#BlogTour: The Vault by Mark Dawson @pbackwriter @angelaontour @annecater #TheVault #MarkDawson #RandomThingsTours

Book Synopsis:

A desperate agent. A petty criminal. An audacious plot.

When Harry Mackintosh is called upon to exfiltrate a valuable asset from East to West Berlin, what could have been an intelligence coup becomes an international embarrassment. Mackintosh’s men and his lover are killed by the East German secret police in a brutal crossfire and he barely escapes with his life. He flees to the West and promises himself that he will have vengeance.

Mackintosh is the head of Berlin Station but he doesn’t have the staff to compete with the Stasi. He returns to London to plead for the resources to fight back. But instead of the seasoned operatives that he needs, Mackintosh is given a single man: Jimmy Walker, a petty criminal with a record for robbing banks.

Mackintosh takes Walker to Berlin and sets in train an audacious plan that will see them both on the other side of the Wall. Mackintosh and Walker face off against Karl-Heinz Sommer, the Stasi general known as die Spinne – the Spider – a man known for his brutality and ruthlessness.

The plan is already a longshot, and then Walker learns of the riches that Sommer stole from displaced Berliners in the days after the Wall was constructed. Will Walker follow orders or will he find the prospect of the Stasi gold in Sommer’s secret vault too tempting to ignore? Will Mackintosh have his revenge or will he become another fly caught in the Spider’s web?

With ambiguous loyalties, clashing agendas and danger beyond measure, these two men will struggle to form a team. But in a battle as unequal as this, the unexpected might be the best strategy that they have.

The Vault is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

I’m a huge fan of this author so I was very excited to read The Vault, his latest book, which I thought was another hugely enjoyable, intelligent thriller.

Books set during the cold war, one of my favourite periods, are always exciting as there are so many different areas to learn about. This book is set towards the end of the cold war when the wall was about to come down and the start of group 15, which I hadn’t heard about before. I found it very interesting to learn more about group 15 and to discover the work they did.

I really liked the main character Jimmy who seemed very clever, resourceful and brave. All of the characters were great creations and I thought they were well developed throughout the book. The author has clearly done a lot of research into both the characters and the places mentioned in the book as they were vividly described meaning I could imagine them clearly.

This was a very fast paced book and there was always something happening to keep me firmly glued to the page. The plot is deliciously complex with lots of twist and double crosses which made it hard to keep up! This was a standalone book though there were some subtle references to characters in the author’s other book which I loved. If you’re a fan of historical thrillers then I think you’ll find this one hugely enjoyable!

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Mark Dawson has worked as a lawyer and in the London film industry. His first books, The Art of Falling Apart and Subpoena Colada, have been published in multiple languages. He is currently writing three series. The John Milton series features a disgruntled assassin who aims to help people make amends for the things that he has done. The Beatrix Rose series features the headlong fight for justice of a wronged mother–who happens to be an assassin–against the six names on her Kill List. Soho Noir is set in the West End of London between 1940 and 1970. The first book in the series, The Black Mile, deals with the (real-life but little-known) serial killer who operated in the area during the Blitz. The Imposter traces the journey of a criminal family through the period; it has been compared to The Sopranos in austerity London. Mark lives in Wiltshire with his family.