Timothy S. Johnston Reviews the Norwegian Netflix WW2 Real-Life Thriller Number 24
It’s on Netflix now.
“I have five drawers in my head. The three top drawers I open all the time. Drawer number four I open less often. I closed the bottom drawer May 8th, 1945, and haven’t opened it since.” — Gunnar Sønsteby
This is not normally the type of film I review, though there are exceptions, such as my review/essay of The Imitation Game. However, Number 24 had a profound impact on me because of its nuanced themes of wartime life, sacrifices, and the lingering pain of trauma and how we deal with it — or how we bury it. The movie is full of shades of grey. Most important, however, is its principal question: What would you do if an enemy invaded your country? How far would go to protect your freedom, your family, and your way of life? But even deeper than that is the question, What would you do if your friends collaborated, and people you knew — including family — died as a result? And what would the effects of that be on the generations to come?
The IMDB description:
Young apprentice Gunnar Sønsteby from Rjukan decides to resist Nazi-Germany on the day of the invasion to later become the leader of the “Oslo-gang” carrying out countless daring acts of sabotage making him Norway’s greatest war hero.
Very Mild Spoilers Here
The film starts with documentary-style footage, present day, featuring the elderly Gunnar Sønsteby preparing to speak to a room of teenagers. It’s clearly a History lesson in Norway, with Gunnar describing the Nazi invasion of 1940 and how it affected the country, communities, families, and individuals. Gunnar had a fascinating, violent, and traumatic journey during the five years that followed the invasion, and this film is told in flashback during the history lesson. We learn a lot about this man, his philosophy of rebellion, and what he sacrificed to help push back the invaders.
It’s not a huge war movie, so I want to preface that for you. Don’t expect a movie full of battles and gunfights in the streets. It’s more about the resistance and small acts of disruption, but also the effects of occupation and how it tore people apart. It stimulates reflection about such events and the results over the next generations.
It’s also about what sacrifices people must make in order to resist invaders. How would you deal with it? What would you do to protect your family? How would you live?
But also just as important, and more of a challenge to think about: How would you react during torture?
I really appreciated the sequences where the elderly Gunnar was speaking to the students, most of whom have no concept of war. Many are conditioned by peacetime and philosophical questions of war rather than the harsh realities of what the Nazis brought to their country decades earlier. At one point in the film, a student asks, “Why didn’t you resist peacefully as Gandhi would have done?”
The reason for the question is because during the war, Gunnar’s resistance group killed over eighty Norwegians for collaborating with the Nazis. They were Norwegian after all, and not German, so why kill them?
It is a stunning question for Gunnar, who during the war, was fighting to protect his country, people, and family. But it is a philosophical divide that people debate during peacetime … until war comes to their shores, that is. Sometimes innocence brings ignorance, and this film is partly about what really happened during the war … what the Nazis really did to the people of the countries they invaded, and whether the collaborators were just as guilty, or not guilty at all, and were just doing what they felt necessary to survive the conflict.
Harsh realities indeed.
This is a true story, and as such, there are elements featured at the end — just before the credits — to bring home the reality of what transpired previously. It is a poignant moment, but even more impactful is actually not what happens during the war, but what happens present-day in the room of students. It is emotional and profound, and I won’t spoil anything for you, but I highly recommend that you watch this movie, especially if you appreciate history and specifically this period in the recent past.
I watched the movie in its native Norwegian with English subtitles; I recommend you do the same.
— TSJ’s Review of Number 24: 9/10
Here is the trailer for the movie. It is available now on Netflix. Please let me know in the comments what you thought.
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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.
— Timothy S. Johnston, 25 March 2026
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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel
“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop
“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite
“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories
“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest
“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels
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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!
WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.
Book Cover & Jacket Copy:
AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!
A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …
Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.
Taunting him.
Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.
If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.
But the assassin could be anyone …
Watch your back, Mac.
A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:
The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007
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TSJ’s Awards
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THE WAR BENEATH: FIRST PLACE 2018 GLOBAL THRILLER Action / Adventure Category Winner, 2019 Silver Falchion Award Finalist, 2018 CLUE Award Semi-Finalist, 2019 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist, & 2019 CYGNUS Award Shortlister
THE SAVAGE DEEPS: FIRST PLACE 2020 CYGNUS Award Winner, 2019 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards Finalist, 2022 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist; 2019 CLUE Award Shortlister
FATAL DEPTH: FIRST PLACE 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Winner, 2022 Silver Falchion Award Finalist (Best Action Adventure), 2021 CYGNUS Award Semi-Finalist
