Sixty Seconds

by Steven Mayfield

As the clock ticks down the final minute of World War II in Europe, Sixty Seconds tells the stories of nine people on both sides of the Atlantic— a legendary war correspondent, a madwoman and her unwitting accomplice in a deranged assassination attempt, a fifteen-year-old girl singing the Star-Spangled Banner in Times Square, her soldier brother still in Germany, a Nazi war criminal undergoing interrogation, a German foot soldier frantically dodging Russian patrols as he attempts to surrender to Americans, and a Polish couple who endured the seemingly unendurable only to be separated by an ocean as they are about to become parents. Individually and together, these seemingly disparate and yet inextricably intertwined people hurtle toward their own climactic finishes as midnight and the official beginning of V-E Day approaches on 7 May 1945.

Genres: Fiction

194 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2025

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Sixty Seconds by Steven Mayfield, it is one minute till midnight, Central European Time, one minute till 6:00 PM EST, on the eve of V-E day. In sixty seconds, the war with Hitler’s Germany will be over. But the quiet anticipatory lull one might expect is not there. Instead, that last minute is jam-packed with activity and danger.

Mayfield follows the stories of nine people who are experiencing that final minute, waiting for what will come next. He creates a gripping atmosphere of anticipation for the reader.

Farley is a war correspondent, a famous broadcaster, who is narrating the celebration about to erupt in Times Square.

Selma is an elderly, mentally unstable widow, whose home is inundated with too many cats to count. She has enlisted Riley, a young man who flunked out of basic training, to carry out an assassination when the clock strikes 6:00 in New York.

Jenny is a 15-year-old girl with a remarkable voice and equally remarkable presence. She has been chosen to sing the national anthem to be broadcast worldwide as the clock ticks down. As she sings, she has to keep her mind from drifting to concern for her older brother, a gunner in the Air Force, who is still overseas and still in danger until the cease-fire takes effect.

Jimmy is Jenny’s brother. Although warned by his commander not to wander off the air field after dark, Jimmy continues a nightly walk to stretch his legs and clear his head.

Stangl is a Nazi through and through. The one-time commander of a death camp, he is now imprisoned after capture by the Americans. He knows he is destined for execution. He is being interrogated by his captors, one of whom, the translator, had been a prisoner in the camp and had been forced to watch while Stengl repeatedly, brutally, raped his wife.

Antoni is the translator. Gosia is his wife. Gosia is now in New York, waiting for him to be able to join her. She is pregnant and her difficult labor has begun.

And, finally, Zimmer is a German soldier, a reluctant Nazi, who hopes to survive long enough for the cease-fire to take hold. He’s counting on surrendering to the Americans to avoid capture by the Russians. But the closer he gets to safety, the less safe he becomes.

This tightly plotted novel follows the characters in ten second intervals, bringing them all closer and closer to the war’s end, revealing the interconnections between them. With sixty seconds still to go, the war isn’t over yet, and no one will be safe until it is. Deeply drawn characters, high-stakes tension, and a unique structure make this is an enjoyable WWII read.

[Eleanor Pilcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sixty Seconds builds an ambitious historical premise around one of the most significant transitional moments of the twentieth century: the final minute before V-E Day officially begins. Rather than focusing on battlefield spectacle, Steven Mayfield narrows the lens and asks a more intimate question, what happens inside individual lives when history changes course?

The structure is one of the novel’s strongest elements.

By following multiple characters across different locations and experiences, a war correspondent, civilians, soldiers, survivors, perpetrators, and separated families, the story creates a mosaic of World War II’s final moments. Each perspective carries its own emotional gravity while contributing to a larger narrative about endings, survival, consequence, and hope.

Particularly compelling is the contrast between celebration and unfinished pain.

For some, the war is ending.

For others, the consequences are only beginning.

A German soldier seeks surrender.

A war criminal faces interrogation.

A Polish couple confront separation after enduring unimaginable hardship.

A teenage girl sings in Times Square while another chapter of history quietly closes elsewhere.

That tension gives the novel emotional complexity.

The title itself becomes symbolic. Sixty seconds sounds brief, yet the novel suggests an entire world can shift within that space.

This is not simply historical fiction about war, it is historical fiction about transition, memory, and the human lives caught between catastrophe and renewal.

[Michael Doane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sixty Seconds is an ambitious and tightly constructed novel that captures a singular historical moment the final minute before V-E Day and expands it into a powerful mosaic of human experience. Steven Mayfield skillfully interweaves nine distinct lives across continents, ideologies, and circumstances, all converging toward the same ticking clock.

What makes the book especially compelling is its scope paired with restraint. Each character feels purposeful, and no storyline exists merely for spectacle. From the terror of a German soldier seeking surrender to the quiet endurance of a Polish couple separated by war, the novel treats every perspective with gravity and emotional clarity.

The countdown structure creates constant momentum, but the real strength lies in how Mayfield humanizes history. The war is not presented as abstraction or strategy, but as lived consequence fear, hope, guilt, love, and survival compressed into a single shared moment.

Sixty Seconds is both historically grounded and emotionally resonant, offering readers a reminder that even world shaping events are ultimately experienced one human heartbeat at a time.

[Mort · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was very interesting and the characters were written well. My main problem with the book was the overly descriptive sexual assault scene that was continually referenced. It was very overly graphic. The book was also overly sexualized in other ways.