Book Synopsis:

The year is 1942, and World War II is in full swing.

Odette Sansom decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and one plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission.

It is here that she meets her commanding officer Captain Peter Churchill. As they successfully complete mission after mission, Peter and Odette fall in love. All the while, they are being hunted by the cunning German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher, who finally succeeds in capturing them.

They are sent to Paris’s Fresnes prison, and on to concentration camps in Germany, where they are starved, beaten, and tortured. But in the face of despair, they never give up hope, their love for each other, or the whereabouts of their colleagues.

This is portrait of true courage, patriotism and love amidst unimaginable horrors and degradation.

Code Name Lise is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

This was an extraordinary story of a truly remarkable woman. I hadn’t heard of Odette before so I found it fascinating learning more about her. She did some amazing, brave things during the war which were mind blowing to read about. How someone could put themselves in constant danger knowing that if they were captured they could be tortured or killed is unbelievable, especially as she was a mother to young children at the time.

The author has obviously done a lot of research into this book and I found it fascinating learning more about Odette and the work that spies in general did during the war. The author has included lots of photos and it was great to be able to put faces to some of the characters as it let me picture the story more clearly in my mind. Although this book is classed as non fiction it reads a bit like a thriller and I found it very hard to out the book down because of this. I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction as I think they’d enjoy it.

Huge thanks to Melanie from Mirror Books for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

About The Author:

Larry Loftis is the international bestselling author of INTO THE LION’S MOUTH:The True Story of Dusko Popov: WWII Spy, Patriot, and the Real-Life Inspiration for James Bond, which has been translated into Portuguese, Dutch, Serbian, Chinese, and Czech. His next book, CODE NAME LISE:The True Story of the Spy Who Became WWII’s Most Highly Decorated Woman, will be published Jan. 15, 2019 by Gallery/Simon & Schuster. Larry is also an attorney and prior to becoming a full-time writer, he published legal articles in the University of Florida Law Review, Suffolk Transnational Law Journal, Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, Florida Bar Journal, National Law Journal, and Florida Banking. He received his BA and JD from the University of Florida, where he served on the Law Review as the senior executive editor and senior articles editor. He also served at the law school as a teaching fellow for Writing/Appellate Advocacy.

Book Synopsis:

The new novel by acclaimed espionage author Paul Vidich explores the dark side of intelligence, when a CIA officer delves into a cold case from the 1950s-with fatal consequences.

In 1953, Dr. Charles Wilson, a government scientist, died when he ‘jumped or fell’ from the ninth floor of a Washington hotel. As his wife and children grieve, the details of the incident remain buried for twenty-two years.

With the release of the Rockefeller Commission report on illegal CIA activities in 1975, the Wilson case suddenly becomes news again. Wilson’s family and the public are demanding answers, especially as some come to suspect the CIA of foul play, and agents in the CIA, FBI, and White House will do anything to make sure the truth doesn’t get out.

Enter agent Jack Gabriel, an old friend of the Wilson family who is instructed by the CIA director to find out what really happened to Wilson. It’s Gabriel’s last mission before he retires from the agency, and his most perilous. Key witnesses connected to the case die from suspicious causes, and Gabriel realizes that the closer he gets to the truth, the more his entire family is at risk.

Following in the footsteps of spy fiction greats like Graham Green, John Le Carré, and Alan Furst, Paul Vidich presents a tale – based on the unbelievable true story told in Netflix’s Wormwood – that doesn’t shy away from the true darkness in the shadows of espionage.

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

My Review:

The Coldest Warrior is an incredibly gripping piece of spy fiction based on a real life historical event.

I always love it when an author bases a book on a real event, especially one I haven’t heard about before. It’s always very interesting to be able to look up information in the internet and get a more in-depth look into the story. In this book the author has clearly done a lot of research into the case and manages to blend fiction with facts to great effect so that the whole thing seems very realistic.

It’s definitely a murky tale, with things getting even more dodgy the further the investigation goes. The CIA and some other important people are very invested in making sure no-one uncovers the truth which makes for intense reading at times. It had me wondering if such things still happen in real life and if this is the way that the government deals with leaks. I’d like to think not but I’ve seen a few other reviewers comment that it’s happened recently, so who knows!

This was a very fast paced, entertaining read which I really enjoyed reading. I liked the way the case was slowly unraveled in such a way that I felt I was investigating it myself as I could piece everything together alongside Gabriel. There weren’t perhaps many surprise throughout the story but I still enjoyed going on a journey with Gabriel and leaning more about the historical event.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to No Exit press for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Paul Vidich has had a distinguished career in music and media. Most recently, he served as Special Advisor to AOL and was Executive Vice President at the Warner Music Group, in charge of technology and global strategy. He serves on the Board of Directors of Poets & Writers and The New School for Social Research. A founder and publisher of the Storyville App, Vidich is also an award-winning author of short fiction. His previous novels, An Honorable Man and The Good Assassin, are also available from No Exit Press.

