The following excerpts are from the audiobook of Killing Rommel, to be released in May by Recorded Books.

The book is read by the Tony Award-winning English actor Alfred Molina. You've seen Mr. Molina in The Da Vinci Code; he played "Doc Ok" in Spiderman 2; he was the village mayor in Chocolat. Fred has appeared in dozens of movies, including the original Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The audiobook was recorded over three days in February 2008 at Media Staff Studios in Los Angeles, directed by Claudia Howard.

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Excerpt One: The Mission Briefing
Chap narrates:

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Our narrator, British Army Lieutenant. R. Lawrence Chapman ("Chap"), recounts his experiences during the North African campaign of WWII. The first ten chapters detail Chap's youth and military training and his service as a tank officer with the Seventh Armoured Division, the famous "Desert Rats."

As this excerpt begins, Chap has been seconded to a top-secret raiding and reconnaissance unit -- the Long Range Desert Group -- and has trained with them for several weeks at Faiyoum, south of Cairo. The time is mid-summer 1942; Rommel and the German Afrika Korps have routed the British Eighth Army and driven them back to the gates of Alexandria. The fate of North Africa, and possibly the outcome of the entire war, hangs in the balance. In this scene, the outfit is called together and given their mission.

An historical note: other than Chapman, Lt. Warren, Flight Lt. Higge-Evert and Sgt. Collier, all personages in this section are true historical figures, many of them legendary in the annals of British special forces.

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Excerpt Two: Beginning the Raid on Rommel

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The second excerpt is from Chapter 16, about halfway through the book. After an ordeal of crossing the Great Egyptian Sand Sea, the trucks and jeeps of the SAS and the Long Range Desert Group have at last worked their way into the rear of the Afrika Korps and have set up, ready to attempt their penetration of the enemy formation. Suddenly things start to go wrong...