‘Max’s Hastings’s CHASTISE is a virtuoso performance …
it is a white-knuckle narrative that brings clarity and insight to a much-loved tale, as well as offering a vital corrective to the drum-thumping conclusions of earlier books … In CHASTISE, Hastings has written a page-turner with attitude’
Sunday Times
‘Thoughtful and gripping … in re-examining the detail of what was in reality a minor episode, he lights up great truths about war and warriors, with brilliant insight and warm humanity … This is a fine book combining great storytelling with deep appreciation of the melancholy and waste that march in step with glory’
Daily Telegraph
‘Hastings recounts the actual raids with dramatic intensity … he brings us into those Lancasters, flying perilously low, straight into flak … in this superb book’
The Times
‘A riveting account that also shines a light on the fact that more than 1,400 civilians died in the floods that followed … it’s a monumental read’
The Sun
‘A fine book about that moonlit Dambusters’ raid of 76 years ago, a worthy tribute to the men of 617 Squadron – and their hapless victims’
Sunday Express
‘Retells the story of the raid in thrilling melodrama … but the greatest value of Hastings’s book is that he follows the story into its sad aftermath’
The Spectator
‘Hastings, who is a master of his craft, unfolds the story skillfully … it doesn’t matter how many times you have seen the film, or heard the story, this book is gripping from start to finish’
Literary Review