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Death or Glory #3
High Road to Hell
Part three in Death or Glory series, Highroad to Hell is Michael Asher's latest Second World War adventure. With Asher's insider knowledge of the SAS he brings to life the action of the battlefield in this fast-paced and compelling novel following Captain Tom Caine.
Tunisia 1943 - the Allies' advance is halted by determined Axis forces. The 8th Army has no choice but to outflank the enemy along their impenetrable Mareth line in the hellish Matmata hills.
On a mission to safeguard this movement, Captain Tom Caine's SAS patrol is diverted by a strange emergency signal that draws them to a derelict aircraft and a mysterious black box.
Besieged by a Nazi Death's Head unit intent on retrieving the box and betrayed by a comrade who steals it, Caine must make a choice. Should he pursue the stolen object or stick to his original task and face almost certain death? The entire campaign rests on his decision.
Michael Asher's third Death or Glory novel, Highroad to Hell, will have you gripped to the very last page.
Breathtaking bravery, astonishing feats of endurance, raids and battles described with terrific immediacy and pace. Compelling and definitive . . . will surely not be bettered - Sunday Telegraph
Detailed, scathingly honest. Asher has brought the critical eye of the knowledgeable insider to his in-depth study of SAS operations and personalities - Herald
Michael Asher has served in the Parachute Regiment and the SAS. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and has won the Ness Award of the Royal Geographical Society and the Mungo Park Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for Exploration. The first two books in this series, The Last Commando and The Flaming Sword were also published by Penguin.
Tunisia 1943 - the Allies' advance is halted by determined Axis forces. The 8th Army has no choice but to outflank the enemy along their impenetrable Mareth line in the hellish Matmata hills.
On a mission to safeguard this movement, Captain Tom Caine's SAS patrol is diverted by a strange emergency signal that draws them to a derelict aircraft and a mysterious black box.
Besieged by a Nazi Death's Head unit intent on retrieving the box and betrayed by a comrade who steals it, Caine must make a choice. Should he pursue the stolen object or stick to his original task and face almost certain death? The entire campaign rests on his decision.
Michael Asher's third Death or Glory novel, Highroad to Hell, will have you gripped to the very last page.
Breathtaking bravery, astonishing feats of endurance, raids and battles described with terrific immediacy and pace. Compelling and definitive . . . will surely not be bettered - Sunday Telegraph
Detailed, scathingly honest. Asher has brought the critical eye of the knowledgeable insider to his in-depth study of SAS operations and personalities - Herald
Michael Asher has served in the Parachute Regiment and the SAS. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and has won the Ness Award of the Royal Geographical Society and the Mungo Park Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for Exploration. The first two books in this series, The Last Commando and The Flaming Sword were also published by Penguin.
- GenresHistorical
448 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 2012
62 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Michael Asher
56 books63 followersMichael Asher is an author, historian, deep ecologist, and notable desert explorer who has covered more than 30,000 miles on foot and camel. He spent three years living with a traditional nomadic tribe in Sudan.
Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1953, and attended Stamford School. At 18 he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, and saw active service in Northern Ireland during The Troubles there in the 1970s.
He studied English Language & Linguistics at the University of Leeds. at the same time serving in B Squadron, 23rd SAS Regiment. He also studied at Carnegie College, Leeds, where he qualified as a teacher of physical education and English.
In 1978-9, he worked for the RUC Special Patrol Group anti-terrorist patrols, but left after less than a year. He took a job as a volunteer English teacher in the Sudan in 1979.
The author of twenty-one published books, and presenter/director of six TV documentaries, Asher has lived in Africa for much of his life, and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He is married to Arabist and photographer Mariantonietta Peru, with whom he has a son and a daughter, Burton and Jade. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1953, and attended Stamford School. At 18 he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, and saw active service in Northern Ireland during The Troubles there in the 1970s.
He studied English Language & Linguistics at the University of Leeds. at the same time serving in B Squadron, 23rd SAS Regiment. He also studied at Carnegie College, Leeds, where he qualified as a teacher of physical education and English.
In 1978-9, he worked for the RUC Special Patrol Group anti-terrorist patrols, but left after less than a year. He took a job as a volunteer English teacher in the Sudan in 1979.
