Customer Reviews:
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 Just OK for me January 2, 2009
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a tough review as all previous eight reviews gave The Brenner Assignment a full five stars which makes me wonder why I thought it so ... average. I received this book as a Christmas gift and finished it in less than a week. My wife and daughter bought it for me knowing I enjoy just about anything WWII, and also based on the previous Amazon ratings. As such, I thought I was in for an incredible read. First of all, the author (Patrick O'Donnell) did a great job of researching and collecting the information for this book that became the skeleton of the story. The problem (for me) was in not bringing all that research to life, thereby putting flesh on the skeleton. Many of the other reviews indicated that this book would make a great movie. That would probably be true as a good Hollywood screenwriter would no doubt flesh out a lot of the gaps in the story the author failed to describe. For instance, in one story a demolition team was underneath a bridge fixing explosives as "two German soldiers passed by... I was very quiet, but continued to work." This must have been a very tense moment, but it was just reported matter-of-factly without any drama. This style is fairly typical of the whole book as many stories are just quoted directly in the words of the participants. My other criticism would be in the overall editing of the book. When describing August Schiffer the author wrote that "The Gestapo promoted Schiffer to the lofty rank of major." On the very next page he wrote "Despite holding the mere rank of major, Schiffer commanded most of the Gestapo outposts in the area." So what is it, lofty rank of major or mere rank of major? He also described the 104-foot wingspan on a Halifax heavy bomber as "gaping".
 You'll like it. I did! December 21, 2008
The Brenner Pass through the Alps between Italy and Austria has been a route of conquest and commerce since before the Romans. The last combat took place there in the 1940s when Germany, the Allies (US OSS), and the Italian partisans (the communist Garibaldi Brigades, Giustizia e Liberta Brigades, and socialist Matteotti Brigades) fought the last year of WWII. They fought to stop supply to the Nazis, to cut off the retreat from the Nazis and to start the civil war in Italy.
This is the untold story of brutality, intrigue, combat, and even a little romance. You'll like it. I did!
Great story teller November 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Since I soak up all OSS books like a sponge, it was with great zeal that I sprung on this book the moment it was out. O'Donnell is a great writer, and never let's the reader get bored. It would make a great movie. Like all the interesting stories, it's fortunate that they are told by someone like O'Donnell who has the right touch.
I have read these books by the real men and women who served and have written their memoirs, like Erasmus Kloman, Assignment Algiers: With the OSS in the Mediterranean Theater, Richard Cutler Counterspy: Memoirs of a Counterintelligence Officer in World War II and the Cold War, Helias Doundoulakis I Was Trained To Be A Spy: A True Life Story, and Dorothy Ringlesbach OSS: Stories that can now be told, and you have to read between the lines. I salute them for their courage and patriotism. These authors might have O'Donnell write their memoirs.
Tremendous story! November 4, 2008
This book has it all: special ops, mountain escapes, bands of partisans, an exotic Countess, close combat, etc.
You'll have an excellent ride in this book. And since the action is in Italy, it may have a fresh feeling to readers who are more familiar with the Western or Eastern fronts.
Strongly recommended.
Destined for Academy Award greatness October 27, 2008
This book is absolutely riveting! The characters immediately come to life and make you feel as though you are with them navigating incredible adversity and treachery through one of the most intense missions of WWII. This book is impossible to put down and has all the makings of a classic.
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