Night of the Assassins audiobook

Plenty of twists and turns to be a good non-fiction mystery/thriller, but even better since it is a true (enough) story and the outcome is known. As Blum writes about his sources and the process, you can never be sure that you have the full true story when dealing with state espionage secrets that are revealed decades later. His research was extensive and weaving of facts and timelines presented in a very compelling manner.

Novelists including Ken Follett, Jack Higgins, Alan Furst, and Philip Kerr have indulged us with thrilling accounts of spies and saboteurs in World War II. Rarely, though, have they managed to equal in their fiction the sheer audacity of the real-world Nazi plot to kill FDR, Churchill, and Stalin which unfolded in Tehran late in November 1943. This is a story that no novelist could possibly invent and expect to be believed. And Howard Blum tells it with all the skills of a thriller writer in his deeply-researched book, Night of the Assassins.Two engaging central charactersBlum’s story revolves around Mike Reilly (1910-73) and Walter Schellenberg (1910-52). Reilly was the head of the United States Secret Service during World War II and served as President Franklin Roosevelt’s personal bodyguard. Schellenberg was the equivalent of a brigadier general in the Nazi SS, for which he headed foreign intelligence. He was the counterpart of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the military intelligence unit, the Abwehr, which Schellenberg’s organization absorbed later in the war. These two characters dominate the action. However, a third person, SS Captain (later Colonel) Otto Skorzeny (1908-75), plays an important role as well. Skorzeny, “Hitler’s favorite soldier,” was the commando who rescued Mussolini.An immensely complex story made simpleBlum does a masterful job of simplifying an immensely complex story using techniques familiar to any thriller reader. An academic attempting to relate the same events would struggle to make it readable. After all, the assassination plot at the center of this tale involved not just Reilly, Schellenberg, and Skorzeny but also Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin, and Wilhelm Canaris. Others who enter the story include Adolf Hitler, Reza Shah Pahlavi, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and a long list of Nazi commandos as well as both Allied and Nazi diplomats, spies, and double agents. The story involved Iranian wrestlers and a powerful Iranian tribal leader, too. In Hollywood, this might have been called a “cast of thousands.”It’s not as though Blum was unaware of all these players. His six-page list of sources makes clear how intensively he researched this long-neglected story. Night of the Assassins is a marvel of popular history. Blum conveys as a comprehensible Nazi plot to kill FDR what might in other hands have degenerated into a confusing survey of dueling Nazi and Allied intelligence services.The amazing story in a nutshellForcing a livable settlementWalter Schellenberg had long dreamed of an espionage coup that could change the course of the war. When spies brought him word that the Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) would meet late in November 1943, he fantasized that his chance had come. He teamed up with his rival, Wilhelm Canaris, to design a joint operation to assassinate all three. Both Schellenberg and Canaris were realists. Neither was a Nazi zealot. They realized Germany had lost the war. What they hoped to achieve by killing the Big Three was to force the Allies to negotiate a livable settlement that would prevent their facing a war crimes tribunal.A Nazi plot to kill FDR with hundreds of moving partsWhen the pair learned the conference would be held in Tehran, they counted themselves lucky. Both the SS and the Abwehr had placed agents there who could help hide paratroops dropped nearby and guide them through the city. Elaborate preparations then began to train and equip two commando teams to carry out an extremely clever attack plan one of the Nazi agents in Tehran devised.From the first, the plan went awry in its execution. Soviet agents rounded up most of the commandos (and executed them without delay). However, a small, third team meant to spy on the two larger groups survived. Hiding out in the Iranian capital, they prepared to carry out with six men what had been planned for fifty. And they just might have pulled it off.The monumental challenge to protect a wheelchair-bound leaderMeanwhile, as the Nazi plot graduated from fantasy to reality and finally went into operation, Mike Reilly faced a constant struggle to protect FDR. The Boss, as he called him, was confined to a wheelchair and limited to brief, excruciating times on his feet in heavy braces. Reilly faced endless challenges to move the President on and off ships and airplanes and through city streets in the open automobiles FDR favored.Those challenges multiplied in Cairo, where FDR met Churchill and Chiang Kai-Shek in advance of the Big Three conference, and then proliferated in the teeming streets of Tehran. Reilly seems to have gotten little sleep for months as the event drew near. As word of the Nazi scheme trickled out to him from Soviet intelligence, he grew increasingly agitated. Blum adroitly conveys the terror that kept him awake at nights until the President left Tehran at long last.About the authorHoward Blum is the author of more than a dozen nonfiction books, several of which were bestsellers. Previously he worked as a reporter for the Village Voice and the New York Times. Night of the Assassins is the third of his books about World War II. He is based in New York.

Interesting take on how Hitler plotted to kill the three major players of the Allies. It puts us on both sides of the story, so you can see how this was a "all or nothing" plan, but carefully thought. I also liked how the author imagined the story taking place, it makes the book easier to read, it's not just a documentary. For those who like to learn more about history, and the history of WW II in particular, this an interesting take, more even because it approaches, even if only on the surface, the (negative) impact that the Allies also had in countries like Iran to keep this war going.

Books about history, and especially World War II, frequently bear the promotional blurb “reads like a thriller,” or some variation thereof. Usually it’s not true, suggesting whatever reviewer or ad man bestowed the label is either being generous or isn’t familiar with thrillers. “Reads like a thriller” is applied to Howard Blum’s new “Night of the Assassins: The Untold Story of Hitler’s Plot to Kill FDR, Churchill, and Stalin.” However, in this case, the label is accurate. “Night of the Assassins”—a good size and relatively short for a World War II book—focuses on a very specific event, and apart from some necessary exposition, never really loses focus of the story it’s telling (the substance of the Tehran summit is near-unmentioned, for instance). It’s almost one of those situations where the less you know about the particulars the more you’ll enjoy it, but suffice it to say you’ll probably race through the last fourth of the book, at least. The only drawback is the one inherent to combining a WWII and spy narrative, e.g. there are agents of America, Britain, Russia, Germany and Iran; factor in shifting loyalties and agents being turned and you need a flow chart to keep track of who’s on which side…But again, as the book goes on, the confusing allegiances are pared down, leading to a conclusion (not altogether unfunny) more entertaining than you’d think.

** spoiler alert ** This is a good book about a very real plot to change the course of history through a bold plan--the Nazi Third Reich, realizing at last that they were on the road to ruin, tried a Hail Mary pass in Teheran. After a series of details fell into their hands, the Nazis thought they had a chance to kill the three leaders of World War II by finding the one weak spot in the closely guarded location. Simultaneously a Secret Service agent is also planning--by trying to think through every possible vector for an attack. And only a wild series of improbable coincidences, both good and bad, narrowly averted the violent removal of the leaders of the Allied forces against the Nazis. I found this to be an intriguing book, written in the style of a thriller more than in a sober analysis of history--but that's intended, and it kept the book moving. Of course, we know that Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin were never assassinated in WWII, and that the Nazis failed not only in killing the leaders but also in changing the outcome of the war. But because of the style of this book, I was still on the edge of my seat, wondering how the leaders would be saved.

As a history buff, especially military history, when I read the synopsis about this book I was intrigued. It lived up to its promise with a riveting story. I thought it was well-researched and I found myself reading well into the night. I received an Uncorrected e-proof from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review. Thank you NetGalley!

This little-heralded tale is fairly straightforward. Adolph Hitler, mostly as spite and a strategy for reversing Nazi losses, and Walter Stallenberg, the Nazi spy chief, believing that decapitating the Allied leadership would improve German chances for a moderate, settled peace treaty, decided to murder FDR, Churchill, and Stalin when the three determined to meet. US and British intelligence routinely feared the possibility that an attempt would be made on their leaders' lives, but they had no specific information about specific and imminent Nazi strategies to do so.The Nazis, at the same time, had no specific information regarding when or where the Allied leaders were to meet, but they knew something was intended and at least being planned. A valet in the American embassy made himself known to German intelligence, he got paid off in counterfeit British pounds (the Nazis always paid off and paid their bills in counterfeit British pounds since no one accepted the Reichsmark), and Nazi planning became specific and terrifying.Thanks to Russian intelligence (and Russian brutality), the assassination plot, which included 3 teams of commandos--all killers by history and instinct--were captured and the assassination plot collapsed.The story and the writing are electrifying (and I have read a lot of spy and intelligence stories) and as well documented as classified wartime information permit us to know. Blum has accomplished what I think is a brilliant effort of storytelling and he does it by telling this story around the work of Mike Reilly, Chief of FDR's Secret Service prtoective detail, and the activities of Nazis Stallenberg, William Canaris, and 2 little known Iranian Nazis who set up the Nazi kill team for the assassination in Tehran.Reading about the collapse of the plot toward the book's end is a joy and truly remarkable piece of writing. Even if a reader has no interest in intelligence activities, the story is worth every moment of the reader's time.

Blum is a great narrative historian who brings to light little known or little read about historical events and presents them fairly and comprehensively. This title brings to light a plan to take out "The Big Three" at the Tehran Conference during WWII. The German commandos and high command were seeking to avoid the "unconditional surrender" that was mandated by FDR, Churchill and Stalin by putting their faith in a plan to assassinate the world leaders in an effort to negotiate a peace plan with their successors, as the path of the war was likely going to end with the German surrender and countless war criminals brought to justice (which is what happened). Blum brings up the possibility of what would have occurred had this covert operation been successful in Iran. It is intriguing and there are page-turning sections that are riveting, but Blum also has a tendency to get bogged down in too much detail which can cause the book to drag for 30-40 pages. Overall, it is a solid historical read and one that will bring up interesting pieces of espionage and historical circumstances for even the most dedicated WWII history enthusiast.