The author of twenty-one published books, and presenter/director of six TV documentaries, Asher has lived in Africa for much of his life, and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He is married to Arabist and photographer Mariantonietta Peru, with whom he has a son and a daughter, Burton and Jade. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 22, 2024
Quite compelling!!😃
Remarkable writing and more than fantastic reading!!!🤗🤗🤗🤗 The Author Author kept me wanting to keep reading right to the end!!! I found the characters were really good and how the plots kept every thing heightened!!!!🤗🤗🤗 It was captivating and enlightening in how things would go in the war!!!!😉
I would recommend this book to you and all my friends, so grab the book and enjoy!!!!!🤗🤗🤗
The 5 Star ratting was well deserve!! Keep up the tantalising writing,Michael Asher!!!!🤗🤗🤗
Remarkable writing and more than fantastic reading!!!🤗🤗🤗🤗 The Author Author kept me wanting to keep reading right to the end!!! I found the characters were really good and how the plots kept every thing heightened!!!!🤗🤗🤗 It was captivating and enlightening in how things would go in the war!!!!😉
I would recommend this book to you and all my friends, so grab the book and enjoy!!!!!🤗🤗🤗
The 5 Star ratting was well deserve!! Keep up the tantalising writing,Michael Asher!!!!🤗🤗🤗
May 7, 2025
Third in the series of the almost superhuman Tom Caine. The language describing the ‘action’ is almost straight out of ‘Boys Own’ comics but the books move at pace and are enjoyable escapism.
August 16, 2025
the third book in Tom Caine series, found this more enjoyable will now move on to the fourth in the series.
September 5, 2025
The adventures continue, but once again it’s less than a happy ending.
November 23, 2012
This is the third in the Tom Caine WW2 SAS series. A series that started off okay but has gone backward rather than forward. I thought the second one on the series was awful (2 stars) but for some reason gave the author one final go, and I wish I hadn’t. This is pretty poor on a number of levels, many of them that same as in the previous book, so there is no desire of evidence that the writing has improved. In fairness I like the author’s nonfiction work, but I have to say I just don’t think fiction is his thing.
In summary this is the equivalent of an old fashioned war comic turned into a book. Weak characterisation, clichéd bad guys, a noisy plot and very little logic. Without trying to spoil what would be a very unchallenging plot, Caine is suffering from some PTSD from his previous adventure but is pulled into a dodgy bridge blowing mission by a bunch of officers that should have “caricature bad guys” tattooed on their foreheads. Teamed up with some old friends and three “Dirty Dozen” prisoners – off he trots to blow the bridge, only to get diverted onto the real mission, the recovery of something mysterious from a crashed plane. Meanwhile the girlfriend he though had died has had a memory loss (I did mention the lack of logic) and has joined a bunch of deserters and hijackers (well, of course you would, wouldn’t you?).
There is a scene where the bridge is defended by the troops which is quite exciting but everything else in this is very poor. The attacking Germans are given vivid descriptions with the author having an apparent obsession with describing their teeth, slang is used in the narrative rather than the dialogue “he had a dekko over the ridge”, characters are described inconsistently, Copeland one minute, Cope the next, weapons are consistently described by sound “the whoooooomffffff of the bazooka”, the item they recover is ludicrous both in concept and in how it reacts.
I really found it very weak and would suggest that anyone who wants any sort of depth and logic in their writing needs to avoid this. You would have to be very young or undemanding to enjoy this I would suggest,
In summary this is the equivalent of an old fashioned war comic turned into a book. Weak characterisation, clichéd bad guys, a noisy plot and very little logic. Without trying to spoil what would be a very unchallenging plot, Caine is suffering from some PTSD from his previous adventure but is pulled into a dodgy bridge blowing mission by a bunch of officers that should have “caricature bad guys” tattooed on their foreheads. Teamed up with some old friends and three “Dirty Dozen” prisoners – off he trots to blow the bridge, only to get diverted onto the real mission, the recovery of something mysterious from a crashed plane. Meanwhile the girlfriend he though had died has had a memory loss (I did mention the lack of logic) and has joined a bunch of deserters and hijackers (well, of course you would, wouldn’t you?).
There is a scene where the bridge is defended by the troops which is quite exciting but everything else in this is very poor. The attacking Germans are given vivid descriptions with the author having an apparent obsession with describing their teeth, slang is used in the narrative rather than the dialogue “he had a dekko over the ridge”, characters are described inconsistently, Copeland one minute, Cope the next, weapons are consistently described by sound “the whoooooomffffff of the bazooka”, the item they recover is ludicrous both in concept and in how it reacts.
I really found it very weak and would suggest that anyone who wants any sort of depth and logic in their writing needs to avoid this. You would have to be very young or undemanding to enjoy this I would suggest,
February 9, 2013
I enjoyed this book even though there were one too many "returning from the dead" moments. Great action, strong characters, well researched and I'm looking forward to the next in the series.
December 26, 2014
OK but only OK. First in series was the best but this one stretched things too far. Indestructible heroes and villains and an unbelievable plot. Mildly entertaining at best.
November 5, 2016
I have never read a book quite like this. This book could have really used a glossary to define a lot of the adjectives he used. A couple of example: " shuftied " and " dekkoed". What the hell does that mean? Huh? I'll be honest, I only read about two thirds of this book but I marked it as read anyway. I thought I deserved full credit for making it that far. As Grandma Walton was fond of saying, "Good Lord!"
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews