Fortunes of War

The Sentinels, Book 1

By: Gordon Zuckerman

Narrated by: Scott Fleming

During the financial devastation of the 1920-'30, a group of German Industrialist assume control of their government by supporting Hitler and his Nazi Party's rise to power. Goals of nationalism turn in a quest for global Aryan supremacy, leading a world to war. In 1943, the Sentinels learn of an attempt by the same industrialists to smuggle their "Fortunes of War" out of Germany before the Allied forces invade. Fearing the wealth will be used to finance the organization of a Fourth German Reich, the Six Sentinels gather together in an effort to prevent the Germans from achieving their goal. The story escalates at every turn, and allows the listener to ride "side-saddle" with the principal characters for more than two years, as the battle of opposing conflict is waged over two continents. Intrigue, danger, romance, disappointment, trust, and betrayal are never very far away.

Originally published in 2009, under the genre "historical thriller, fiction”, Fortunes of War remained atop Amazon and Barnes and Noble's best sellers list for two years. It is the first book in what will be a continuing series that pits the resourceful problem solving efforts of the Sentinels against those who abuse the privileges of free-enterprise in the quest of their self-serving agendas.

©2009, 2022 Gordon Zuckerman (P)2022 Gordon Zuckerman

Complex but enjoyable

I am neither a reader of historical fiction nor of the Nazi regime, yet I enjoyed getting caught up in the storyline. It was a very complex plot line that sometimes caused me confusion, but I enjoyed the development of the six sentinels. There were times it seemed to move too fast and times it seemed to move too slowly, but the complexities of the time, geography, and character development caused some confusion throughout. Having said that, I enjoyed it, and got caught up in the six characters.

Fun way to try out historical fiction

This book was a fun foray into historical fiction. That's not normally my genre, but the summary was intriguing, and so I decided to give it a try!

The six international characters working together to try and change the tide of the war was a great premise. I also liked that the characters didn't feel painfully old fashioned - they were appropriate to the historical setting but they still felt like actual, regular people, not just historical cliches. The narrators use of various accents in the audiobook helped bring this international crew to life!

All in all, a solid book that was an enjoyable deviation from my usual genres.

History & Espionage

Let me start by saying it sounds super interesting the espionage the spy the set back in history Hitler times. The blurb had me interested in trying a new genre.

As I stated this isn’t my usual genre the history type so I’m so glad I tried it on Audio the narrator was good but I did have to have the speed pretty high at 1.7x because at normal speed it felt way too slow.

It’s a slow book about espionage & if you like historical books with a dash of romance you would enjoy it.

Some parts felt like I needed more details instead of the ok well this happened and that’s done now. Overall a good book just not my typical reads.

Thank you to the publisher for the Audiobook in exchange for an honest review.