The Ratline

Product Description THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Hypnotic, shocking and unputdownable' JOHN LE CARRÉ'Remarkable' THE SUNDAY TIMES'Breathtaking, gripping, shattering' ELIF SHAFAK'A taut and finely crafted factual thriller' OBSERVER'A triumph of research and brilliant storytelling' ANTONY BEEVOR'Extraordinary' EVENING STANDARDIn this riveting real-life thriller, Philippe Sands offers a unique account of the daily life of senior Nazi SS Brigadeführer Otto Freiherr von Wächter and his wife, Charlotte. Drawing on a remarkable archive of family letters and diaries, he unveils a fascinating insight into life before and during the war, as a fugitive on the run in the Alps and then in Rome, and into the Cold War. Eventually the door is unlocked to a mystery that haunts Wächter's youngest son, who continues to believe his father was a good man - what happened to Otto Wächter while he was preparing to travel to Argentina on the 'ratline', assisted by a Vatican bishop, and what was the explanation for his sudden and unexpected death? Review A gripping adventure, an astounding journey of discovery and a terrifying and timely portrait of evil in all its complexity, banality, self-justification and madness. A stunning achievement -- STEPHEN FRY Hypnotic, shocking and unputdownable -- JOHN LE CARRÉ Breathtaking, gripping, and ultimately, shattering. Philippe Sands has done the unimaginable: look a butcher in the eye and tell his story without flinching -- ELIF SHAFAK A triumph of research and brilliant storytelling -- ANTONY BEEVOR Remarkable . . . Sands's untangling of the mysteries surrounding Otto von Wächter is masterfully done ― THE SUNDAY TIMES This is a burningly necessary book. Sands makes a gently unsparing dissection of deception, love, delusion and ineradicable evil. Elegant, painstaking, passionate and quietly enraging -- A L KENNEDY This is a taut and finely crafted factual thriller, reminiscent in density and pace of John le Carré . . . a feat of exhilarating storytelling - gripping, gratifying and morally robust ― OBSERVER The forensic stamina and precision that garnered such praise for Sands' 2016 work EAST WEST STREET are equally in evidence here. THE RATLINE is not only about events in the past, but their dangerous legacy in the world today. A formidable piece of historical sleuthing written with all the pace and suspense of a thriller, it is a timely reminder that crimes against humanity don't occur only at the level of states and governments. They take place also in the more secret and less fathomable depths of people's hearts and minds -- Rebecca Abrams ― FINANCIAL TIMES Extraordinary. In fast-paced, John le Carré-like pages (spies, Nazi-hunters, dark Vatican forces) . . . THE RATLINE is an electrifying true crime for the contagion lockdown ― EVENING STANDARD Sands is a terrier at research . . . The seething world of post-war Rome, with its senior fascists reprieved and returning to prominence, its war criminals lurking in hiding, its spies and secret services brokering deals and its adventurers and profiteers making fortunes, has seldom been more vividly described -- Caroline Moorehead ― SPECTATOR A book of twists and intrigues as complex as any le Carré thriller . . . like its predecessor, [it] is replete with vivid descriptions and Sands brings to it the same relentless narrative momentum ― LITERARY REVIEW Fascinating . . . Switching between the distant and very recent past, the book is episodic in nature, but this only makes it more compelling. It combines a mystery with a straight retelling of history - shining a light into one of the less investigated corners of the Nazi era and its aftermath - and a thoughtful inquiry into how we reckon with it -- David Bennum ― MAIL ON SUNDAY THE RATLINE is a compelling piece of forensic historical research - one that is every bit as good as EAST WEST STREET ― THE TELEGRAPH A truly extraordinary book - a forensic yet deeply humane and measured exploration of the