Tag: Read

My Week in Books – 7th June 2026

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On the blog last week

Monday – I published my May Monthly Wrap-Up.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read.

Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading.

Thursday – I published my review of Prey by Graham Hurley, book 1 of my 20 Books of Summer.

Saturday – I joined other gardeners for #SixonSaturday sharing six things from my garden this week. I also took part in the #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a book chain from The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zwieg to The Matchbox Girl by Alice Jolly.

New on my shelves

Deception by Alan Parks (John Murray via NetGalley)

New York, December 1941. Joseph Gunner, former soldier, is off the front lines and on the streets of New York, tasked with helping tip America into the Second World War.

Working for a section of the British Secret Service, Gunner spends his days covertly encouraging pro-war sentiment through planted news stories, radio broadcasts and even blackmail.

But when a honeytrap mission with a prominent US politician goes wrong and the young woman involved is found dead, Gunner realises he has a target on his back. Who silenced her? Who knew their plan? And who has betrayed Gunner?

As he investigates, Gunner is plunged into the secretive world of Nazis in America, the NYPD and the mobs of New York, as the body count quickly stacks up. With world events accelerating, Gunner finds himself in a race against time before he becomes the next victim. Soon, he’ll uncover a conspiracy that goes beyond what he thought was possible.

Cold Sunset by William Boyd (Viking via NetGalley)

Cold War Moscow is a place smouldering with secrets.

Gabriel Dax is on route to Russia, tasked with delivering a mysterious Blanco drawing to celebrated defector, Kit Caldwell. But Caldwell is convinced that the KGB suspects him of treachery and he wants to get out – now.

When Gabriel is ordered by his enigmatic handler Faith Green to help, he is pulled into a web of shifting loyalties and dangerous escape plans. As tensions rise and trust fractures, he is forced to confront the fine line between devotion and deception. But which will he choose?

Land by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press)

On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.

The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home?

Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.

The Wolf’s Oath by Tim Hodkinson (Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

Einar and the Wolf Coats sail back to the northern realms in order to honour a dying man’s last wish by placing his sword into the hands of his son.

As they get closer to their destination, they encounter a fearsome band of Viking mercenaries. Einar is keen to join forces, but the Wolf Coats are vehemently opposed… until a violent skirmish makes both sides realise they will be stronger together.

First though the Wolf Coats must pass a test: prove themselves to their new allies by discovering the truth behind strange tales of bloodshed in the far north.

Einar soon realises he may have signed up for more than he intended, for he must cross swords with allies of his bitter enemy: Eirik, the Serpent King.

What I’m currently reading

I’m reading Country People by Daniel Mason and Deception by Alan Parks from my NetGalley shelf, both out next month. And I’m listening to the audiobook of A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie, the book chosen for me in the latest Classics Club spin.

Look out for…

  • Book Review: Dwell by Rue Baldry

Book Review – Prey by Graham Hurley #20BOS26 @HoZ_Books @Seasidepicture

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About the Book

1943. The war is turning against the Third Reich but the Luftwaffe are eagerly exploiting a lethal blind spot in the RAF’s Lancaster bombers with their innovative upward-firing cannon.

MI5’s Tam Moncrieff lobbies ceaselessly for a solution in the face of officials’ indifference. His quest sees him accompanying a bombing raid deep into Nazi Germany that will change the course of the war.

The target is the Nazis’ flagship city of Nuremberg. With bright moonlight and clear visibility, the conditions are perfect… for the enemy. The Luftwaffe are jubilant as they take out plane after plane.

With so many men dead or captured, can RAF Bomber Command overcome their darkest hour, when the predators have become the prey?

Format: Hardcover (400 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 2nd July 2026 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Prey on Goodreads

Preorder/Purchase Prey from Bookshop.org [Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops]

My Review

Prey is the eleventh book in the ‘Spoils of War’ collection. The books are designed to be read in any order or as standalones, although some characters appear in more than one book. Each book focuses on a particular aspect of the Spanish Civil War or Second World War – a time, a place, a campaign – weaving a fictional story around historical facts.

Like previous books, events unfold from the point of view of two main characters. In this case it’s Luftwaffe pilot Dieter Merz and MI5 officer Tam Montcrieff. (They first appeared together in Estocada, book three of the series.) Merz is one of the pilots who have perfected a tactic the Luftwaffe have named Schräge Musik which targets a blind spot on the Lancaster bombers that are carrying out devastating raids on German cities. The design flaw is not unknown to Bomber Command but they have dismissed making modifications that might counter it, even as air crew losses increase. Moncrieff becomes involved in attempts to overcome this, placing himself at risk in the process.

A secondary plot line involves Montcrieff investigating the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a soldier, Jimmy Anderson, during the chaos of the retreat to Dunkirk. Ex-Royal Marine Tam, who carries a Beretta, is revealed as a bit of a ladies’ man. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Sean Connery, the original cinematic embodiment of James Bond, was known in his teens as ‘Big Tam’. Having said that, Montcrieff is more of a pie and a pint man than a caviar and vodka martini one. However, he’s definitely shaken and stirred by some of his encounters during his investigation.

Graham Hurley can be relied upon to deliver thrillingly realistic and dramatic scenes. This time they include a dizzying flight through a narrow mountain pass and a night flight aboard a Lancaster bomber. There are sombre moments as well such as when Merz’s wife Beata witnesses firsthand the utter ruthlessness of the German war machine. Merz is no fanatical Nazi either. Surveying the ruined city of Augsburg he observes the change in its citizens from people with ‘heavy-bellied Bavarian swagger’ to people ‘shrunken and pale’ in thin winter coats. ‘These folk have been betrayed, Merz thought. By the regime, by Hitler’s reckless promises, by us.’ Other scenes that stick in my mind are Montcrieff’s gentle questioning of a soldier who has suffered a severe brain injury and the very personal motivation for a daring aerobatics display.

What I enjoy about this series is not just the exciting storylines but how much I learn about the history of the period along the way. I also love it when an author includes a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ gift to the observant reader. There’s one in this book (at least it was in my ARC) – the name of an estate agent.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley. Prey is book 1 of my 20 Books of Summer 2026.

In three words: Compelling, dramatic, authentic
Try something similar: V2 by Robert Harris

About the Author

Graham Hurley is a documentary maker and a novelist. For the last two decades he’s written full-time, penning nearly fifty books. Two made the shortlist for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year, while Finisterre – the first in the Spoils of War collection – was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Award. Graham lives in East Devon with his lovely wife, Lin.

Connect with Graham
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