About the Book: A spellbinding novel of World War II based on the little-known history of the X Troop—a team of European Jews who escaped the Continent only to join the British Army and return home to exact their revenge on Hitler’s military.

A lone soldier wearing a German uniform stumbles into a British military camp in the North African desert with an incredible story to tell. He is the only survivor of an undercover operation meant to infiltrate a Nazi base, trading on the soldiers’ perfect fluency in German. However, this man is not British-born but instead a German Jew seeking revenge for the deaths of his family back home in Berlin.

As the Allies advance into Europe, the young lieutenant is brought to recover in Sicily. There he is recruited by a British major to join the newly formed X Troop, a commando unit composed of German and Austrian Jews training for a top-secret mission at a nearby camp in the Sicilian hills. They are all “lost boys,” driven not by patriotism but by vengeance.

About the Beverage: Steven recommends pairing his novel with Writer’s Tears Irish Whiskey because “I'm a scotch and whiskey drinker, always have been. And this is the brand that my British editor and I exchange as a gift whenever we've slogged through the literary fields of fire. As Ernest Hemingway once famously said, "Write drunk, but edit sober!"

About the Author: Steven Hartov was born in New London, Connecticut and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Boston University. In 1973, he joined the U.S. Merchant Marine Military Sealift Command, beginning a series of adventures that would later appear in his non-fiction pieces and fictional works.

In 1977, he volunteered for the Israel Defense Forces Airborne Corps, serving first as a paratrooper and later in a Special Operations branch of Israeli Military Intelligence. He subsequently spent 13 more years as a reservist in the IDF and currently serves as a Task Force commander, rank of major, in the New York Guard.

In the mid-1980s, he began writing a series of espionage novels based in the Middle East. His trilogy, “The Heat of Ramadan,” “The Nylon Hand of God,” and “The Devil’s Shepherd,” earned nominations for the National Book Award, top ten placements in the Book of the Month Club and translations into six foreign languages. In 2003, he co-authored the New York Times non-fiction best-seller, “In the Company of Heroes,” and co-authored “The Night Stalkers,” "Afghanistan on the Bounce," and "The Soul of a Thief." His latest release, "The Last of the Seven," is a thrilling adventure set during WWII.

He is the former Editor-In-Chief of Special Operations Report, a professional journal on military and law enforcement special tactics. His works are recommended readings by the U.S. Army War College.

THE LAST OF THE SEVEN is available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook through fine book retailers everywhere.

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