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THE SECRET SURRENDER by Allen Dulles Kirkus Star

THE SECRET SURRENDER

By

Pub Date: Oct. 10th, 1966
Publisher: Harper & Row

The old saw about truth being stranger than fiction is surely applicable to Allen Dulles' The Secret Surrender, the first complete account of Operation Sunrise. This extraordinary intelligence operation, guided by Mr. Dulles as an OSS officer in Switzerland, brought about the surrender of a million Nazi and Fascist forces in World War II and led directly to the end of the European war a week later. The book has already generated a great deal of interest: sections appeared in the July and August issues of Harper's and were immediately reported as ""news"" by the New York Times. Public interest is of course more than justified: the author's personal experiences offer an invaluable insight into one of the most dramatic and incredible events of World War II. In a word, Mr. Dulles's first-hand account is exciting--so exciting that another cliche rings true: once the reader picks up the book, he won't put it down until he finishes it. The story has more reversals and tightrope escapes than a spy thriller, a ""plot"" as bizarre as any invented by Ian Fleming (watch for a movie pick-up). If Mr. Dulles can be faulted at all, one can object to his almost studied and over-cautious modesty. The reader learns a great deal about his collaborators -- about Gero Gaevernitz, for example; only the author remains a shadow. But then again, the real James Bonds operate more as members of an intricate team than as individuals. Written with the freshness and clarity of a morning newspaper, the book is easily read, informative, challenging, and entertaining-- all in one breath. Watch for a Ryan-Tolland carry-over.