18 April 1945. As Allied forces approach, puppet dictator Benito Mussolini flees his Salò Republic headquarters on Lake Garda making for Milan, where he hopes to negotiate a last-ditch deal with the Allies. Failing that, Lombardy's Valtellina Valley awaits, where he can gather the defiant remnants of his Fascist forces and make his final stand.

Ultimately, this frantic, desperate ten-day flight, which took Mussolini around the northern shores of Lake Como to Menaggio, ended with his capture, his extrajudicial execution at the hands of partisan forces and, on 29 April, the desecration of his body in a Milan square.

Drawing on detailed local knowledge and a wealth of previously unseen historical evidence, Martin Westlake retraces Mussolini's final dramatic steps. By recreating the last ten days of the dictator's life – from his tortured state of mind to the lush landscapes and war-torn communities he passed through – Westlake vividly reconstructs Mussolini's collapse and his journey from defiant ruler to hunted fugitive.

At once a nuanced psychological portrait and a gripping travelogue through a country on the brink of seismic change, Destination Death presents the final thrilling chapter in the life of a twentieth-century tyrant.