Excerpt from Zero Night by Mark Felton, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Being involved in a big escape attempt was what drove men like Crawford to keep making small and often reckless 'blitz' attempts. It demonstrated to the camp's 'X' Committee, the organization that controlled all escapes, that they had determination, resourcefulness and, above all, guts. And Crawford, like many men in the camp, was absolutely desperate to be free. It was the dream of such men to earn a place on 'the big show', a mass escape.

Beneath huts and shower blocks throughout Oflag VI-B during the spring of 1942 dozens of tunnels slowly snaked towards the huge perimeter fences, dug by British and Australian officers who had already honed their escaping skills in other camps, young men who for the most part had nothing to do except try to escape. But plans usually came to naught, months of strenuous effort were wasted and successful escapes were practically non-existent. But what Doug Crawford didn't yet realize was that his most recent failed tunnel had earned him a place on an extraordinary new team of men who were dedicated to making the war's first great escape.

Doug was about to become an 'Olympian'.

Excerpted from Zero Night by Mark Felton. Copyright © 2015 by Mark Felton. Excerpted by permission of Thomas Dunne Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.