He walks a fascinating, thin line between gaining the trust of his fellow prisoners and procuring as many concessions from his Italian overseers as possible.
If you read this, your relationship with Ryan will evolve in memorable ways, too. I initially thought he was a useless, blustering bureaucrat. Why, after all, should there be military discipline in a POW camp? The more I read, the better I understood why military discipline was crucial. It created a climate of hope. It encouraged planning and gave hopeless men the idea that change is possible despite the odds.
When Italy gives up the fight, the prisoners assume the allies will liberate them immediately. A mysterious American shows up the night the Italians surrender and encourages Ryan to keep his men inside the prison, reassuring him that liberation would occur within days. By now, they trusted him, and they remained inside the walls as a result. But the mysterious American was a German, and German soldiers advance on the camp the following day. The trust the men had in their leader, Ryan, breaks completely. As the Germans are about to move the prisoners, their ability to trust in Ryan becomes crucial.
If you read this, you’ll read how Joe Ryan and his associates draft and carry out a plan filled with derring-do that ends abruptly but highly satisfactorily.
This was simply fun. I was amazed by the ways my feelings toward Joe Ryan evolved as the book went forward. That’s the hallmark of good writing. Granted, there are some contrived things here. Events had to fall into place exactly or the prisoners would never be able to escape. But the attraction to this book for me was the fun quotient. Yeah, ok, some German necks break under the pressure of Joe Ryan and a couple of his top associates but watching Ryan plan and execute something that lesser leaders wouldn’t have even tried makes for swashbuckling put-a-smile-on-your-face kind of reading.
Colonel Joseph Ryan is a fictional American Air Force officer during World War II. The Italians took him prisoner after his plane went down in rural Italy. His capture occurred months before the allies liberated Italy.
Ryan is an unusual, unlikable person by every measure. He neither seeks nor cultivates friendships. He arrives at a POW camp mostly populated with British prisoners. There’s a smattering of Americans there, too.
The place is a slovenly disordered mess, and Joe Ryan sets out to bring military order back to the camp. There’s so much packed into this. You’ll think about the psychology he employs to get the men to do his bidding. He walks a fascinating, thin line between gaining the trust of his fellow prisoners and procuring as many concessions from his Italian overseers as possible.
If you read this, your relationship with Ryan will evolve in memorable ways, too. I initially thought he was a useless, blustering bureaucrat. Why, after all, should there be military discipline in a POW camp? The more I read, the better I understood why military discipline was crucial. It created a climate of hope. It encouraged planning and gave hopeless men the idea that change is possible despite the odds.
When Italy gives up the fight, the prisoners assume the allies will liberate them immediately. A mysterious American shows up the night the Italians surrender and encourages Ryan to keep his men inside the prison, reassuring him that liberation would occur within days. By now, they trusted him, and they remained inside the walls as a result. But the mysterious American was a German, and German soldiers advance on the camp the following day. The trust the men had in their leader, Ryan, breaks completely. As the Germans are about to move the prisoners, their ability to trust in Ryan becomes crucial.
If you read this, you’ll read how Joe Ryan and his associates draft and carry out a plan filled with derring-do that ends abruptly but highly satisfactorily.
This was simply fun. I was amazed by the ways my feelings toward Joe Ryan evolved as the book went forward. That’s the hallmark of good writing. Granted, there are some contrived things here. Events had to fall into place exactly or the prisoners would never be able to escape. But the attraction to this book for me was the fun quotient. Yeah, ok, some German necks break under the pressure of Joe Ryan and a couple of his top associates but watching Ryan plan and execute something that lesser leaders wouldn’t have even tried makes for swashbuckling put-a-smile-on-your-face kind of reading.
January 31, 2020
A thousand British and American POWs learn to hate the American colonel (Ryan) who singlehandedly shapes them up in an Italian POW camp. His strict discipline brings order to the camp; it also earns him a derisive "von." When Italy surrenders, German guards herd the men into boxcars for shipment to the Reich. Ryan has other ideas. He reckons to take the train to Switzerland...and freedom. It's tough to like Ryan as a hero but he was a hero none the less as he manages to take 1000 POW'S through the heart of occupied Italy, stuffed like sardines in boxcars, to freedom in Switzerland.
"A taut, exciting and well-keyed war novel... Ryan is a difficult hero to like, but he is a hero nonetheless. An exciting, authentic book."
"A taut, exciting and well-keyed war novel... Ryan is a difficult hero to like, but he is a hero nonetheless. An exciting, authentic book."
December 24, 2020
Even if you’ve seen the movie, this is worth the read!
I’ve seen the movie a million times, but there were quite a few differences between the book and the movie. All of the same basic events happen, but there were enough differences to still keep me engaged. I think there was more drama in the movie.
The characters in this book are well defined. Ryan is of course our main character and I really enjoyed that he’s often a difficult character to love. He’s not the perfect all-American boy out to save the world. He’s a complex man. He’s not very forthcoming with his men and he makes hard decisions that other people don’t like - but that’s leadership.
I will say, I enjoyed the movie ending more.