Book Synopsis:

1927: When Fred Lawson takes a summer job on St Kilda, little does he realise that he has joined the last community to ever live on that beautiful, isolated island. Only three years later, St Kilda will be evacuated, the islanders near-dead from starvation. But for Fred, that summer – and the island woman, Chrissie, whom he falls in love with – becomes the very thing that sustains him in the years ahead.

1940: Fred has been captured behind enemy lines in France and finds himself in a prisoner-of-war camp. Beaten and exhausted, his thoughts return to the island of his youth and the woman he loved and lost. When Fred makes his daring escape, prompting a desperate journey across occupied territory, he is sustained by one thought only: finding his way back to Chrissie.

The Lost Lights of St Kilda is a sweeping love story that will cross oceans and decades. It is a moving and deeply vivid portrait of two lovers, a desolate island, and the extraordinary power of hope in the face of darkness.

The Lights Of St Kilda is published in ebook and hardback on the 5th March 2020. You can pre-order your copy using the link below.

My Review:

This was a simply stunning read which manages to be both a haunting tale and wonderfully romantic.

Firstly the author’s wonderful descriptions of St Kilda are incredibly vivid and made me feel that I was actually there experiencing everything first hand. I felt that I could feel the strength of the wind, feel the biting cold and the sense of isolation during the dark winter months. The evacuation when it came really affected me as it felt it was happening to me. It was quite hard to read about and I felt myself tearing up as I read.

The romantic part of the story was beautifully told and I loved that the reader gets to follow both sides of the story. Fred’s tense, heart stopping journey through war torn Europe was incredibly nail biting, especially as I was hoping for a happy reunion with Chrissy the whole time. This made the story very gripping and I found myself fully absorbed in the book wanting the two to find each other again.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I can’t wait to read more from her in the future. If you are a fan of historical fiction then this book is a must read. It is one of the best books I’ve read and it’s a story I’ve continued thinking about long after I’ve finished reading.

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

About The Author:

Elisabeth Gifford grew up in a vicarage in the industrial Midlands. She studied French literature and world religions at Leeds University. She has a Diploma in Creative Writing from Oxford OUDCE and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway College. She is married with three children, and lives in Kingston upon Thames.

Book Synopsis:

A deadly venom. A looming rebellion. A vicious siege. And the clock is ticking.

For sorcerer Nate Garrett, the stakes have risen. If Asgard falls, he may lose much more than his home—he may lose the thing dearest to him. To stand a fighting chance against Avalon, he must be ready to go to war. But when his best friend and father are poisoned, Nate must race against the clock in a desperate quest to find a cure.

Layla Cassidy is tasked with gaining the aid of the Valkyrie in Valhalla, but once there, she finds herself involved in another rebellion and must pick a side.

Meanwhile, Mordred finds himself on a hunt for Excalibur, a weapon of incredible power that would aid the rebellion in their fight against Arthur and his allies. But to retrieve it, Mordred must face uncomfortable truths about himself.

War looms over the rebellion, and the battle for Asgard is at hand. Time is running out as Avalon’s forces threaten total destruction. But Nate can’t be in two places at once. Can he find the cure, and can he, Layla, and Mordred save the realms before it’s too late?

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

Extract:

