Customer Reviews

The seventh day

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A macabre story of mankinds last seven days on earth. This book was written in the late 1950's and at the height of the Cold War. In a nutshell rioting begins in communist Poland, the USSR invades, riots spread to East Germany, and so on. The book has 5 or 6 main characters, and we trace the end of the world through their eyes. We see the end unfold through the eyes of both soldiers and civilians. This is not an uplifting read, as the book is divided into "7 days", and man does not survive the 7th. I found the book hard to put down. Growing up during the Cold War, I first read this book in 1982 or 1983, and it was timely then. I have since read it again in 2005. Its still a good read.

A very chilling account of humanities last week on earth. The story begins with rioting in Poland, spreads to Eastern Germany, and eventually across the Iron Curtain. Warsaw Pact forces invade western Europe and its not long before the small atomic bombs start dropping all over Europe. We have to remember that this book was written 3-4 years before the Berlin wall had been built, and both East and West Germany had just been allowed to have armies again. There are lots of different characters on both sides, each of them with personal troubles or nationalist zeal. They all combine to make a really great read. It has been described as macabre, but I really think it is an excellent story. The author obviously had some experience with the Soviet Army occupation of eastern Europe in the 1950's , and the pay back the Soviets extracted from the German people after World War II. If you get a chance, to pick up a copy.