An interesting novel, based on a true fact: a group of Holocaust survivors who seek revenge for the Nazi slaughter of the Jews in the years after WWII. Of course, there is a love aspect, but it doesn't detract from the main story line. I liked the philosophical dilemia presented, and the excellent way the author dealt with both sides of the issue. The characters also grew and evolved, essential to a good book.

"You may ask whether, when I did understand, I ever questioned it. But the thing no on More...

Writing as Sam Bourne British author Jonathan Freedland has crafted a chilling suspense novel based in large part on recent history. It’s a conspiracy thriller that segues between past and present. The past includes terrifying descriptions of the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis, and the heroic efforts of the captured people simply to survive.

We are made aware of the subject matter in the Prologue: “So forgive me if what you read here is harsh, if it haunts you the way it haunts me. But there More...

The only reason I read this book was it was in a Reader's Digest condensed edition. It's books like this one that inspire me to read the Reader's Digest collections. It's one I would have passed over in the shops but I've found a new author to love.

When an elderly man is shot on the doorstep of the United Nations, lawyer Tom Byrne gets called in to placate the man's daughter. But as he digs deepr he discovers the man's history as an assassin in a Jewish group that targets former Nazis who escape More...

The Good Stuff

* Fascinating intense mystery inspired by a true story
* Intriguing smart thriller with tons of twists and turns
* Introduction grabs you and doesn't let go until the very last page
* Keeps you second guessing yourself about what is going on
* Really makes you think
* Powerfully intense and emotional and quite frankly uncomfortable at times
* Author has obviously done his research and his passionate interest in the subject matter is obvious
* I won't lie, there are many scenes tha More...

This is fiction but is based on true events. After the Holocaust (years later), a group of Jews began tracking down and killing Nazis. This is a novel about that.

That's all I want to tell you about the plot of this book, because it's so amazing and exciting that I don't want to cheat you out of anything.

If you like thrillers or World War II or books that are well-written and exciting, this is the novel for you. (And out in plenty of time for winter holiday presents! Except for Hanukkah, which b More...

Another well-written work by Sam Bourne filled with suspense and reads like an historical fiction novel. I got the impression that the story was designed to create empathy for holocaust survivors and justify acts of revenge. The book offers evidence of atrocities inflicted on the Jews and their efforts to inflict revenge. They partially succeeded in Plan B but were thwarted with Plan A that would have killed millions of Germans. Those who take revenge engage in similar despicable acts as the per More...

This is an exciting read, although some suspension of belief is needed. I agree with previous reviewers that the NYPD sections are very stretched. The real story on which this novel is based may be even more powerful, and Bourne provides several references, including ...

Forged in Fury
The Avengers
The Vanished World of Lithuanian Jews

The central point of The Final Reckoning is of course infuriating ... that most of the Nazis and those who supported them in their efforts to murder Jews (including More...

A cop shoots an elderly man in the United Nations Plaza in New York, mistaking him for a terrorist. Lawyer Tom Byrne investigates the shooting and finds that the dead man, a naturalized Briton but originally a Jew from Lithuania, may not have been an innocent victim. Working alongside the Lithuanian's glamorous daughter (cue romance!), Byrne is soon on the trail of a 'cabal' that has been exacting revenge for the Holocaust since the late 1940s.

Sam Bourne is often trumpeted as one of Dan Brown's More...

Sam Bourne writes fascinating thrillers deeply immeshed in vital and provocative aspects of Jewish Existence. The Final Reckoning is in some senses your classic thriller...the U.N., assassins, disgruntled lawyers, duplicitous individuals, hidden agendas and so on while at the same time a novel of ideas about the nature of vengenace and revenge, justice and forgiveness...this is a novel rooted in the Holocaust and today at the same time and with powerful imagery. That it is rooted in real life ev More...

The novel begins at New York, where the World leaders are gathering at the UN for a conference. A man suspected to be a suicide bomber is shot down by the UN Security Force, but it turns out that the dead man is 70 year old, and probably innocent. Tom Bryne, a lawyer whose idealism has been replaced with realism, is sent out to negotiate a settlement with the victim's family. What he discovers about the victim is the hidden secrets of holocaust, and the aftermath. Based on true events, the writi More...

This book was absolutely brilliant!! I hardly ever give 5 stars as i really believe that too many people use it as a default setting, but this book absolutely deserves it.

The plot follows two different themes - First is the memoirs of a holocaust survivor and the second is the survivors daughter and a UN 'helper' trying to assist her in understanding her father's death.

The memoirs are vivid and disturbingly brilliant - i was absolutely convinced (it actually forced me to read further about the h More...

The Final reckoning, a Dan Brown Type mystery thriller, that deals with the journey of former UN lawyer Tom Byrne who found the hidden secrets about the Holocaust incidents when trying to close in what looked like a murder by mistaken identity by UN officials.

This thriller of Sam Bourne is the third book, I have read of him. I would say this is the best book in the content-wise. I liked the flashback story about Gershon Matzkin more than the thriller of Tom Byrne’s adventures.

With the historical More...

I got this book out of the library not expecting to enjoy it because I hadn't enjoyed his other novel. I found this one was completely different though to "The Last Testament", it was a lot better in so many ways.
This book looked at how Jews had been a part of the DIN, a group of people who wanted to fight back at the Nazi's who had shed the blood of their children and wifes and husbands. It tells the life story of a fictional character who has seen his whole family killed by the Nazi, he is fil More...

