Published 6th July 2023 by Aries, Head of Zeus.
From the cover of the book:
The new blockbuster thriller from Graham Hurley, The Blood of Others is part of the SPOILS OF WAR Collection, a thrilling, beguiling blend of fact and fiction born of some of the most tragic, suspenseful, and action-packed events of World War II.Dieppe, August 1942. A catastrophe no headline dared admit.
Plans are underway for the boldest raid yet on Nazi-occupied France. Over six thousand men will storm ashore to take the port of Dieppe. Lives will change in an instant - both on the beaches and in distant capitals.
Annie Wrenne, working at Lord Mountbatten's cloak-and-dagger Combined Operations headquarters, is privy to the top secret plans for the daring cross-Channel raid.
Young Canadian journalist George Hogan, protege of influential Lord Beaverbrook, faces a crucial assignment that will test him to breaking point.
And Abwehr intelligence officer Wilhelm Schultz is baiting a trap to lure thousands of Allied troops to their deaths.
Three lives linked by Operation Jubilee: the Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942. Over six thousand men will storm the heavily defended French beaches.
Less than half of them will make it back alive.
***********
Young Canadian journalist, George Hogan finds himself on shaky ground when he becomes involved with Annie Wrenne, an intriguing older woman working closely with Lord Mountbatten on secretive Combined Operations aimed at provoking German operations in occupied France.
Through Annie's often cryptic hints, Hogan discovers that Mountbatten plans an ambitious mission using Canadian forces to attack Dieppe. It is a plan fraught with risk, and Hogan is conflicted about how much he should write in his articles, especially when he has become close to some of the men who will be tied up in the operation.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the English Channel, Abwehr officer Wilhelm Schultz is playing the long game, enticing the Allies into believing that Dieppe is a weak spot in the German defences - a trap that Mountbatten falls for in spectacular style, leadng more than half of his 6000 men to their doom.
The Blood of Others is the eighth spectacular instalment in the Spoils of War series. This time Graham Hurley turns his attention to a tragic episode in the history of World War II, Operation Jubilee, which saw a foolhardy attack on Dieppe in 1942 come to a disastrous end that scarred military relations between Britain and Canada.
This book has a different feel to the other Spoils of War novels I have read, and it has an intense slow-burn atmosphere that makes its direction mysterious for a good portion of the story. Told through the eyes of new character to the series, Canadian journalist George Hogan, and a very familiar face to fans of the books, German intelligence operative Wilhelm Schultz, at first it is difficult to see quite how the threads of their individual stories will come together... but have no fear, Hurley knows what he is about. As the twists and turns of Hogan and Schultz's plotlines play out, Hurley allows a picture to develop of exactly how the circumstances came together on the Allied side to give Mountbatten such freedom to allow Operation Jubilee to happen, and he brilliantly speculates about the way in which German intelligence kept the real situation in Dieppe not only secret, but managed to create a honey trap into which Mountbatten would fall.
As in all of Hurley's books, he shines a light on episodes in World War II that might be unfamiliar to his readers, particularly those which with hindsight are very different to the way in which they were portrayed the time. He is skilled at delving into the nitty gritty to help you understand the chain of events that helped them come about, blending fact and fiction together to create a compelling story that keeps you glued to the page.
The non-chronological nature of this series is fascinating, as each book takes you into an era of World War II that shows a different side of his recurring characters. Here you get to see another facet of the complexities that make up Wilhelm Schultz, adding a new piece to the puzzle of the man whose future you have already glimpsed in the other books, which I thoroughly enjoyed. There is a pleasing appearance of another person who will be familiar to fans of this series in this book too, with a clever double twist, but I will leave you to discover who that is for yourselves.
Hurley brings in many of the themes he explores throughout the series around power, deception, the secretive world of the intelligence services, and the effectiveness of propaganda, and he has some really interesting things to say about changing views on Soviet Russia and the motivation of the Allies to undertake a Second Front in Western Europe. I found the recurring references to the Spanish Civil War and its legacy really insightful too. Lots of rabbit holes to go down!
This is a powerful book, and I have found myself pondering many aspects of the story since I finished it, as I have with all of Hurley's books. The Spoils of War is one of my favourite wartime series and as ever, this one will make you think about exactly what 'spoils' means in the context of war.
The Blood of Others is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Head of Zeus for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Ransom PR for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.
About the author:
Graham is the author of the acclaimed Faraday and Winter crime novels. Two of the critically lauded series have been shortlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Award for Best Crime Novel. The first Wars Within novel, Finisterre, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.
No comments:
Post a Comment