Killing Patton

Book 50 of my 2021 Reading Challenge

Killing Patton by Bill O'Reilly

Summary (via Goodreads)

published 2014

General George S. Patton, Jr. died under mysterious circumstances in the months following the end of World War II. For almost seventy years, there has been suspicion that his death was not an accident—and may very well have been an act of assassination.

Killing Patton takes readers inside the final year of the war and recounts the events surrounding Patton’s tragic demise, naming names of the many powerful individuals who wanted him silenced.

First Impressions/Judging a Book by Its Cover

I found the other "Killing..." books interesting so it was an easy choice to read this one too.  Although they've all seemed well-researched, my interest varied depending on the subject and Patton is probably the one I know the least about.  I'm going into this pretty blind - I didn't even know there was anything unusual about the way he died to generate this book.

The cover is stark and has that black/white, WWII feel.  Of the 5 people on the cover, I recognize 3 of them (and Patton is not one I would've recognized without the context clues of him being larger and in the center).

Part of the reason I continued reading the "Killing..." books even though I don't want to listen to Bill O'Reilly is because there isn't a lot of opinion in the books; I wouldn't know he was the author if I read it without looking at the cover first.  I hope that trend continues with this book as well.

My Opinion

2 stars

Side note: I bought this book used and the receipt of the original purchase was still inside.  It was purchased at a Menard's in 2014 along with laundry detergent and sports drinks.

When this book first came out and I told my dad there was a new addition to the 'Killing...' books, he said, "There were many interesting things about Patton.  How he died wasn't one of them."  Unfortunately, that quote held up as I read this book.

The book wasn't even about his death at all, really, because the official word is he died in a car accident and even though they mentioned a conspiracy theory, they (rightfully) didn't want to speculate or go too far down the rabbit hole.  But putting his death aside, Patton himself didn't even seem like the main character as they followed tangents of other WWII figures.  

I can't overstate how the book didn't match the title, description, or style of the other 'Killing' books at all.  If I ignored that and looked at the book as a WWII history/strategy book, I would say it was a little dry but could interest those who want to read about the tactics and maneuvers of war.

I'm giving it 2 stars since it wasn't a book I enjoyed but I can see how someone else would like it.