A series entry that offers thrills, intriguing locations, and brash heroics.
In Dyer’s fourth historical thriller-series installment, Office of Strategic Services agent Conor Thorn races to recover an important document during World War II.
Thorn and his wife, Emily, are both recently fired spies—he by the OSS, she by MI6. U.S. Navy Cmdr. Harry Butcher tells them that there’s a way for them both to be reinstated—all they must do is find, and possibly destroy, a secret dossier. It contains information about the Group of Five who plotted the assassination of François Darlan, the high commissioner of France for North and West Africa. If the OSS and British Special Operations Executive are implicated in the document, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower will resign, which will be catastrophic for the Allied Forces. The catch is that the Thorns only have 10 days to locate it, and they’re not the only people searching. Dyer’s book is broken into digestible chunks, each with a time, date, and place name, and ricochets among various fictional characters (Kurt Eklof, a Nazi with an eye patch; Germaine Gilbert, the madam of a brothel) and real-life historical figures, including Butcher, Eisenhower, Nazi officer Klaus Barbie, and Winston Churchill. This creates a sense of movement and activity, but sometimes results in a lack of character development. However, a few figures, including René DuBois, an antisemite whose mother helps persecuted Jewish people, get more complex treatment. Dyer details a cold, brutal, and violent world. Conor is depicted as a hotheaded spy who mainly relies on weapons such as knives, guns, and grenades; he has a concussion that causes blackouts and memory loss, but luckily, he has someone he can trust: Emily, who’s portrayed as having learned to navigate the hypermasculine world of espionage with finesse. Overall, the period is well-researched, and the action sequences convey tension and excitement; they include the opening scene in the Basilique Notre Dame d’Afrique, another aboard the submarine Casabianca, and another involving a cemetery showdown in which Emily and Conor stave off four men.
A series entry that offers thrills, intriguing locations, and brash heroics.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
An expertly crafted page-turner with unpredictable twists, steamy romance, and magical creatures.
A princess and a gladiator join forces amidst political intrigue and bloody carnage in Robson’s fantasy novel.
For the citizens of the wealthy kingdom of Arrow, the most exciting entertainment can be found in the arena—for the gladiators from the surrounding kingdoms, it’s a relentlessly brutal series of fights to the death. The combatants hope to win enough matches to earn the royal title of “Bloodguard,” which will allow their families to immigrate to Arrow. Leith, a gladiator in his mid-20s, is a skilled fighter driven by his desperation to support his mother and two younger sisters (and by the rage built from years of killing his peers for an audience’s delectation). After killing the arrogant Lord Filip (who challenged him to an impromptu duel) and subsequently emerging victorious in a surprise melee with a group of his peers and a dragon, Leith is getting closer to becoming a Bloodguard. He attracts the attention of Princess Maeve, a 20-year-old healer. Now that her fiance, Lord Filip, is dead, she’s in dire need of a noble spouse so that she can claim the throne when she turns 21. Maeve proposes a deal: She’ll help Leith achieve the Bloodguard status in exchange for his hand in marriage. But as their relationship blossoms, problems arise when royal secrets are revealed and government corruption is exposed. Soon, they’re not just vying for a title and a crown—they’re fighting for their lives. Robson’s novel is an exciting blend of action, palace intrigue, and romance in a high fantasy setting. The story unfolds through the perspectives of Maeve and Leith, who are both compelling and well developed, with flaws, foibles, and distinctive voices. The supporting characters are equally intriguing. Readers will love the richly detailed worldbuilding and combat sequences, as well as the use of snarky, modern language (“Of course the only royal offering me help is one who’s clawing her way to the throne, not already sitting pretty on one. That tracks,” Leith gripes). The book’s thoughtful queer representation and exploration of oppression and exploitation are also noteworthy.
An expertly crafted page-turner with unpredictable twists, steamy romance, and magical creatures.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9781649374059
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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