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Rating: 
Summary: Merchant Marine WWII Veteran
Review: As president and editor of a Merchant Marine Veteran organization it is my job to search for stories that tell about being at sea during WWII. This book is a great testimonial to the hazards of the Merchant Marine and the OSS in WWII.
His duties as a sailor and a spy put him in harms way.His ships sailed in convoy to Russia. These waters were the most hazard of all. We lost many ships and lives in the North Atlantic. This was his duty on the sea. Then he had to face great danger with his undercover work on the land. The world of spys, spooks, and shadows makes for great stories. He writes with such skill that he puts you with him at every turn. A great true adventure story that takes place on land and sea. Well Leon Wortman did both and lived to tell about it. I Couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: WWII and the Beginning of Espionage
Review: I was hooked from the start - young New Yorker goes from radio pioneer to OSS agent and learns to survive. That it is a true story only adds to the enjoyment. Brought me through a part of WWII I had never known about. The author describes feelings, choices, preparation and then takes you along for a dangerous ride. Well written, I kept having to get back to it to see what would happen - and I was never disappointed. Spy chasing, hasty exits, from the tremendous heat of Casablanca to the most bone chilling cold of northern Russia. My only wish would be for a sequel - but in real like I guess that doesn't happen.
Rating:
Summary: A Page-Turner from start to finish!
Review: This is a fascinating true-life story of how a young Brooklyn radio engineer wound up chasing Nazi double agents in New York, posing as a Belgian in Morocco, and getting in big trouble spying in North Russia during WWII. The book opens up innocently enough, nice Jewish kid grows up in New York City immigrant family during the depression and gets job at radio station. Then, the war breaks out. Instead of joining the army, the author winds up in both the OSS and the Merchant Marine. From there the book takes off. The OSS' training is tough, but it doesn't prepare our hero for the surprises and perils ahead of him. He chases spies, fights Arabs and Nazis, braves dangerous North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean crossings, and meets characters that must have been prototypes for James Bond villians. The writing style is easy-going and straight-forward. The tone of the book is warm -- like sitting down for an after-dinner reminisce with your Father or Grandfather. And, there is plenty of humor at sea and on land to balance the tension of the war drama.
Rating:
Summary: A Page-Turner from start to finish!
Review: Told in the first person-present. A tough job for any writer. Wortman, by this technique, makes you a participant in all his tasks.
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