A review by michelleful
Death in Captivity by Michael Gilbert

5.0

As an avid mystery reader and someone who once won a prize for a book collection themed on escape and evasion in World War II, this was right up my alley. I already knew I loved Michael Gilbert from the single other outing of his that I've read - Smallbone Deceased - and though this was utterly different, it was splendid in its own way. The life of the POW camp felt very genuine (not a surprise since Gilbert himself was interned in one). Though the mystery was not traditional at all I admired the sleuthing undertaken by our "detective", a prisoner named Goyles, under extremely limited circumstances, and the considerable tenacity it took to work out the solution without getting distracted by things like

Spoiler

a prison-wide escape. My only quibble, which may be alleviated upon a second read, is that I don't get why the spy didn't take steps to prevent that massive escape, instead concentrating on getting himself delivered to the Germans with a couple of other escapees in tow. Also, it was a bit obvious that the most Aryan-looking guy was going to be the spy...