Tag: historical thriller

Book Review – A Death in Berlin by Simon Scarrow #ADeathInBerlin @headlinepg

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for A Death in Berlin by Simon Scarrow, the third book in the author’s crime thriller series set in WW2 Berlin. My thanks to Sophie at Ransom PR for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Headline for my digital review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the review by my tour buddy for today, Sue at Brown Flopsy’s Book Burrow.

About the Book

Berlin. May 1940. As Hitler prepares to invade Western Europe, there is bloodshed closer to home.

CI Horst Schenke is an exceptional investigator with the Kripo unit. Powerless against the consequences of the wider war, he fights to keep criminals off his patch of Berlin. But with influential men questioning his loyalty to the Nazi regime, he is walking a tightrope. If his secret relationship with a Jewish woman is exposed, that would spell the end.

Berlin’s gangsters run their crime rings with impunity. Decadent senior Nazis are happy to protect them. Schenke is different. He refuses to turn a blind eye when innocent victims are caught in the crossfire between warring gangs. But dangerous enemies know everything about him. They will do whatever it takes to bend him to their will . . .

From the seedy wartime nightlife scene to aristocratic homes frequented by the Führer himself, against a backdrop of a war spiralling into a greater, and closer conflagration, A Death in Berlin conveys the horror and banality of evil. And the terrible danger for those who dare stand against it.

Format: Hardcover (400 pages) Publisher: Headline
Publication date: 13th March 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Thriller

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My Review

A Death in Berlin is the third book featuring Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke, the follow-up to Blackout and Dead of Night.

Horst Schenke is a brilliant character. He has a strong sense of justice and bringing criminals to book is what drives him. It enables him to temporarily put to one side his growing alarm at and distaste for what is happening to Germany under the Nazis. But that’s becoming increasingly difficult. The fact he has not yet joined the Nazi party or applied for membership of the SS and turned down a role working for Heydrich marks him out in the eyes of his new boss Oberfuhrer Radinsky as a maverick. Nazi Germany does not care for mavericks. It’s only Schenke’s excellent results that protect him. Oh, and his previous career as a famous racing driver. It turns out he has an unexpected fan too.

Schenke has an additional weak spot in the form of his relationship with Ruth, a Jewish woman. Their relationship must remain clandestine for both their sakes: snatched meetings in out of the way places organised by coded messages and constant vigilence. For Schenke, discovery would mean the end of his career, and possibly worse. For Ruth it would mean certain death. ‘Caution was not just a watchword but the essence of their survival.’

But a secret makes you vulnerable and open to manipulation, as Schenke discovers. It results in the most difficult moral dilemma he has faced in his career.

Schenke’s team return: the trusty Sergeant Hauser, handy in a brawl; and Scharfuhrer Liebwitz, seconded from the Gestapo and possessed of a remarkable memory and eye for detail. (I did love learning a little more about their personal lives.) Their investigation into forged ration coupons, a valuable commodity in a time of increasing deprivation for ordinary Germans (but not for high-ranking Nazis), takes them into the murky, dog-eat-dog, world of criminal gangs.

For Schenke, increasingly there’s little difference between the immorality of the criminal underworld and that of the Nazi regime. And sometimes – just sometimes – your enemy’s enemy is your friend and the end does justify the means. It’s the cue for some terrific action scenes, including one fuelled by revenge and a desperate attempt to save a life.

As Hitler unleashes the full might of the German army on Western Europe, Schenke can only despair at what his country has become. I’m sure we can all think of contemporary parallels.

If you’re looking for a brilliant historical thriller set against the backdrop of real events with a leading character you can’t help but root for, A Death in Berlin will not disappoint.

In three words: Dramatic, atmospheric, suspenseful
Try something similar: The Ashes of Berlin by Luke McCallin

About the Author

Author Simon Scarrow

Simon Scarrow is a Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author. His books – which have sold over 6 million copies – include two earlier Criminal Inspector Schenke thrillers, Blackout and Dead of Night, and his Eagles of the Empire novels featuring Roman soldiers Macro and Cato, most recently Revenge of Rome, Rebellion and Death to the Emperor.