Prologue

Nate Garrett

December 1916
Saint Petersburg

For someone who could use fire magic to keep warm, I was still bloody freezing.
I’d been sitting on the frozen ground under a large tree for the better part of an hour. I was wrapped up warmly in a big dark-brown coat and thick trousers and carried several books that helped keep the cold out, but I still didn’t want to be here. While my fire magic kept me warm, I couldn’t use too much of it for fear that someone would see, and I’d have to explain why steam was rising from all around me.
The Malaya Nevka River was a stone’s throw away, its icy top a crust on the frozen water beneath it. Any human who fell in would die in moments. Even a sorcerer like me would certainly remember the time without any fondness.
I sighed, ignoring the suspicious glance from the man who walked past me. It was early in the morning, and the only people out right now were those working and those up to something bad. I definitely looked like I belonged in the second camp.
Stretching, I walked toward the bank of the river, hoping I hadn’t been sent here for no reason.
Two decades ago, I’d left Avalon when it had become apparent to me that it was built on corruption and that even Merlin—a man I’d once considered a father figure—was capable of evil but had convinced himself he was doing the right thing. The murders he’d ordered committed in the name of keeping Arthur alive in his coma still haunted me.
I’d left Avalon and done very little else since. I’d just been beginning to figure out what I was meant to do next when Hades had offered me a job. Come to Saint Petersburg, help him with someone who wanted to escape Hera’s grasp, and maybe it would help me discover what I should do with my life. So far, it had only helped me realize that Russia was a mess. Economically, socially—everything was heading toward disaster. I’d been in Russia for a few months arranging everything, and the longer I’d spent in the company of workers and commoners, the angrier I’d seen them become.
The ice thirty feet back from the bank broke, and a gloved hand reached out to find purchase on the frozen surface. A second later, the hand vanished back beneath, then remerged ten feet farther toward me as it smashed through again. This time a second hand appeared, grabbing hold of part of the fractured ice, but the hands slipped and fell back into the dark water.
“Just swim to the bank,” I said, probably slightly louder than needed.
Either he heard my instruction or he decided the bank was the best idea anyway, as less than a minute later the cold, wet man dragged himself out of the water and onto the mud. He was taller than my own five nine by a few inches but slighter in frame than I was—gaunt, almost. His looming presence was frankly . . . disconcerting.
I walked down to him, helped him to his feet, and practically dragged him up the bank before dropping him on the grass behind a stone wall.
“What if they see me?” he asked in Russian, his voice trembling from the cold.
“They think you’re dead,” I told him, speaking his own language. “At least, I hope they do.”
“They poisoned, beat, stabbed, and shot me, before throwing me into a frozen river,” he said. “I very nearly was dead.”
“Well, if they don’t think it now, they never will,” I told him. “Why didn’t you just pretend to die after the poisoning?”
“Didn’t realize I was poisoned until it was too late; by that point they’d stabbed me. I pretended to die then, but apparently they needed to shoot me first. Have you ever been shot? It hurts like the fires of hell.”
“Yes, I’ve been shot,” I said. “Now, to the world, Rasputin is dead, and in his place is… actually, I have no idea. Call yourself Fred if you want.”
“I will call myself whatever you wish so long as you take me from Hera’s grasp.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“How are we leaving?”
“We have a carriage to take us to Finland, where we’ll be getting on a boat to England, where we’ll be changing to another boat to America. Once in New York, we’ll . . . well, I’ll explain that later.”
I took Rasputin to the nearby carriage, where its driver nodded a greeting.
“Any trouble?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “Clothes are inside.”
“Get changed,” I told Rasputin. “You’re wearing fine clothing, and despite them being saturated and covered in mud, it’s a bad idea for where we’re going.”
Rasputin nodded and removed his coat, revealing the orange glyphs lit up over his arms. Fire magic keeping him warm and dry: it was why he hadn’t died in the river. Being a sorcerer certainly had its advantages, although Rasputin was quite low on the power levels when it came to our kind. He was manipulative, cunning, and shrewd but not powerful. He used fire and air magic, like me, although I’d gone to great pains to explain to him that should he cross me, I would kill him.
I climbed in the carriage just as Rasputin was pulling on a shirt, showing the scar on his stomach where a silver knife had been used to try to kill him a few years earlier.
“Hera sent you here to steer the czar and his family toward actions that benefited her,” I said as the carriage set off. “Like keeping Europe from descending into war.”
Rasputin nodded. “Didn’t work out so well. The war is a mistake. I actually agree with Hera on that.”
“Me too,” I said. “It’s a waste of time, money, resources, and, more importantly, people. Lives thrown away because of pettiness and politics. But once the war started, Hera changed her position, using you to get information about the Russians’ military plans. She saw an opportunity and didn’t care how many lives were sacrificed to benefit her.”
“I know what I’ve done,” Rasputin snapped. “Hera craves power over all else. She might not have wanted the war initially, but once it happened, she was happy to use it to her own ends. She constantly switches sides, playing them off one another, to ensure that whoever wins, she’s on their side. I cannot work for her any longer.”
“Hera has started rumors that you and the czar are members of a pro-German group. That you’re encouraging the czar to make a separate peace treaty with Europe. A lot of people want your head.”
