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I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from the publisher. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.
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The Blurb
ON THE EVE OF WAR, A ROYAL GUEST IS LURED INTO HITLER'S DEADLY WEB . . .
Munich, 1937. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor have arrived in Germany for a historic meeting at Hitler's mountain retreat.
But recent attacks by ruthless Communist band, Red Freedom, has brought fear and bloodshed to the area. As brutal as the Nazis, their next targets are Edward, Wallis and the Fuhrer himself.
Detective Sebastian Wolff is charged with their protection, but the conflict between his job and his politics becomes even more complicated when Wolff realises who is behind Red Freedom: Ulrike, his first love and the mother of his son.
My Review
Although this is the third book in a series, I have not read the earlier books. It works very well as a standalone novel.
The book is set in Munich in 1937, just as Hitler's power is in the ascendant and prior to the beginning of the Second World War.
The main character, Detective Sebastian Wolff, is investigating a terrorist gang called Red Freedom. However, he is transferred to guard the visit to Hitler's mountain retreat in the Austrian Alps, the Berghof, as the controversial Duke and Duchess of Windsor are going to visit.
Meanwhile, Wolff's fiancée Hexie has also been invited to stay at the Berghof by her old friend, Eva Braun. These three subplots running through the book lead to some exciting twists and turns for Wolff as he continues to investigate Red Freedom whilst also carrying out his protection duties of the abdicated King Edward VIII and his wife, Wallis Simpson.
I really liked the way the author wove the three aspects of the plot together. It demonstrated real skill in the writing. Mr Clements is a great storyteller and for I was completely gripped by the book
The book is fairly slow-paced, but I think this was entirely necessary for the slow burn of the plot to develop. It also provides the reader with a more in-depth understanding of the characters.
The book has definitely made me want to go back to the beginning of the series and read the books prior to this one. Fans of pre-war thrillers will love this book and I highly recommend it.
Book Details
ISBN: 978 0241728215
Publisher: Viking
Formats: e-book, audio and hardback
No. of Pages: 400 (hardback)
Series: Book 3 in the Detective Sebastion Wolff series
Purchase Links
About the Author
Rory has a passion for thrillers. He loves reading about men and women facing the ultimate test under fire - and he loves writing about them. It must be in his blood.
Born in Dover, Kent, and raised in various outposts of the world while mhis father served in the Royal Navy. He grew up hungry to become a writer.
He worked for many years as a national newspaper journalist but always dreamed of switching to novel-writing. On moving to Norfolk in 2007 he found the perfect spot to achieve his ambition.
So why thrillers? Well, it might have something to do with his family history.
His generation of the Clements clan is the first since the Crimean War not to have seen active service in a branch of the military, and he feels extremely fortunate that this is so. While his father, grandfather and great-grandfather survived fierce and deadly fighting in three major wars, he fears he would not have measured up.
He believes his history has given him a keen understanding of valour and the stoicism of those in peril - whether from enemy agents, at sea, in the air, or on the battlefield.
These are the essential qualities of the protagonists in his three series - Tom Wilde, a Cambridge history professor; Seb Wolff, a Munich cop in the 1930s; and John Shakespeare, a spy in Elizabethan England. They're very different characters but they share one quality - courage.
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(ARC and media courtesy of Viking Press)
(all opinions are my own)
(Bookshop.org affiliated)
