Overview

Before the Second World War, Herbert Cukurs was a world-famous aviator and a hero in his hometown of Riga, Latvia. During the war he joined the SS, led a militia and was responsible for the genocide of 30,000 Latvian Jews. By the 1960s the man who became known as the Butcher of Riga was living in South America. And Mossad were coming for him. In 1965, a statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes threatened to expire and Germany was seeking to reintegrate concentration camp commanders, pogrom leaders and executioners. The global hunt for Nazi criminals was stepped up, and a target was painted on the back of Cukurs. Yaakov Meidad, the Mossad agent who had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann three years earlier, was called into action once more, leading to an astonishing undercover operation that saw Meidad travel to Brazil in an elaborate disguise before befriending Cukurs and earning his trust. Uncovering a little-known part of Holocaust history and telling the story of one of the most daring operations in the history of the Israeli intelligence community, The Good Assassin is a thrilling story of a forgotten monster and the twenty-year quest to bring him to justice, told by a master of narrative non-fiction.

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9781398112339

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Reviews

'What a wonderful book. Stephan Talty's fast-paced account of how Herbert Cukurs, the Latvian aviator turned Nazi war criminal, was eventually brought to justice by Mossad operatives is as gripping as any novel. Hard as it is read the details of Cukurs' horrific crimes, the outcome is both moving and uplifting, with the Latvian's demise helping to bring other perpetrators of genocide to justice. Talty is at the top of his game.' -- Saul David, author of Operation Thunderbolt and The Force 'Stephan Talty's The Good Assassin is a gripping chronicle of one of the most brilliant operations launched against an escaped Nazi war criminal, and a fitting memorial to the victims of the Holocaust in Latvia and to the brave Israelis who travelled half way around the world to punish one of the key perpetrators of those crimes. At a time when Latvian ultranationalists are trying to rehabilitate Cukurs as a national hero, Talty explains why such a step would be a grave miscarriage of justice.' -- Dr. Efraim Zuroff, chief Nazi-hunter, Simon Wiesenthal Center 'Talty efficiently mines archival records for vivid details and tracks the complexities of Medad's undercover mission with flair. The result is a captivating and gruesome real-life spy thriller.' -- Publishers Weekly

Author Information

Stephan Talty is the award-winning author of Agent Garbo, Empire of Blue Water and other best-selling works of narrative non-fiction. His books have been adapted for the screen, including the Oscar-winning Captain Phillips. He has written for the New York Times Magazine, GQ and many others.

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