“As I discovered,” Rasputin said. “Thank you for arranging my death, by the way.”
“It took me a couple of weeks to put the idea in a few heads that your death would be better for Russia,” I said. “Funny, they didn’t take much convincing. They really don’t like you! I may have suggested some suitable methods; ensuring you were disposed of in the right manner was important. Last thing we’d want is them cutting your head off or using silver.” Decapitation could kill us, just as it would any human, and silver hurt like hell.
“Well, I’m glad you helped.”
“Rasputin, the drunken debaucher who influenced a czar and his wife,” I said with a smile. “Hera has clearly finished her use of you. You made a good decision to seek Hades’s aid.”
“Hera is a monster,” he said. “She lies and betrays everyone. There’s no one she wouldn’t sacrifice should it aid her. Her own family is terrified of her.”
“I’ve met her on several occasions,” I said. “Never been someone I liked. Why work for her all these years if that’s how you felt?”
“Being on Hera’s list of enemies is a good way to seek an early grave. Once you’re in her grasp, getting out is not as easy as walking away.”
Rasputin coughed and spat out the open window, closing it afterward. “What happens once we’ve reached our destination?”
“You will tell your interviewers everything. And I do mean everything. Hera’s plans, plots, schemes, why she wants the czars to fall. You’ll leave nothing out, and in return you will be rehomed somewhere safe with a new identity. You will never refer to yourself as Rasputin again; you will learn a language that isn’t Russian. I don’t care which one. You will always need to look over your shoulder, because if Hera should discover you didn’t die . . .”
Rasputin sighed and nodded. We both knew what Hera was capable of.
We were in the carriage for over an hour before we stopped unexpectedly, and voices could be heard from outside. There was a bang on the carriage roof. “Stay here,” I told Rasputin before opening the door and stepping outside, wrapping my long dark coat around me as I crunched through the fresh snow to the front of the carriage. I looked up at the driver and nodded that it was okay.
“Gentlemen,” I said, paying attention to the three men for the first time. “How can we help you on this cold night?”
The three men were all slightly taller than me, and all wore thick coats that had seen better days. One held a wooden club, one a rusty sword, and the final one a scythe. Although two of them, from their clothing, appeared to be farmers, one of them wore an old military uniform. Things could go very badly, very quickly.
“We want all of your valuables, and whoever is in the carriage can cough up as well,” the man in the uniform shouted. “Now, or we start hurting people.”
He was obviously the leader, which made sense considering he’d had the training to fight. He looked more assured of himself, while the other two appeared outright terrified.
I reached into the large pocket inside my coat and grabbed the smallest of three leather money pouches, throwing it to the man who was closest to me, completely shutting out the leader. The expression on his face told me that he knew what I’d done. No matter what else happened, he would not let that lie.
“There’s enough in here for six months’ wages,” the man closest to me said, the awe in his voice easy to hear.
“All silver,” I assured them, turning to the leader. “I assume a good soldier like yourself knows of somewhere to exchange it?”
The two farmers looked at their leader in horror.
“He knows you deserted,” the man in the middle of the three said to the leader.
“I don’t care if you deserted,” I said. “Look, I’m in a hurry, and I need to leave. It’s a matter of life and death. Please take your money, go home, and feed your families.”
“We should,” the man with the money pouch said.
The leader took a step toward me, pointing his dagger at me the whole time. “I think I’m going to take that nice coat and those nice boots, and then I’m going to kill you.”
“We don’t need to do that,” the middle man pleaded with him. “We have money for food. That’s all we need.”
“I need something more,” the leader said. “I need to show this rich asshole that he can’t spend his whole life looking down on us, letting us die for his kind.”
“I’m not who you think I am,” I said. “And I’m sorry for your loss, but you don’t want to do this.”
The leader took two steps toward me before I sidestepped him, grabbed him by the wrist with one hand, swept out his legs, and threw him into the snow. I picked up the dagger and threw it into the trees at the side of the road.
I looked over at the two remaining men. “Either of you try, I’ll kill you,” I said. “Go home.”
The leader roared, thrusting himself up from the ground and charging at me, but he met my elbow with his jaw and got a fist to his stomach, which sent him back to the ground. I placed a dagger of fire against his throat.
“As I said, I do not have time for this,” I said. The two other men ran off into the woods as the leader’s eyes opened wide with shock and fear.
“I tried to be nice, I tried to just get you to go, but you want something I can’t give you. And if you try again, I will kill you.” I moved back to the coach and opened the door. We were on our way a moment later.
“Why didn’t you just use magic?” Rasputin asked. “Why not kill them?”
“Because they were desperate men who have been pushed to a breaking point by poverty. The leader wanted some kind of retribution for what he’d been through, and besides, I get the feeling this place is going to see a lot more death in the future.”
“Not just here if we don’t stop Hera,” Rasputin said, smoothing his beard. “She will unleash War on this world if she isn’t stopped.”
“Other than the war in Europe?” I asked.
Rasputin shook his head and looked about to say something but sighed instead. “No, my friend,” he said after several seconds. “Her War is something else entirely. It’s to be feared like nothing you’ve ever seen.”

