Today is our stop on the Ransom PR blog tour for The Blood of Others by Graham Hurley.
It is 1942 and war is raging in Europe.
George Hogan, a young Canadian reporter and protégé of Lord Beaverbrook, finds
himself posted from his home in Canada to work for the Express newspaper in blitz-stricken
London. His remit is to cover the progress of the 6,000-strong Canadian force
sent over to aid the British Army. It was an article on this very regiment, the
Royals, which first brought him to the attention of Beaverbrook.
In Berlin and Paris, Abwehr intelligence
officer Wilhelm Schulz is instigating counter-intelligence fed to the British
by fair means or foul, as are members of the French meritocracy against the
Germans, involving Odile, who just happens to be Schulz`s mistress.
In London, Lord Mountbatten heads up Combined
Operations. This secret unit is designed to distract and harry the Germans
across the Channel by initiating attacks on French ports. His assistant, Annie
Wren, is also heavily involved (as is Mountbatten) in Noel Coward`s film about
the sinking of HMS Kelly. Hogan and Annie fall in love.
The latest foray organised by Combined Ops
will be the attempted landings at Dieppe, named Operation Jubilee - an unmitigated disaster which sees Hogan
witness first-hand the destruction of his fellow-countrymen.
Graham Hurley has drawn an intricate web of
intrigue, outrageous planning, cruelty and cunning surrounding the Dieppe raid
and others before it. He demonstrates the impressive and shocking lengths that
information and misinformation are used to manipulate others in times of war as
well as the grisly outcomes for those who survive and those who are lost. A
great read!
5 stars.
Thank you to Ransom PR for including us on the tour.
