Nazi Germany 1945, the fuher is in a last hope effort to continue the war. But as he plans to enter a mountain side bunker, a mysterious group called the hand sends in an American P.o.w (Jack Cray) to hunt down Hitler. Jack is elite trained us army ranger killing machine who has a knack for kill Germans with a knife. The allied sides of the war is trying to end the war, but Germany who has only intentions of fighting to continue the war send in their own assassin to hunt down jack Cray and kill him, this man was Otto Dietrich a prisoner on death roll gets a second chance with a catch. James Thayer uses a perfect blend of action, killing, and suspense in the novel Five Past Midnight.
James Thayer portrays the theme of man vs. man by throwing the characters, plot, and the setting into battle for who will complete their objective first. Such an event happened when Otto was debriefed of his objective to kill Cray, from the sergeant of the P.o.w camp where Cray was held. “Put a bullet in him, from a great distance if possible” Eberhardt advised (76). James Thayer did an excellent job on the points of humor and ?character development in this novel.
Any reader that likes action packed stories during a very serious war time with a mixture of humor and just a little bit of murder on the side. This book has a similar detailed plot and character development as the novel mocking jay by suzzan Collins. Like as when the main character fights through a bomb torn plaza to get to a bunker in Germany. This book has an overall good novel with great character development and a very well thought out plot line.