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Book Review – A Cold Wind From Moscow by Rory Clements @ZaffreBooks

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About the Book

Frong cover of A Cold Wind From Moscow by Rory Clements featuring red hammer & sickle on white background

Winter, 1947. Britain’s secret services have been penetrated. The country is more vulnerable than ever – and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin knows it. He decides it is time to send his master of ‘Special Tasks’ to create extra chaos.

But Stalin has a more important motive than mere disruption. He has a man on the inside who must be protected at all costs – a communist super-spy who has the secrets of the atomic bomb at his fingertips.

Freya Bentall, a senior MI5 officer, no longer knows who to trust and is left with one to bring in an outsider whose loyalty is beyond question – Cambridge professor Tom Wilde. His to find the traitor in MI5.

Bentall has three main suspects and Wilde must get close to them all. That means delving deep into the criminal underworld, attaching himself to the cultural elite of the arts and finding a way into the extreme reaches of British politics.

As winter bites and violence erupts, Wilde faces an uphill battle to protect those he loves from merciless killers. And he knows that one slip will spell disaster for the country – and his family.

Format: Hardcover (368 pages) Publisher: Zaffre
Publication date: 30th January 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction, Thriller

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My Review

A Cold Wind From Moscow is the eighth book in the author’s Tom Wilde spy thriller series. It’s a series I absolutely love and nothing excites me more than learning another book is on the way. You probably could read it as a standalone but if you want to give yourself a real treat, read the series from the beginning starting with Corpus.

Tom is continuing his vain attempt to free himself from the grip of MI5 and return to his role as a Professor of History at Cambridge University. He has a young son whom he wants to spend more time with, especially as his wife Lydia is away training to be a doctor. It’s a long-held ambition of hers and Tom is not the sort of man to stand in her way. To be fair, she’s not the sort of woman to let a man stand in her way either. Their meetings are limited to brief encounters in London hotels where Tom, in the words of Lydia, is called upon to perform his ‘nuptial duties’.

However Freya Bentall, a senior officer with MI5, is a difficult woman to say no to, particularly when the security of the country is at risk. Tom may be American by birth but he’s a Briton by choice, and a patriot. With echoes of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre, Tom takes on the task of identifying the traitor Freya believes has infilitrated MI5. In engaging with her three suspects he finds himself visiting some varied places – from seedy gambling dens, to dockside cafes and elegant art galleries – and characters from all echelons of society, including some pretty violent individuals with their own signature way of despatching people who get in their way.

We also know from the dramatic opening chapter that there are even nastier people out there, motivated by political ideology and utterly ruthless because they know the personal consequences of failure. ‘Bloodshed was in their nature. Compassion was an alien concept.’ They also know that someone with secrets is the perfect target for coercion.

The story is peppered with exciting action scenes, including a violent assault on a remote house made even more dramatic by the fact the harsh winter has brought England to a virtual standstill. We also find out some intriguing information about the enigmatic and famously taciturn Freya Bentall.

Rory Clements has perfected the art of combining real events, in this case the post-war atomic weapons race, with exciting fictional scenarios. The story moves at the speed of a runaway train and has surprises around every corner. Don’t be shocked if a character you trust turns out to be a wrong’un, or the other way around.

As a gift for faithful followers of the series, there are references to events and characters in the second Tom Wilde book, Nucleus. I also loved the walk-on parts for three real-life individuals in the closing pages of the book.

If you are a fan of spy thrillers, A Cold Wind From Moscow will most definitely not disappoint. I loved it.

In three words: Fast-paced, dramatic, immersive

About the Author

Author Rory Clements

Rory Clements writes full-time is a quiet corner of Norfolk, where he lives with his wife, the artist Naomi Clements Wright. He is a Sunday Times bestselling author, and twice winner of the CWA Historical Dagger Award, for Revenger and Nucleus. Three of his other novels – Martyr, Prince and The Heretics – have been shortlisted for awards. A Cold Wind From Moscow is Rory’s sixteenth novel, and the eighth featuring Professor Tom Wilde.

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