I’ve seen the movie a million times, but there were quite a few differences between the book and the movie. All of the same basic events happen, but there were enough differences to still keep me engaged. I think there was more drama in the movie.
The characters in this book are well defined. Ryan is of course our main character and I really enjoyed that he’s often a difficult character to love. He’s not the perfect all-American boy out to save the world. He’s a complex man. He’s not very forthcoming with his men and he makes hard decisions that other people don’t like - but that’s leadership.
I will say, I enjoyed the movie ending more.
April 10, 2022
I think, as a boy, I read certain books because I wanted to see the movies made from those books, but couldn't, because they were playing at the drive-in. How many stars would I have given this book at the age of twelve? I'm not sure, but I'm sure I would have given it at least three. I do remember being surprised by one scene in which our hero, pretending to be a Nazi, does what he thinks a Nazi would do in the situation (which, of course, isn't something he wants to do). That was an interesting concept to me. For that reason alone, I'm giving this book four stars.
May 15, 2019
This book reads like a classic 1960's WWII movie. It was made into a movie starring Frank Sinatra. Allied prisoners in an Italian prison camp are undisciplined until Col. Ryan is captured and brought to the camp. He brings along with him a new sense of honor and discipline. The camp is taken over by the Germans who decide to evacuate the camp and move the prisoners to Germany by train. It is suspenseful, but yet predictable. I found it entertaining.
November 23, 2020
World War II escape story. After Italy surrenders, a thousand allied soldiers think they are going to be rescued. Instead, they're loaded on a train to take them to Germany. The allied Colonel leading the prisoners is Joe Ryan, a man the prisoners all hate. But he is the only man with a plan - he aims to take over the train and escape on it to Switzerland...
One of the best war stories I've ever read - it barrels along like the train itself. Tense and exciting, and highly recommended.
One of the best war stories I've ever read - it barrels along like the train itself. Tense and exciting, and highly recommended.
March 9, 2024
The Book (1964): for a pulp thriller this is ok, the pacing is excellent and it rattles along at a fair speed but it doesn't reach the giddy heights of say an Aliester McClean war thriller. The hard-ass col Ryan doesn't seem to be able to fail or suffer indecision with anything which is surprising as this was the mid 1960's and had nearly two decades of post ww2 fiction a lot of which even the actioners had depth of character which is absent in this book.
June 17, 2021
An exciting WWII adventure about American and British POWs in Italy who take over a train, and rather than being taken to Germany, are able to outwit the Germans and take the train to Switzerland instead. Much better than the movie. Had I been making the movie I would have cast Kirk Douglas who looks much more like how Colonel Ryan is described than Frank Sinatra.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2021
Another exciting book found on our book shelves; written 1964. Von Ryan spearheads an escape from Italian prisoner of war camp in WWII by commandeering German train and navigating through Italy to Switzerland. Plenty of tense moments lead to ultimate success. I thought detailed account of escape dragged on as did first third of book which dealt with conditions in prison camp.
October 31, 2018
Much better than the movie! Interesting learning that the author had been a POW. Good, taut and relatively believable drama. Escaping on a train with a 1000 men through war torn Italy would have been quite a feat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 10, 2022
I saw this movie years ago and am not sure if I have ever read the book. It is a great war story. Found a copy in a $1 pile at a use bookstore and am glad I picked it up. Will have to see if I can find the movie and watch it again.
September 14, 2017
This was a fun, fast-paced and very intense (edge of your seat) story. Set in WWII about a prison camp of officers who make a daring escape attempt.
You may have seen the movie, but the book is much more tense!
You may have seen the movie, but the book is much more tense!
October 14, 2017
Exciting WWII POW escape tale
May 26, 2018
Very exciting!
July 19, 2019
Although very different from the movie, this was a fantastic read. Highly recommended.
October 25, 2020
This is another case of the book being greater than the movie, even though more people remember the movie than the book.
January 9, 2021
Wow, what an exciting story. So suspenseful, I couldn't put it down without knowing what happened next. Luck, providence, or something else, it was amazing.
July 29, 2021
Solid book. Great movie.
March 2, 2023
Great WWII adventure story
February 16, 2024
Quite exciting, lots of action, a little different that the movie from what I remember.
January 1, 2024
Reread a book that I had read many years before. Good escapism.
March 9, 2023
This is more a novel for teenagers, but would many of them be interested in the plot nowadays? Westheimer writes compactly and details the story well. It has a great premise as a WW2 escape adventure. The characters are mostly one-note however. Ryan himself is of the old school when it comes to how he treats his men. We learn of a tragic incident involving his flying instructor before the War that affects him greatly and again the shooting of one of his men later in the novel gives an edge to his personality but this is not developed and we don't see how the present events change him. Pity because that could have rounded off the novel nicely. But this is not written with characters in mind. It's action that is foremost.