Spoiler Alert! The plot failed. Howard Blum has created a gem. A real story informing history books, illuminating the importance of tradecraft, and bringing bit players on stage with powerful leaders.Iran, with resources once coveted by Germany becomes a client state with many embracing the Nazi dogma and ideals. Meager intelligence resources are put in place and go to ground, remaining aware. Competing German intelligence organizations share information. Preparing. Hoping. Failures in the field. Genius insights - who knew a clean water supply could be so valuable and so vulnerable. A man from Montana, planning to be a lawyer, becomes a secret service agent assigned to the President. Traumatized by a rubber knife thrown at his boss he knows the stakes. A life lost. A president lost. And in time of war, an unfathomable loss.Night of the Assassins provides insight into how intelligence agencies operate, especially those in authoritarian regimes. Whether Russian or German, the agencies took a strategic view, manipulating sources, plotting against enemies, and ruthlessly engaging or eliminating threats, real and perceived. A great read!

A genuine espionage/covert ops thriller. Well written, deeply researched, and excellently sourced, it shows there are still incredible tales of WW2 even 75 years later.

As a fan of Erik Larson’s, whose taut nonfiction reads like the very best of novels, I was thrilled to receive a review copy of Howard Blum’s latest book, Night of the Assassins, anticipating a great read. I was not disappointed. Doggedly researched, richly detailed, and told with propulsive, cinematic urgency, we approach the political intrigue of “Operation Long Jump,” the plot to simultaneously assassinate Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin at the 1943 Tehran Conference during World War II, by meeting the main players whose roles drive the story forward: Mike Reilly is the head of FDR’s Secret Service detail, a man dedicated to his boss’s safety, but burdened by the ever-present and unpredictable dangers that lurk. Walter Schellenberg, a high-ranking member of the SS foreign intelligence branch, who faces with dread the Nazi’s seemingly inescapable defeat, and, in a moment of “inspiration” (in collaboration with veteran spymaster, Wilhelm Canaris), births an audacious idea, one that would obliterate the “total surrender” threatened by the Allies: an assassination triumvirate. With Hitler’s blessing, and every intelligence department searching for the time and place of the three Allies’ planned meeting, all systems are put into motion. Enter SS officer Otto Skorzeny, who earned the title, “most dangerous man in Europe,” for his daring rescue of Mussolini during a 1943 Italian coup, who becomes the point-person chosen to facilitate this even more daring escapade.From the moment he sets the stage, Blum expertly swings the narrative back and forth from Reilly’s herculean efforts to assist FDR in his duties while protecting him from the heightened dangers of wartime, Schellenberg’s urgent scramble to gather essential intelligence while assembling the various and eclectic parties around the world to advance the operation, Skorzeny’s painstaking preparation for what is surely a “mission impossible,” and, as we feel the critical mass of events build, our own anxiety ratchets up with the escalating suspense.As one who’s read much both fiction and nonfiction on the topic of World War II, it is always a fascinating learning experience to dive into a story that, told with the mastery and dedication to detail as Blum’s, educates me to a powerful historical chapter I knew little about. While we know, because history has already informed us, that the mission was unsuccessful, the electrifying journey toward that ultimate denouement is, to use a cliched term, nail-biting. And given the filmic style of Blum’s narrative, it is easy to picture every character, every place, even the smells and sounds of the streets where events play out, as you race down the timeline of unfolding events. A brilliant telling of a shocking, daring mission that would have changed the course of history.

Disclaimer: I received this book as part of GoodReads' First Reads program.Near the end of WWII, it became apparent to the upper echelon of the German command that the war was not winnable. Their biggest concern was what would be the terms of surrender. FDR had already made clear that nothing less than unconditional surrender was acceptable, and the Germans didn't want that. They came up with a plan to assassinate the Allied leaders - FDR, Churchill and Stalin - in the hope that they'd be able to negotiate better terms. They don't seem to understand who they were dealing with, since I believe that had they succeeded in carrying out this somewhat hare-brained scheme, the Allies would have settled for nothing less than annihilation of the Germans, but that is just my opinion. The location for the attempt was settled on as Tehran, Iran, when the leaders were gathered there for a summit.This book goes into great detail on how the plan was formulated, how FDR's main bodyguard worked to prevent anything from happening, and how things worked out. Since few people know about this attempt at assassination, we already know it didn't go well. The book is well written, and I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in WWII history.

I knew nothing of this event, but in the hands of this author, it becomes tremendously exciting. I am saying this as someone who thought he was largely done with WWII literature. The book is remarkably documented, including a number of details only recently released by United States and German governments. Few other books help us perceive events as perceived by security agents from both sides. The author's writing is also brilliant. He seems repeatedly to choose the best possible adjective to provide the simplest, clearest description in each critical sentence. Some critics may experience a bit of slowness in some early portions, but the presentation builds to a remarkable, and dramatic, ending.

Interesting book about an incident I have never heard of during the Tehran conference during World War Two. He skips back and forth between the perspective of the Germans involved and FDR's lead Secret Service agent, which took a bit of getting used to. There is very little detail about the conference itself; the author did an excellent job of confining the book primarily to the plot to assassinate FDR, Churchill and Stalin.

I try to be a bit reserved in giving out five star ratings. This book makes the cut because it is very well written, evidence-based, and tells an incredible story of a few highly crucial days during World War II that allowed the Allies to reign supreme. The amount of time given to the Nazi attempt to take out “the big three“ when placed within the context of all time is such a small number. The book left me wondering what other things are in play every single day…