If this story of espionage & survival were a novel readers might dismiss the Shackleton-like exploits of its hero as too fantastic to be taken seriously. But respected historian David A. Howarth confirmed the details of Jan Baalsrud's riveting tale. It begins in the spring of '43 with Norway occupied by the Nazis & the Allies desperate to open the northern sea lanes to Russia. Baalsrud & three compatriots plan to smuggle themselves into their homeland by boat spend the summer recruiting & training resistance fighters & launch a surprise attack on a German airbase. But he's betrayed shortly after landfall. A quick fight leaves Baalsrud alone & trapped on a freezing island above the Arctic Circle. He's poorly clothed (one foot entirely bare) has a headstart of only a few hundred yards on his Nazi pursuers & leaves a trail of blood as he crosses the snow. How he avoids capture & ultimately escapes--revealing that much spoils nothing in this white-knuckle narrative--is astonishing stuff. Baalsrud's feats make the travails in Jon Krakauer's Mt Everest classic Into Thin Air look like child's play. This amazing book will disappoint no one.--John J. Miller (edited)
