OPERATION TULIP by Deborah Swift @swiftstory

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)

On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: one of my 'go-to' authors!

In a Nutshell: Working for the resistance in Nazi occupied Holland, 1944

What a cracking book this is!  I loved it.  It's set mostly in The Hague in the Netherlands, as well as in other parts of the country under occupation, and in England.  Main character Nancy is assigned the most dangerous task of her life in the resistance - she must assume yet another identity, and get close to a high ranking Nazi officer.  Meanwhile, her beloved Tom, a coding expert in England, finds that he can no longer just wait for her, and makes plans that he knows are potentially perilous.

What made this book so compelling for me was the plot - unusual, as I'm usually all about the characters.  But this never lets up from the opening scene; it's perfectly paced, with more introspective passages complimenting the tension and action.  Deborah Swift brings the bleak terror of the occupied territory to life; I didn't know, before reading this, that the Dutch were kept in such appalling conditions.

It's a 'clean read' with no bad language, not even when streams of it would probably have been uttered, but the picture painted is so real, so raw that the characters' reactions all seem completely realistic.  This has been my favourite of this authors' tales of espionage in WWII; it's a real page turner!

THE SHADOW NETWORK by Deborah Swift @swiftstory

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I read all Deborah Swift's books, full stop!  Original discovered her on Twitter.

In a Nutshell: World War II espionage drama

The next in the series of Deborah Swift's excellent and oh-so-British tales of espionage and undercover networks during World War II.  The Shadow Network is particularly interesting because Lilli, the main character, is a part-Jewish refugee from Berlin, who falls prey to circumstances that lead her to take a major part in a 'black' propaganda outfit, targeting the German people and armed forces.  

This book has a particularly thrilling start, set as it is in Germany, when life was precarious for so many.  The pace continues throughout, culminating in gripping ending that made me wish it was a TV mini-series.  Ms Swift has painted a wonderfully nasty antagonist in the form of Brendan Murphy, member of the IRA.

As ever, the research is detailed and fascinating; Deborah Swift outlines the real story behind the fiction in the back of the book, and, once more, I wished I'd read it first.  I've no doubt that this novel will be as successful as The Silk Code - and I look forward to Operation Tulip!

THE SILK CODE by Deborah Swift @swiftstory

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: one of my favourite authors, so I always look out for new releases.

In a Nutshell: Code-breaking and dangerous espionage missions in WW2.

When I started reading this book I thought it might be a bit too 'women's fiction' for me - but I should have known better.  Deborah Swift doesn't write cosy schmaltz, but history so real it's like a window back in time.

The story is set in 1943 and entres around Nancy, a government admin worker solving radio messages from agents in the field, whose life takes a dangerous turn - and Tom, the innovative brain behind some clever coding systems.  Yes, they fall in love, but I wouldn't class this as a romance novel at all.  

During the first part of the book I was struck by how hard life must have been for Londoners during the war; my mother lived there during that time and talked about it sometimes, but this really brought home to me how little any of the people had.  Food, clothes, options...

I enjoyed reading all about the coding systems and the suspicions about who might be working for the Germans, but for me the book really took off in Part 3, which takes places in the Netherlands.  We can't imagine what it must have been like to live under Nazi occupation, but boy, does this book describe it in all its raw horror.  Ms Swift holds nothing back - a lesser author would have saved more lives!  It's gripping, tense, absolutely riveting.  Part 3 alone earns the book its five stars.

BURKE IN THE LAND OF SILVER by Tom Williams @TomCW99

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book:  I was sent a review request and an ARC by the author.  I accepted because I have read other books by him, Back Home, one of my favourite books of 2016, and its prequel, Cawnpore.

Genre: early 19th century historical miliary/espionage adventure.  Although a work of fiction, some characters and events are taken from real life; there is explanation of this at both the beginning and the end of the book.

The 'land of silver' in the title refers to Argentina.  James Burke is sent by the War Office to Argentina, where he must assume various identities to forward British interests; like the Argentinians, Britain is against its rule by Spain.  Ultimately, he must assess the feasibility of British invasion.  Taking his trusty servant, William Brown, he sails with Irish merchant O'Gorman.  I enjoyed Burke's first impressions of South America, how he was astounded by its sheer size. 