I read this on the crossing from Calais to Dover - bought it on the boat actually, and I thought it had promise with "The biggest challenger to Dan Brown's crown" on the front cover. I think if it weren't for that claim on the front I might have given it one more star. This story is nowhere near as well written or gripping as Dan Brown's books. The story itself is fresh, and a good idea. But while the outcomes aren't predictable, the characters are, and they're all the flatter for it. Small thin More...

PROTAGONIST: Tom Byrne
SETTING: New York, UK and WW2
RATING: 3.75
WHY: World leaders are gathering at the UN; security identifies a possible suicide bomber who is shot by a guard. It turns out the victim was a 70-plus year old man. Tom Byrne is hired by the UN General Secretary to run interference and offer the family a payment that will keep the death under the radar. While doing so, he lifts the victim's journals which document his activities during World War II. A Holocaust survivor, he serves a More...

Sam Bourne does it again with an excellent stand-alone novel that gets to the heart of a controversial subject from an unorthodox pathway. Delving into the mustery behind an accidental shooting inside the UN, Bourne takes the reader on a journey around the world and through time, touching on the fallout of WWII and the reaction to the Nazi death camps.

What looks like a simple shooting by a UN Security official turns out to be something much more complex and surrounded by numerous secrets. Bourne More...

bringing into holocaust images can be either dangerous or evocative depending on how the subject matter is approached. In this book, it is done so in a manner that is quite clearly pro jewish yet the story is realistic enough not to pass judgement on zionist attitudes which are prevalent and goes further to ask the question, were the jews denied revenge against the nazi's? Did they even get Justice? These questions and the sometimes uncomfortable situations they present are put into this book. S More...

Group of people has vowed never to allow anybody to threaten their people in the way they have suffered during WW2. For that they went long way punishing those that have been at the forefront and have led execution parties. Their "punishing" missions continued long after the WW2. Suddenly last remaining member of the group moves on, to finish the task they set before themselves, almost forty years after group was disbanded. Also, dark secret emerges from the group� s history& .[return][retur More...

Great story! Tom Byrne is a lawyer. He used to work for the UN, when he thought that the world could be saved, but now works for people on the fringe like the Mafia. His old boss calls him and asks for a favor when an old man is killed instead of the terrorist that they thought. Tom is supposed to go toak to the family. And then a new world opens up.
This book keeps you on the edge of your seat as it reveals secret after secret. The fact that it is based on a true story only deepens its interest More...

a mysterious murder at the u n sends a mediator to london to hopefully smooth over the situation with the victims survivors. needless to say, all is not as it seems, and the mystery deepens and the danger increases to all involved. although the premise is based on historical fact, the story itself was rather ordinary to me. interesting ending, though. judging by this book, I wouldn't read any more by this author. it wasn't bad, it just wasn't that good.

Bourne tem uma escrita bastante interessante, e deixou aqui um livro bastante original.

Byrne, um advogado "mercenário" é contratado para tentar aplacar a ira de familiares dum idoso abatido na sede da ONU. No meio da trama, acabamos por descobrir uma irmandade que se dedica a realizar atentados terroristas contra organizações ou elementos nazis.

Baseados em factos reais, e com um componente de romance pronunciado, gostei de ler este livro.

In spite of nice writing, especially the scenes that flash back to a dead character’s holocaust experiences, technical errors destroyed my suspension of disbelief and made it impossible to enjoy the story.

Eliminating the preposterous first three chapters would have been a huge improvement, a ridiculous action set piece that included 50mm machine guns.

I really wanted to like this book, but gave up about mid-way through.

Sometimes when a novel is based on historic fact, that fact seems stranger than fiction. The historical facts behind the book carry this one, and the fictional part is a bit James Bondish--the kidnapping and flight back to the US, sponsored by the UN. The writing itself wasn't enough to make the book hard to put down. The characters were a bit two dimensional...not the most intense mystery I've ever read.

An investigation into the shooting of a 70 year old man outside the UN building leads to the victim's journals. Here we are told of a plot by Jewish "resistance fighters" that began in WWII to pay back the Nazis for their part in the Jews suffering. I found the historical part fascinating, but the main story was quite dreary. It was worth reading for the revelations in the journals, but average overall.

I love Sam Bourne's books and this was no exception. It was a bit different to his previous novels and I really enjoyed it. I felt that the two main characters of Tom and Rebecca seemed very 'real' and down to earth, although I did get very slightly confused about who was who in the UN. The plotline was brilliant and everything was tied up nicely in the end.

Actually 4.5 Stars
From my book review blog Rundpinne..."The Final Reckoning by Sam Bourne is an intriguing mixture of historical fact turned into fiction, a mystery within a mystery, riveting, thrilling, and suspenseful."...My full review may be read here.

This has to be Bourne's best novel so far. A real page-turner which kept me thinking whether some of the historical content really happened. It's made me want to read some of the books which influenced his ideas for this book and learn more about the events which followed the 2nd World War.

Very interesting if difficult subject matter - i loved it for that alone. The novel itself though didnt quite deliver for me. Its just the way it came together at the end - somehow it just didnt do enough.



I like the author though and will read his next book for sure!