[1] The novel is an expansion of an eponymous short story or novella which appeared in the November, 1965 issue of Male magazine.

[2] The book follows the main character, Michael Rogan, a former American World War II intelligence agent who is captured and tortured by the Gestapo.

The book was made into a movie in 1982 as A Time to Die starring Rex Harrison, Rod Taylor, and Edward Albert, Jr. Michael Rogan is an American intelligence agent parachuted into France before the D-Day landing in 1944.

He then exacts vengeance on his torturers: Moltke, Pfann, Hans and Eric Freisling, Geno Bari, Pajerski, and Claus von Osteen.

[7][8][9] The book has been translated in several languages including Russian, German, Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese, Dutch, Slovak, Vietnamese, Bengali, Lithuanian, Czech, Bulgarian, and Polish.