Tag: thriller

#BookReview #Ad The English Führer by Rory Clements @ZaffreBooks

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The English FuhrerAbout the Book

Autumn 1945 – Off the east coast of England, a Japanese sub surfaces, unloads its mysterious cargo, then blows itself to pieces.

Former spy Professor Tom Wilde is enjoying peacetime in Cambridge, settling back into teaching and family life. Until a call from senior MI5 boss Lord Templeman brings him out of retirement.

A nearby village has been locked down by the military, its residents blighted by a deadly illness. No one is allowed in or out.

There are rumours the Nazi machine is still operational, with links to Unit 731, a notorious Japanese biological warfare research laboratory. But how could they possibly be plotting on British soil – and why?

What’s more, Wilde and Templeman’s names are discovered on a Gestapo kill list. And after a series of assassinations an unthinkable question emerges: could an Englishman be behind the plot?

Format: eARC (400 pages)                Publisher: Zaffre
Publication date: 19th January 2023 Genre: Historical Fiction, Thriller

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My Review

From the moment I read Corpus back in 2017, I knew I was going to love the Tom Wilde series and to my mind it just keeps getting better and better.

The conclusion of the previous book, The Man in the Bunker, saw Wilde involved in the defection of a Soviet intelligence officer and he harbours lingering doubts about the whole affair. Something just doesn’t seem quite right about it. He even begins to doubt those he has previously trusted.

The plot is way too involved to describe without giving spoilers but it includes biological warfare, far right extremism and the impact of the changes in the world order following the end of the Second World War.  Your enemy’s enemy may not always remain your friend. We get a picture of a Britain struggling to reconstruct itself, not just physically – ‘The rubble was still there, the bombed houses had not been rebuilt and water mains went unfixed’ –  but politically and psychologically. ‘The rage on all sides of those whose loved ones were killed by bombs, bullet, fire, water and gas didn’t just vanish like smoke because peace treaties were signed.’

As Rory Clements observes in his afterword to the book, ‘It is a world exhausted by war, desperate for peace – and extremely vulnerable because few have any appetite for further conflict’. This is the foundation upon which the author builds the compelling story at the heart of the book. It involves some extremely nasty goings-on, sadly based on fact.

I was particularly pleased to see Tom’s wife, Lydia, playing a prominent part in the story. She’s a woman trying to balance the responsibilities of motherhood with her ambition to become a doctor as well as battling to overcome the obstacles still in place for women wishing to pursue a career, in particular married women.

Wilde’s investigations involve him in breathless escapes across country in order to escape the agents of a foreign power as well as finding himself accused of murder.  The adjective that immediately sprang to mind was ‘Buchanesque’. (Regular followers of my blog will know I’m a fan of the works of John Buchan.) So I was thrilled when, at one point in the book, the hapless Detective Inspector Shirley, rebukes Wilde, ‘This is a murder enquiry, not The Thirty-Nine Steps’.

The author keeps the action coming and the tension high until the very last page.  If you’re a fan of historical thrillers that combine espionage with adventure then they don’t come better than this.

I received a review copy courtesy of Zaffre via NetGalley.

In three words: Gripping, fast-paced, intriguing

Try something similar: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan of course!

Rory ClementsAbout the Author

Rory Clements was born on the edge of England in Dover. After a career in national newspapers, he now writes full time in a quiet corner of Norfolk, where he lives with his wife, the artist Naomi Clements Wright. He won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award in 2010 for his second novel, Revenger, and the CWA Historical Dagger in 2018 for Nucleus. Three of his other novels – Martyr, Prince and The Heretics – have been shortlisted for awards.

To find out more about his books, join the Rory Clements Readers’ Club via the link in his website. (Photo credit: Author website)

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#BookReview #Ad Resurrection by David Gilman @AriesFiction

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ResurrectionAbout the Book

Somewhere in the Sahara, on the desolate border between Sudan and Chad, a P51 Mustang with long-range drop tanks slowly emerges from the dunes. Inside, the skeletalized remains of a man missing for three decades. His flying jacket bears no insignia, a worn leather attache case lies by his side, held securely by a manacle around his left wrist.

Inside a document men will kill for. Die for. The sands of time have shifted, and whoever finds that aircraft finds information that could expose the most valuable spy the UK intelligence service has ever known. The British, the French, and the Russians are on the trail. And so is Raglan.

Format: eARC (402 pages)              Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 5th January 2023 Genre: Thriller

Find Resurrection on Goodreads

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My Review

If you’re seeking a book that puts the ‘thrill’ into ‘thrilling’ then look no further than Resurrection, the third in the series featuring ex-French Foreign Legionnaire Dan Raglan. (Click on the titles to read my reviews of the previous books in the series – The Englishman and Betrayal.)

The striking prologue and the first section of the story which follows is set in a part of Africa, the border between Sudan and Chad, whose turbulent history I knew very little about. And I knew even less about Russian involvement in the area including the activities of the Wagner Group, a private military contractor with close links to the Kremlin, who, as the BBC recently reported, are now active in Ukraine. It’s one of the many things about the book that makes it feel so bang up-to-date.

At the same time as Raglan is engaged on his dangerous recovery mission in the desert – one which has a link to his own past – the hunt is on for a double agent at the heart of a nation’s intelligence service. We could be in John lé Carre territory except that the nation in question is Russia. A fanatical patriotism means the character leading the clandestine search will stop at nothing to unmask the traitor.

The book’s short chapters, that often end with a killer last sentence, keep you turning the pages and the level of technical detail is superb. Having read the book I’m now confident (well, almost) that I could fly a monoplane, ascertain the right dose of antivenom serum to administer, survive alone in the desert for several days, escape drowning in an icy river and assess the relative merits of using 7.62mm or 5.56mm rounds in a Special Operations Combat Assault rifle.

A number of characters return from previous books, including Raglan’s friend and former comrade, Serge ‘Bird’ Sokol, and my potential rival for Raglan’s affections, Colonel Elena Sorokina of Moscow CID. At one point she observes, ‘You cause me much trouble, Englishman. I ask myself why I let you. The answer is not clear to me.’ Well, it’s as clear as day to me.

Ruthless villains, fascinating locations, fist fights and fire fights, car chases, intrigue and a mystery from the past. Oh, and a seemingly indestructible hero. What’s not to like?

Resurrection is another absolutely gripping, action-packed page turner that takes you from the unforgiving Sahara desert to the dangerous ‘Shanghai slums’ area of Moscow, all at whirlwind pace.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley.

In three words: Pacy, compelling, intriguing

Try something similar: No Way To Die by Tony Kent

David GilmanAbout the Author

David Gilman has enjoyed many careers, including paratrooper, firefighter, and photographer. An award-winning author and screenwriter, he is the author of the critically acclaimed Master of War series of historical novels, and was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for The Last Horseman. He was longlisted for the same prize for The Englishman, the first book featuring ex-French Foreign Legionnaire Dan Raglan.  David lives in Devon. (Photo: Twitter profile)

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