Once established, Burke mingles with Society and starts an affair with O'Gorman's beautiful wife, Ana, whilst William assumes the persona of a hard-drinking rogue and rebel in order to infiltrate the lower echelons and discover plans for rebellion again the Spanish.  Burke himself takes on many guises in his quest for intelligence, and tussles with his rival, the Frenchman de Liniers.

It is clear that Tom Williams has a great love for his setting, and knows much about its history.  I loved the descriptions of rural Argentina and Chile, and the pictures were painted with so much detail that I found fascinating, even down to how the cattlemen would catch and prepare a beast for eating, or how the men survived the long trek to, and up and down, Chile.  My knowledge of this place and era of history is sparse, and this book taught me a lot.   The story is well structured, the plot successfully intricate, and if Burke and William's escapades ran a little too smoothly at times, they worked well within the context of the story.

This first Burke adventure is certainly plot rather than character driven; although some of the smaller players, like O'Gorman and rancher Paco Iglesias, came alive immediately, I only experienced the occasional glimpse of who James Burke actually was.  Maybe because the narrative was in the form of an omniscient narrator who had a similar 'voice' to Burke, I didn't see inside the characters' heads.  I never had a feeling of who William was, either, aside from a loyal servant, and his dialogue sometimes seemed to come from someone higher up the social scale.

As for Ana, we are told she is enigmatic and beautiful, and that she and Burke are having a passionate affair, but I felt little passion between them.  The most telling point of their relationship was when she said, 'You're a soldier.  You're back because your duty has brought you back.  And when your duty calls you away, you will depart.  And I will be left here alone.'  Burke's reasons for this were always warranted, but the little I did know of him I didn't particularly warm to, not least of all his disappointment that Chile was not European enough.

Having said all that, books of this genre tend to concentrate on the action and history, and avid readers of them probably have different requirements from me.  I need to 'know' a character to care what happens to him (I wanted Paco the rancher to outwit the Spaniards, yet cared little about the fortunes of Burke), but that's just a personal preference; there is no doubt that the plot and military skirmishes are well-developed and artfully told, and both the historical element and the descriptive settings deserve applause; there was much I enjoyed.

To sum up, and to review objectively, I'd give this book a range of different star ratings for various aspects, so I think 4* is fair overall.  It's quite an achievement, and would appeal a great deal to anyone with interest in or experience of these countries, and to those who love historical and miliary action/adventure.

PLEASING MR PEPYS by Deborah Swift @swiftstory

5 out of 5 stars


On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: The author has been a great favourite of mine ever since I discovered her books on her history blog, via her Twitter page.  I was sent an ARC, but would have bought it anyway!

Set in 17th century London, the two main character points of view in this excellent novel are Deborah Willet, a young girl who goes to work as a lady's companion for the wife of Samuel Pepys, and Abigail Williams, an actress and mistress of a lord, who has a tragic past and a dangerous present, working as a spy for the Dutch.  Deb unwittingly gets more involved with Abigail than she intends, and before long finds herself a part of a terrifyingly dark world.
 

Samuel Pepys

It is clear, all the way through, that Ms Swift's knowledge of 17th Century London is extensive; I particularly enjoyed this rare look at how life was for Londoners, post plague, Civil War and, of course, the Great Fire.  The depiction of the dark alleyways, filthy lodgings, women of the night and the poor, unpaid sailors was so good I could see it all.  Abigail Williams, though a 'baddie', is written in such a way that I liked and felt sympathy for her, and, indeed, for all the women, simply because of the social restrictions of the time.

The plot itself is cleverly executed, building up pace gradually; by half way through the book I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, so eager was I to find out what happened.  This novel works well on so many levels: as a thrilling tale of espionage, as a peep into the world of 350 years ago, as an historical education and also a love story, that of Deb Willet and the delightful curate, Jeremiah Wells.

