Sue

Very Informative

Reviewed: 06-04-25

I have the hard copy of this book, which I have read twice and loaned to a friend, who is on chapter 7.. Now I am listening to it on Audible (May/June 2025). After completing it, I will listen to it again. Very informative. While I do not agree with everything, it is probably 80% to 90% accurate and I have learned a lot. Much of what has been stated has been corroborated by other sources or my own experiences.

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Informative

Reviewed: 05-28-25

I did not know about this scandal; did not follow the news when I was young. Very informative. Very sad. I have listened to this May 2025. Glad I listened to it, but will probably not listen to again.

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Good Early Life ->Horror Camp->then Rags to Riches

Reviewed: 05-18-25

The beginning very fascinating about Mr. Wilzig's early life, the Nazi crackdown, the concentration camps and how he survived, then eventually immigrated to America. Very sorry about his family members being murdered. His parents gave him a good foundation, and as a result he had great inner strength and intelligence. Good he could speak both German and Polish. I think divine providence directed him in dealing with the Nazis.

Not so interested in people accumulating wealth. I think it better to have neither poverty nor riches.

Read in May 2025, but stopped after he started acquiring serious wealth, because I do not think that is the purpose of life and it does not interest me.

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Fabulous Life Advice

Reviewed: 04-26-25

Still listening, wish I had this advice 40 to 50 years ago.
1) Don't complain or criticize.
2) Listen to others
3) Recognize people are interested in themselves (so obvious, but ignored)
4) Talk about what interests others. Ask questions.
Not done listening, will add to this.

Added bonus - no swearing!

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1 person found this helpful

Baby murdered

Reviewed: 03-21-25

Normally I love Ken Follett, but several chapters into the book a newborn baby was murdered. His mother was a slave who was treated despicably. Normally a slave baby would be considered an asset, so this felt like a literary device of Mr. Follett, but very upsetting so won't be listening to this horrid book. Very disappointing.

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The Villain is too horrible

Reviewed: 01-23-25

Jack Reacher and the woman he tries to protect are great, but the villain is so awful, I am sickened and did not enjoy this.

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Wonderful Stories

Reviewed: 08-27-24

Frederick Forsyth is a superior author and the narrators of these 5 stories were also superior. These stories were not short stories, as the total length was over 12 hours. As Mr. Forsyth has matured, his story telling just gets better and better.

I loved the twisty endings of the first 4. Spoiler Alert: I cried throughout the last story and it did not have the happy ending I would have liked, but it did have a twisty ending. Raising a child by a single mother is hard.

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Wonderful Stories

Reviewed: 08-27-24

Frederick Forsyth is a superior author and the narrators of these 5 stories were also superior. These stories were not short stories, as the total length was over 12 hours. As Mr. Forsyth has matured, his story telling just gets better and better.

I loved the twisty endings of the first 4. Spoiler Alert: I cried throughout the last story and it did not have the happy ending I would have liked, but it did have a twisty ending. Raising a child by a single mother is hard.

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Ok

Reviewed: 07-17-24

Listened to July 2024.

Some good prepping tips --- not just for the end of the world, but if you lose your job, power outage, etc. Mostly about the hero's ego and gun play. Some cursing.

The hero was focused on getting home, which is good. The 3 men in real life I admire are very tough, do not get in verbal fights, can employ any amount of controlled violence to protect themselves and those they are responsible for, but they are humble. All of them are "builders" - businesses, gardens, parks, forest preserves, beaches, homes. I did not see those personality qualities in the characters in this book set.

I prefer stories about taking a mess and turning it into an organized something or taking a wilderness and turning it into a fertile, productive land.

If I want gun fights, I can turn to stories about WWII, where there was an obvious evil and the good guys sacrificed.

Just because someone is poor and lives in a trailer park does not mean they are worthless and criminals. Stereotypes.

I only listened to book 1 because I did not like the hero and the gun fetish. Some people, especially men who want to be boss, might like this.

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While not for me, some preppers may like this

Reviewed: 06-15-24

Introduction is hypotheticals about North Korea. Then story line about the electrical grid going down and the water systems failing.

Tips on trapping song birds. Not for me. I just look at how the Amish live and what my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents did to survive and "prosper" despite having to use outhouses, no toilet paper, no electricity. I do enjoy my refrigerator and fans, but I know how to hand wash clothes, heat water, grow and can my own food. If I had to, I could live without electricity. Kindergarten through high school, none of the schools I attended had air conditioning. When I first started working, the business offices did not have air conditioning. I grew up in a home without air conditioning. Our cars did not have air conditioning.

My cousin and my grandfather did not hunt squirrels or song birds. They hunted rabbits (more meat than a squirrel) and deer. My dad fished.

When my mother was growing up, she slept on an unheated porch, even in winter in Michigan. She and her mother both got chilblains in winter. I think most Americans do not even know what a chilblain is.

My maternal grandmother walked to school. In winter she had two pancakes wrapped around her hands as "mittens". She ate the pancakes for lunch, then put her hands in her coat pocket on the way home. She completed school through the 8th grade.

I do not know why, but it seems to me previous generations were mentally "tougher" than those alive today.

A family friend, who was like a second father to me, who was born in 1923, told me his mother boiled all their drinking water. They also boiled the milk from their cows. This gets rid of bacteria.

I only listened to about an hour of this story, because it seemed childish to me. People can live well without the modern conveniences, it just takes a lot of work (and some knowledge and skills). Considering the obesity rate in the USA and the unfortunate drug use, hard physical work would probably be a boon.

The premises of the book did not seem likely.

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