I read this as a teenager in the 60s so wanted to see how it fares now that I'm older. Not really thrilling I'm afraid. Ryan has his setbacks during his escape but they fizzle into minor interruptions. Twenty-four Nazi guards got to be silently dispatched as the train rolls across Italy? No worries, just strangle them one at a time! Got to keep a thousand-odd men locked up for days in rail freight carriages? No problems, just ignore them for most of the story! Got to take a German officer hostage to use as a front to get through the checkpoints? Thank God he's an alcoholic and a couple of glasses of wine will keep him quiet and ensure he does as he's told. One of your Americans wants to leave the train and fend for himself? Fine, just take a couple of hours to go into the village and find an Italian willing to disclose where your man went. And don't even mention the language barriers - I don't think this once presented a problem for our hero, especially with a trusty Italian-speaking padre for interpreter who whenever his conscience pricks him that he's actually assisting in people's dying, a few sensible words from Ryan will salve his conscience. And so it goes on. Obstacles are thrown up to threaten the escape but they are quickly overcome either because of luck, the enemy's stupidity or Ryan's ruthlessness/ingenuity. This routine becomes so repetitive that you realise before the end nothing is going to really hinder their progress and instead of getting more exciting the novel became duller.
I know the author was actually a prisoner of war but were the conditions in the prison camp as comfortable and his Italian overseers as accommodating as he depicts here? I kept thinking of how they would have been treated under the Japanese or even the Germans.
I have better memories of the movie which I think altered the story and developed on what was a great plot idea. Thanks go to Wertheimer for that.
I read this as a teenager in the 60s so wanted to see how it fares now that I'm older. Not really thrilling I'm afraid. Ryan has his setbacks during his escape but they fizzle into minor interruptions. Twenty-four Nazi guards got to be silently dispatched as the train rolls across Italy? No worries, just strangle them one at a time! Got to keep a thousand-odd men locked up for days in rail freight carriages? No problems, just ignore them for most of the story! Got to take a German officer hostage to use as a front to get through the checkpoints? Thank God he's an alcoholic and a couple of glasses of wine will keep him quiet and ensure he does as he's told. One of your Americans wants to leave the train and fend for himself? Fine, just take a couple of hours to go into the village and find an Italian willing to disclose where your man went. And don't even mention the language barriers - I don't think this once presented a problem for our hero, especially with a trusty Italian-speaking padre for interpreter who whenever his conscience pricks him that he's actually assisting in people's dying, a few sensible words from Ryan will salve his conscience. And so it goes on. Obstacles are thrown up to threaten the escape but they are quickly overcome either because of luck, the enemy's stupidity or Ryan's ruthlessness/ingenuity. This routine becomes so repetitive that you realise before the end nothing is going to really hinder their progress and instead of getting more exciting the novel became duller.
I know the author was actually a prisoner of war but were the conditions in the prison camp as comfortable and his Italian overseers as accommodating as he depicts here? I kept thinking of how they would have been treated under the Japanese or even the Germans.
I have better memories of the movie which I think altered the story and developed on what was a great plot idea. Thanks go to Wertheimer for that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2016
ANTHONY BURGESS is quoted as saying/writing:
"A character, to be acceptable as more than a chess piece, has to be ignorant of the future, unsure about the past, and not at all sure of what he's supposed to be doing."
To me this is very relevant with respect to the character Colonel Ryan, who always seemed to me to be too cocky, too sure of himself, never displaying any indecision or self-doubt; this from a man who contributed to the death of his flying instructor.
Apart from that, this is an entertaining adventure. Certainly all the details of POW life ring true - no doubt because the author was a prisoner in Italian/German camps in WWII, so we can't doubt the authenticity of his descriptions. I liked the way the other main characters were drawn, the English colonel, the catholic priest, the fat and cowardly German major who is himself taken hostage.
I think this is a book of its era, the 1960s when it was written, and sits well alongside others like the Eagle Has Landed, Guns of Navaron, etc.
"A character, to be acceptable as more than a chess piece, has to be ignorant of the future, unsure about the past, and not at all sure of what he's supposed to be doing."
To me this is very relevant with respect to the character Colonel Ryan, who always seemed to me to be too cocky, too sure of himself, never displaying any indecision or self-doubt; this from a man who contributed to the death of his flying instructor.
Apart from that, this is an entertaining adventure. Certainly all the details of POW life ring true - no doubt because the author was a prisoner in Italian/German camps in WWII, so we can't doubt the authenticity of his descriptions. I liked the way the other main characters were drawn, the English colonel, the catholic priest, the fat and cowardly German major who is himself taken hostage.
I think this is a book of its era, the 1960s when it was written, and sits well alongside others like the Eagle Has Landed, Guns of Navaron, etc.
May 12, 2012
I haven't read many World War II novels so I don't have a lot to compare it to, but I really enjoyed this book. I thought the story was excting and was written at a brisk pace, no endless filler. The main character, Ryan, can be hard to root for at times, but in the end he has the best interests of the 1000 men he's leading at heart. I really liked the character of Colonel Fincham who is insubordinate to Ryan at every turn. The detail of what it was really like in a POW camp were excellent, and the same goes for later in the story when the men are herded like cattle into train cars. Von Ryan's Express is a quick read and tells a compelling story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews