Operation Tulip by Deborah Swift = #bookreview #blogtour

 

October 1944

Nancy glanced through the slash of rain to where Josef, tall and dark in a belted raincoat, was checking the others were in position. He stooped to tie a shoelace as he came out from the shelter of the weight-house... He looked up briefly and Nancy silently returned his gaze before checking her watch...

***

Holland, 1944: Undercover British agent Nancy Callaghan has been given her toughest case yet. A key member of the Dutch resistance has been captured, and Nancy must play the role of a wealthy Nazi to win over a notorious SS officer, Detlef Keller, and gain crucial information.

England: Coding expert Tom Lockwood is devastated that the Allies have failed to push back the Nazis, leaving Northern Holland completely cut off from the rest of Europe, and him from his beloved Nancy. Desperate to rescue the love of his life, Tom devises Operation Tulip, a plan to bring Nancy home.

But as Nancy infiltrates the Dutch SS, she finds herself catching the eye of an even more senior member of the Party. Is Nancy in too deep, or can Tom reach her before she gets caught?

Inspired by the true events of occupied Holland during WW2, don't miss this utterly gripping story of love, bravery and sacrifice.

***

Deborah Swift is a great author and with every one of her new releases she seems to get better and better.

Operation Tulip is no exception to that. It is the third in her World War II Secret Agent series and made for gripping reading. I have previously read The Shadow Network which is the second in the series. If you would like to read my review you can find it by clicking here.

Operation Tulip is set in Holland as the war is coming to an end. People are starving to death and the resistance cells are deteriorating. Nancy, a secret agent, is tasked with impersonating a wealthy widow in order to catch the eye of a senior Nazi in order to find a way to release a key resistance member who has been captured.

The atmosphere throughout the book is tense. Every word and every action are imbued with meaning as Nancy attempts to find the information that she needs and not be discovered as a secret agent in the process. 

She is a great character and exhibits bravery and courage throughout. She has been well developed in this book and interacts with the secondary characters in a believable way. Even when her resistance cell fails, she fights on alone in her bid to help others. 

The author clearly does her research very well and clearly understands the time period in which the book is set. She captured the desperation of the people remaining in Holland as they slowly starved to death while the Nazi's ate and their health thrived. 

This is a book that is well worth reading. It works perfectly well as a stand alone if you have not previously read the first two books in the series.

This will appeal to lovers of historical fiction, and I highly recommend it.

ISBN: 978 0008586904

Publisher:  HQ Digital

Formats: e-book, audio and paperback

No. of Pages:  368 (paperback)

About the Author:

Deborah Swift is a USA TODAY bestselling author of twenty books who is passionate about the past. Deborah used to be a costume designer for the BBC, before becoming a writer. Now she lives in an old English school house in a village full of 17th Century houses, near the glorious Lake District. After taking a Masters Degree in Creative Writing, she enjoys mentoring aspiring novelists and has an award-winning historical fiction blog at her website www.deborahswift.com.

Deborah loves to write about how extraordinary events in history have transformed the lives of ordinary people, and how the events of the past can live on in her books and still resonate today. 

Recent books include The Poison Keeper, about the Renaissance poisoner Giulia Tofana, which was a winner of the Wishing Shelf Book of the Decade Award, and a Coffee Pot Book Club Gold Medal. Her most recent books are The Silk Code and The Shadow Network both set in the Second World War.

(ARC and media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)

(all opinions are my own)

Black Fox One by Elyse Hoffman - #BookReview #BlogTour

 

"Ava!"

Ten year old Jonas Amsel was entirely certain that his best friend was going to kill him. He had followed Avalina Keller into the woods as he often did, but the girl had been too excited and had run ahead, leaving the boy to stumble through the thrush and desperately try to track her down.

"Ava!" he cried again, and this time he heard a musical giggle somewhere close by. Jonas perked up his ears and tottered forward, trying to figue out where she...

"Boo!"

***

Jonas Amsel and Avalina Keller, devoted Nazis and best friends, have a bright future in Hitler’s Third Reich. Ava, a talented gymnast, wants to serve Germany in the Olympics, and Jonas, who has loved Ava since they were children, wants nothing more than to marry her and start a family. When he is about to propose, however, Ava and her entire family vanish without a trace.

Jonas blames the Jews for Ava’s disappearance and throws himself into a career in the Nazi Party. He serves the Reich under the ruthless Chief of the Gestapo, Reinhard Heydrich. Jonas becomes particularly good at capturing members of the Black Foxes, an anti-Nazi resistance group, earning Heydrich’s respect and the moniker of “the Fox Hunter.”

Impressed by Jonas’ skills, Heydrich gives him his most difficult task yet: capture the elusive Black Fox One, the Black Foxes’ most deadly and mysterious operative. No Nazi who has pursued Black Fox One has returned alive, but Jonas is determined and confident. Capturing Black Fox One might bring him one step closer to finding Ava.

But while he is hunting Black Fox One, Jonas makes a shocking discovery, forcing him to make an agonizing decision. He must choose between his love for the Reich and his heart, torn between the lies he has been taught all his life and the new truth before him.

Black Fox One is a thrilling World War II story of lost love, bravery, and the hard road to redemption.

***

This book is the third in a series, and it follows on from The Vengeance of Samuel Val which I recently read. If you would like to read my review you can find it by clicking here. Black Fox One does work perfectly well as a standalone novel. There are a couple of the characters from the previous book who put in an appearance but knowing their backstory is not vital to the plot.

The story begins with the two main characters, Jonas and Ava, as childhood best friends, before their relationship develops and they become lovers. This is a familiar trope in novels, but its familiarity did not hinder my enjoyment of this novel as their circumstances were a little different to the average.

Both Ava and Jonas were well developed characters and easy to identify with. They are both strong people in their own right but who stand on two very different sides of the fence. It was interesting to see how their relationship could possibly develop given the circumstances and the author did a great job through narrative and dialogue in moving this this along. 

There are a few twists and turns throughout the plot which keep the reader enthralled. A good plot along with strong characterisation makes this an excellent read.

My only criticism is that I felt the epilogue was an unnecessary addition to the story. Overall, this was an extremely good book, and I recommend it to lovers of historical fiction.

ISBN:  978 1952742286

Publisher:  Project 613

Formats: e-book and hardback

No. of Pages:  244 (hardback)

About the Author:

Elyse Hoffman is a best-selling author who strives to tell historical tales with new twists. Having studied WWII since the age of thirteen and with interests in fantasy and Jewish folklore, she loves to combine them in her writing. Elyse started writing novels at fourteen and finished her first historical fiction work at fifteen. She studied English, History, and Law at George Mason University. In her spare time, she loves to read, work on pretty keyboards, and hang out with her co-authors - her Goldendoodle Ari and her ex-feral cat, Echo.

(ARC and all media materials courtesy of The Write Reads)

(all opinions are my own)