The Author's Notes at the end of the book were quite a revelation, as I discovered I'd been reading more of a true story that I'd thought; I deliberately left them to the end.  Pleasing Mr Pepys is one of those pieces of historical fact/fiction that makes you want to find out even more. :)

If you're as fascinated by this period of history as I am, you might like this 'fly through' of 17th Century London (pre-Great Fire), which I have looked at several times, and gave me an even better idea of what the capital was like in those days.

THE BERLIN AFFAIR by David Boyle

3.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie Amber's Review Team, of which I am a member.

This is a novella length story; I wondered if such a plot could be fitted into a novella, and if there would be a lack of detail, but it is well structured and fits nicely into the shorter length.

Xanthe Schneider from Cincinatti arrives in Cambridge as a student, six months before the outbreak of World War Two.  During her childhood, she was endowed with a love of and talent for crosswords by her father, and, in England, during the 'phoney war' of the first eight months following September 3rd, 1939, she gets to know the mysterious Ralph Lancing, a code cracking enthusiast.  Then Ralph disappears, and Xanthe is approached by war officials to take part in the world of British espionage.

One thing I liked about this was the portrayal of the England at the time; it's very well done, but subtly, and it came over, to me, a bit like a black and white film.  I also liked that Boyle has used real life characters, such as Goebbels, and I felt Xanthe's growing fear; the atmosphere of menace certainly worked.  Sometimes I felt the choice of words was a little odd, and I wasn't always sure about the way in which, for instance, a naval commander spoke to Xanthe, a woman he had only just met.

This is a good read for the historical detail in itself, and it is well plotted; an undemanding, enjoyable book with which to curl up for an afternoon.

RISE OF THE ENEMY by Rob Sinclair

4 out of 5 stars

Espionage thriller

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this at first, as espionage thrillers are not a usual reading choice for me, but I liked the cover!  I didn't realise it was a sequel when I first began to read it, but the necessary backstory is provided artfully, in an unobtrusive way, and it works fine as a stand alone.

Carl Logan is an agent working for the JIA, the Joint Intelligence Agency, which employs both US and UK agents.  Rise of The Enemy is based around his capture and escape from the Russians and his realisation that he cannot trust his own people, either.

I wasn't grabbed by the story until it got to the 'three months later' bit of Chapter 4, when, for me, it went up by about ten notches and I became totally absorbed, looking forward to getting back to it when I had to put it down.  The structure of the part in Siberia in which Carl Logan escapes from his Russian captors is one I like: chapters alternating between the present, and flashbacks of an ongoing story that leads up to that present.  I loved reading about Siberia, too; it's clearly been well researched.

The book is very professionally presented, which is always a big plus for me; I don't think I found one proofreading or editing error, which is practically unheard of in a Kindle book, even for the traditionally published.   I read in the Q & A with Rob Sinclair in the back that he loves spy thriller books, films and TV series, and it shows; he's obviously very au fait with the genre, and thus there are a few clichés to be found in this story, but not too many.  

My only problem with this book is that, despite it being extremely well written as a drama, it stopped being so thrilling at around 60%, after which the suspense only made me think 'hmm' instead of 'oh my God, WHAT is going to happen NEXT?'  You know those bits in programmes like 24, when Jack Bauer overcomes four enemies against all odds, in a seemingly hopeless situation?  Carl Logan does this sort of thing, too, but it's all a bit laboured.  Sinclair has painstakingly described every action, down to which hand he jerked into which arm, in such a way that it's just an account, a sequence of events, and not action packed.  Some bits that should have been in-your-face thrilling were actually quite boring; if I had not been reading the book to review I would have skipped them, and just gone to the end of the section to find out who was still alive.  The beginning of the book is written in a very dramatic way.  A suspenseful way.  With short sentences.  To add impact and drama.  And it works, but doesn't carry on throughout the book.  My interest in the plot tailed off towards the end.

To sum up:  A bit less detail, a bit less repetition, a bit more punch, and this book would be excellent.  If this is your favourite genre, I'd definitely recommend it because it's intelligently written, feasible and well thought out.  I suspect, too, that Rob Sinclair's writing will develop positively the more he writes; the talent is obviously there.