‘Outstanding … this book like all his others … is a cracker. With his usual combination of sensitivity to human suffering and superb dramatic instinct, Hastings has given us a gripping tale … The immediacy of this book obliterates the cold detachment that time’s passage usually allows …We feel in our bones torpedoes hitting home … the four-day ordeal British sailors endured… is a drama superbly told … The delight lies in the detail, the percussive power of tiny facts … is what makes Hastings such a superb storyteller’
The Times
‘The white-knuckle ride of Hastings’s gripping narrative …is a high-octane adventure served up with torpedoes, Stuka dive bombers and catastrophic U-book attacks … heart-stirring … memorable … and highly readable’
The Sunday Times
‘Superb … as ever Hastings gives excellent pen portraits of the personalities involved … Hastings has written many wonderful books … but few combine so well his unique gifts as a historian: an understanding of human nature, a nose for a telling quotation, and the ability to write gripping prose’
Sunday Telegraph
‘An eye-level view of mortal danger set against a major inflection point during World War II… Operation Pedestal is the story of desperate warriors shepherding a frail cargo through all the fire and steel their enemy can hurl. Mr. Hastings paints a portrait of naval combat with an artist’s brush guided by more than a half-century of combat reportage. Compassionate toward men who braved bombs, torpedoes, fire and a cruel sea, he showcases the Royal Navy—along with the merchant vessels it guarded—at its finest hour.’
Wall Street Journal
