Saturday, October 19, 2013

Book Review - Sandakan by Paul Ham

Having read a previous book on the subject, entitled From Hell To Eternity, my mother bought me the book Sandakan, by my favourite author in Paul Ham, for Christmas last year. I have read several of his books and he's an outstanding writer, IMHO.

Probably took about three months to read the first half and then only a couple of weeks to finish it off once I devoted time to it. Actually, it was difficult to put down once dedicated.

Sandakan details the allied soldiers captured in Singapore by the Japanese and transported to Borneo. They were worked to death, subjected to some inhuman torture (that was difficult to read due to the graphic description), starved, beaten and when the allies were closing in they were sent on a forced march across the country.

There is an enormous amount of detail revealed in this book regarding those subjected to terror and torture and those committing it. We learn much about those men and there were many acts of bravery whilst staring down the face of death.

It's a fantastic read, much more detailed than the previous book, and I highly recommend it.


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