First of all, I must apologise for the missing post on Monday. I was feeling really down in the dumps and couldn’t think of anything positive to write about. The good news is that I have read two books this week, so I can write about those today.

Hitler’s Secret by Rory Clements

Rory Clements’ Hitler’s Secret (Tom Wilde #04), was the first book of the week. I have already read the first three in the series, so was really looking forward to this one. Here is the blurb:

In the Autumn of 1941, the war is going badly for Britain and its allies. If the tide is going to be turned against Hitler, a new weapon is desperately needed.

In Cambridge, brilliant history professor Tom Wilde is asked by an American intelligence officer to help smuggle a mysterious package out of Nazi Germany – something so secret, even Hitler himself doesn’t know of its existence.

Posing as a German-American industrialist, Wilde soon discovers the shocking truth about the ‘package’, and why the Nazis will stop at nothing to prevent it leaving Germany. With ruthless killers loyal to Martin Bormann hunting him down, Wilde makes a desperate gamble on an unlikely escape route.
But even if he reaches England alive, that will not be the end of his ordeal. Wilde is now convinced that the truth he has discovered must remain hidden, even if it means betraying the country he loves . . .

I enjoyed the book, but not quite as much as the other three, as I wrote in my review on Goodreads:

Hitler’s Secret by Rory Clements
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the first three books in the series, but this one didn’t quite work as well for me. The others were set in England, just before the outbreak of WWII, and the characters and setting seemed to fit together very well. This fourth book, taking place in both wartime Germany and England, felt rather confusing and disjointed.

Don’t get me wrong, the book is still a good thriller with some very exciting and gripping moments. Many of the characters, however, felt like extreme stereotypes without nuance, especially the “baddies”.

I’m now wondering where this series will go next. Will it go full espionage/thriller and move more into a European setting? I am sure that I will continue to read more books, if they are forthcoming.

View all my reviews

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

The second book was entirely different. I’m not quite sure why I chose it – you will quickly realise my meaning as you read the blurb and review for Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay.

When it happens, it happens quickly.

New England is locked down, a strict curfew the only way to stem the wildfire spread of a rabies-like virus. The hospitals cannot cope with the infected, as the pathogen’s ferociously quick incubation period overwhelms the state. The veneer of civilisation is breaking down as people live in fear of everyone around them. Staying inside is the only way to keep safe.

But paediatrician Ramola Sherman can’t stay safe, when her friend Natalie calls her husband is dead, she’s eight months pregnant, and she’s been bitten. She is thrust into a desperate race to bring Natalie and her unborn child to a hospital, to try and save both their lives.

Their once familiar home has becoming a violent and strange place, twisted in to a barely recognisable landscape. What should have been a simple, joyous journey becomes a brutal trial.

This was such a quick read, for a variety of reasons, I finished the book really quickly. Here is the review on Goodreads:

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, this was an odd choice of book to read in the middle(?) of a pandemic, during shielding, when I have hardly left the house for months! I’m just glad that I’m too old to be pregnant!

When was this book actually written and published? Are we all living in a massive publicity stunt?

No, that’s too frivolous.

Anyway, this was a fast-moving and gripping read which kept its hold on me right until the very end. The journey of two women, one pregnant, the other a doctor and her friend, in the middle of a breakout of a rabies-like threat, was enthralling. The alternate points of view for each chapter gave different angles on the story and became emotional and heart breaking as the plot moved on.

When our real pandemic is over, I am sure that something like this will be made into a film or TV series. I don’t think I would watch it…

View all my reviews

Now, I can’t quite decide what I am going to read next, so I will finish writing this post then go and look through my ebooks…

Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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