The Grand Prix Saboteurs Summary and Reviews

The Grand Prix Saboteurs
by Joe Saward

The Grand Prix Saboteurs
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Book Summary Information

Author: Joe Saward
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-12-31
ISBN: 0955486807
Number of pages: 364
Publisher: Morienval Press

Book Reviews of The Grand Prix Saboteurs

Book Review: 5 Star Topic Hampered by 3 Star Editing
Summary: 4 Stars

Joe Saward has done a great job of researching this fascinating topic area and it shows. This book is filled with details and information about the various people, towns, and events that surrounded these WWII secret operations. Unfortunately these details along with some questionable editing decisions conspire to make this 5-star topic into a 4-star book.

The book is written much like a report, which is fine. But beware that it is a dense report full of names and locations, some of which are critical to remember and others not as much. I don't feel that the author did a good job making the distinction clear to the reader. To further confuse the reader the author alternates how he refers to the different characters - first name, last name, code name, under-cover name, etc... This would have been fine if there were just a handful of characters, but in this story there are dozens upon dozens of names. Some of the detail seems superfluous, as if the author has done a "brain dump" of everything he knows on the topic, without always stopping to think if it is relevant information for the reader to know. I also felt the writing could have used another round of review by the editor. I found myself stumbling over run-on sentences and awkward phrases (e.g., "John had had a bad day...") which are acceptable in day-to-day speaking, but do not read well. When I finished reading the book the other day I was left thinking to myself how much better the book could have been if only some of these flaws had been addressed.

Criticisms aside this is a truly fascinating topic area - pre-WWII Grand Prix champs turn secret spies. The vast majority of the book (I'd guess 75%+) is devoted to the spy activities of the drivers, but the author does a good job of describing their racing careers.

If you are a combined racing/history buff then I believe this book is worth a read.

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