About The Author:

Steve McHugh is the author of the bestselling Hellequin and Avalon Chronicles. He lives in Southampton, on the south coast of England, with his wife and three young daughters. When not writing or spending time with his kids, he enjoys watching movies, reading books and comics, and playing video games.

Book Synopsis:

THE DEEP STATE – noun
A covert state hidden within a government;
a secret organisation of high-level operatives;  
exerts control through manipulation and a culture of pain and fear.
It is entrenched.
It is hidden.
It is deadly.  

Who can you trust?

***
The White House Chief of Staff is dead, discovered collapsed in his home. Paramedics say it was a heart attack, but something’s not right – and only his intern, Hayley Chill, can see it. 

After her fears are dismissed by police, Hayley uncovers an organisation buried in the furthest reaches of government. Now she has no way of knowing who she can trust. 

Then things get really dangerous.

There is a plot to assassinate the president, one they are ruthless about hiding. They know that someone is on to them, and soon they will know that it’s her. So Hayley must work like the Deep State:
Infiltrate.
Trust no one.
Kill – or be killed.

For anyone that binged on The Bodyguard and Designated Survivor, who wants to read a thriller with a twist they won’t see coming – fans of James Swallow, Terry Hayes, Gregg Hurwitz and Rob Sinclair will love this.

Deep State is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

Deep State is definitely one of the most addictive thrillers I’ve read in ages and, unusually, a book I’d like to see turned into a movie!

The plot is brilliant and very well developed with the reader being lead in different directions with the many clever twists. I really enjoyed being fooled by the author and that I didn’t manage to work things out until the end. It is written in a slightly unusual way which took me a little while to get used to but once I had I soon relaxed into the story.

There are some great strong characters which were great fun to follow throughout the book. I liked that they all had flaws which made them seem a lot more realistic. It was especially interesting for me to be able to read the story from both sexes point of view as it was interesting to see how the experiences differ.

This was an intense, gripping read which was very difficult to put down as there was always something happening to keep me engrossed in the story. I found it fascinating to learn more about the West Wing and how it worked too.

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

About The Author:

Chris Hauty is a screenwriter who has worked at all the major movie studios, in nearly every genre of film. He currently lives in Venice, California, in the company of a classic Triumph motorcycle and a feral cat. Deep State is his first novel.

Book Synopsis:

Night after night, cars are set alight across the German city of Hamburg, with no obvious pattern, no explanation and no suspect.

Until, one night, on Mexico Street, a ghetto of high-rise blocks in the north of the city, a Fiat is torched. Only this car isn’t empty. The body of Nouri Saroukhan – prodigal son of the Bremen clan – is soon discovered, and the case becomes a homicide.

Public prosecutor Chastity Riley is handed the investigation, which takes her deep into a criminal underground that snakes beneath the whole of Germany. And as details of Nouri’s background, including an illicit relationship with the mysterious Aliza, emerge, it becomes clear that these are not random attacks, and there are more on the cards…

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

My Review:

Ooh I’m such a huge fan of this fantastic series so I was very excited to read the next instalment and to spend some more time with the fabulous Chastity, who has to be one of my all time favourite lead characters.

This was another mad case for Chastity to solve and it was hugely enjoyable going on the journey with her. The story involving the immigrant families was very sad and quite heartbreaking at times but I found it interesting to see things from their point of view for a change. The author cleverly weaved some of Chastity’s personal life into the story too so the reader gets to learn more about her.

I loved the way this story was written with the author’s unique way of writing making for a beautiful read at times. Chastity’s dry humour and the banter between her colleagues helps give some light relief to this otherwise dark story. I can’t wait to read more now!

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

About The Author:

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as the second Place of the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.
Follow Simone on Twitter @ohneKlippo and visit her website: simonebuchholz.com

About The Translator:

Rachel Ward is a freelance translator of literary and creative texts from German and French to English. Having always been an avid reader and enjoyed word games and puzzles, she discovered a flair for languages at school and went on to study modern languages at the University of East Anglia. She spent the third year working as a language assistant at two grammar schools in Saaebrücken, Germany. During her final year, she realised that she wanted to put these skills and passions to use professionally and applied for UEA’s MA in Literary Translation, which she completed in 2002. Her published translations include Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang and Red Rage by Brigitte Blobel, and she is a Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting.
Follow Rachel on Twitter @FwdTranslations, on her blog http://www.adiscounttickettoeverywhere.wordpress.com and on her website http://www.forwardtranslations.co.uk