The Ratline

Critics Review

• A gripping adventure, an astounding journey of discovery and a terrifying and timely portrait of evil in all its complexity, banality, self-justification and madness. A stunning achievement

• Hypnotic, shocking and unputdownable

• Breathtaking, gripping, and ultimately, shattering. Philippe Sands has done the unimaginable: look a butcher in the eye and tell his story without flinching

• A triumph of research and brilliant storytelling

• Remarkable . . . Sands’s untangling of the mysteries surrounding Otto von Wächter is masterfully done

  THE SUNDAY TIMES

• This is a burningly necessary book. Sands makes a gently unsparing dissection of deception, love, delusion and ineradicable evil. Elegant, painstaking, passionate and quietly enraging

• This is a taut and finely crafted factual thriller, reminiscent in density and pace of John le Carré . . . a feat of exhilarating storytelling – gripping, gratifying and morally robust

  OBSERVER

• The forensic stamina and precision that garnered such praise for Sands’ 2016 work EAST WEST STREET are equally in evidence here. THE RATLINE is not only about events in the past, but their dangerous legacy in the world today. A formidable piece of historical sleuthing written with all the pace and suspense of a thriller, it is a timely reminder that crimes against humanity don’t occur only at the level of states and governments. They take place also in the more secret and less fathomable depths of people’s hearts and minds

  FINANCIAL TIMES

• Extraordinary. In fast-paced, John le Carré-like pages (spies, Nazi-hunters, dark Vatican forces) . . . THE RATLINE is an electrifying true crime for the contagion lockdown

  EVENING STANDARD

• Sands is a terrier at research . . . The seething world of post-war Rome, with its senior fascists reprieved and returning to prominence, its war criminals lurking in hiding, its spies and secret services brokering deals and its adventurers and profiteers making fortunes, has seldom been more vividly described

  SPECTATOR

• A book of twists and intrigues as complex as any le Carré thriller . . . like its predecessor, [it] is replete with vivid descriptions and Sands brings to it the same relentless narrative momentum

  LITERARY REVIEW

• Fascinating . . . Switching between the distant and very recent past, the book is episodic in nature, but this only makes it more compelling. It combines a mystery with a straight retelling of history – shining a light into one of the less investigated corners of the Nazi era and its aftermath – and a thoughtful inquiry into how we reckon with it

  MAIL ON SUNDAY

• THE RATLINE is a compelling piece of forensic historical research – one that is every bit as good as EAST WEST STREET

  THE TELEGRAPH

• A truly extraordinary book – a forensic yet deeply humane and measured exploration of the human capacity for self-deception and cruelty

  HENRY MARSH

• Has the illuminating brilliance of a magnesium flame and a pace worthy of John le Carré . . . THE RATLINE is a cunningly constructed courtroom drama in book form . . . It is detailed, it is damning – all the more so because of the author’s dispassionate decency

  SUNDAY EXPRESS, S MAGAZINE

• Fascinating . . . superbly researched and brilliantly told. East West Street was one of the outstanding books of the past decade . . . The Ratline – part history, part thriller – is a superb companion piece, shedding light on the astonishing cynicism of the early years of the Cold War, when Nazis, Americans and Catholic clergy made strange bedfellows. Both should be read together. They are a fascinating account of the war between law and barbarism

  NEW STATESMAN

• Vivid and complex . . . Sands has skilfully avoided the catalogue of inhumanity often detailed in books about the Nazis, preferring a low-key, gently poignant approach that makes the occasional intrusion of moments of horror all the more shocking

  DAILY EXPRESS

• Brilliant . . . extraordinarily moving

  DAILY MIRROR

• A gripping tale, crammed with twists and turns . . . enthralling

  HISTORY TODAY

• THE RATLINE is tragic and unforgettable . . . Sands has the artfulness of a born storyteller, as well as deadly forensic skills and formidable patience at reaching his ends. He unwraps his evidence in spare, clear, convincing prose with a taut control that keeps one on tenterhooks . . . Sands’s intellectual passion, his crusading zeal and his compassion for the dead and wounded make this a great book

  THE OLDIE

• It is this present-day drama, rather than the historical story, that makes this book so extraordinary. Readers will, much like the author, find themselves longing for Horst to open his eyes. That he finds this so difficult to do is simultaneously poignant and grotesque

  BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE

• Diaries, encrypted letters and secret documents are dissected by a mastermind . . . a great achievement

  CEES NOOTEBOOM

• In a story that is as gripping as any thriller, Philippe Sands uncovers new evidence about exactly what happened to von Wachter leading up to his unexpected death in 1949

  JEWISH RENAISSANCE

• A riveting exposé . . . a gripping blend of historical scholarship and clever detective work

  STRONG WORDS

• Engrossing . . . Part history, part memoir and part detective story, it’s a thought-provoking read

  CHOICE MAGAZINE, Book of the Month

• An astonishing amount of research and expertise has gone into the making of this book . . . a compelling historical and human drama

  THE TABLET

• Gripping . . . fascinating and important. It’s a testament to Sands – his fiercely inquiring mind, his excellent researchers, the wealth of documents and his ability to make them come to life – that the book is so suspenseful. This important book makes clear that the more difficult work of history may not be in tracking down the ones who tried to escape, but in confronting the ones who didn’t

  The New York Times

• extraordinary study

  The Sunday Times