Tag: thrillers

A mission like no other, will test the team to the limit ⚠️

Dr Max Hunter, Special Agent Amy Fox and the rest of the HARPA Team are on the most important mission of their lives to rescue their teammate Quinn Mosley, HARPA Director Jim Gates and his wife Susanna, Hunter’s UNESCO manager Professor Juliette Bonnaire who have all been kidnapped by a mysterious organisation claiming to be the Illuminati.
The group’s leader, Oriax, says he will trade their friends’ lives for the Sword of the Archangel Michael and gives them a 24 hour deadline to meet his demands. 🗡️

In a race against time, from Europe to Moscow and beyond, Hunter leads his small team on a high-speed rollercoaster ride, attempting to track down Oriax before the deadline expires and rescue
Quinn and the others as well as keeping the ancient sword out of Oriax’s depraved hands, but will they succeed in this most lethal of challenges?

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Rob Jones has published over forty books in the genres of action-adventure, action-thriller and crime. Many of his chart-topping titles have enjoyed number-one rankings and his Joe Hawke and Jed Mason series have been international bestsellers. Originally from England, today he lives in Australia
with his wife and children.

Facebook: @RobJonesNovels
Twitter: @AuthorRobJones
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My thoughts: Dr Alex Hunter and his team have found a legendary sword, thought to have belonged to St Michael, the Archangel Michael (aka the flaming sword from Genesis) and maybe even King Arthur (Excalibur) in Cornwall. But their friends and colleagues have been abducted by a sinister organisation that wants the sword – believing it will grant whoever wields it incredible powers.

Not exactly wanting to hand it over, but keen to rescue their friends, the team agree to meet the mysterious Oriax aboard his never-stopping train across Russia. They pick up a few new friends along the way, ones who also want to safeguard the sword, and aim to rescue their friends without having to sacrifice their pawn.

It’s a high-speed race across Europe, with only 24 hours to locate Oriax and save their friends, the team must do their utmost to stay alive and carry out this mission or they risk losing those they care about.

Fast-paced, gripping and full of twists and risks, this is another action-packed thriller from Rob Jones, and another chapter in The Hunter Files. 

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

A bundle of old, what appear to be recollections and witness statements, are discovered in an attic by a son following the death of his father.

They tell the tale of three teenage school friends who are involved in a prank that almost costs the life of one of them. Whilst they all follow different and diverse career paths, the incident creates a lifelong bond of trust.

Some two decades later, that trust is put to the test when Gordon Shawcross helps another and in doing so, puts himself under suspicion of treason. Gordon’s ordinary life touches, for a brief moment, extraordinary heights.

Set in the dying embers of the Cold War, A Life Quite Ordinary tracks the mundane life of Gordon, who is catapulted into the challenging threats of the late 1980s with the Cold War, AIDS and homosexual rights in the armed forces. The novel covers the East-West interface of the British Commanders-in-Chief’s Mission to the Soviet Forces BRIXMIS, mixed with
burlesque cabaret and church architecture.

A Life Quite Ordinary is a fact-based novel that deals with serious matters in a gripping but plausible manner.

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Bryan Campbell Johnston was raised and schooled in North Yorkshire and returned with his wife, Wendy, to live in Richmondshire in 2020. Bryan has three children, two step-children and he and Wendy have two grandchildren.
Between leaving North Yorkshire and returning, Bryan had both a military and legal career.

His military career started at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and ended as a Major commanding an infantry company during Gulf War I. In-between he served in Germany and Northern Ireland and other outposts around the shrinking globe.

His legal career started at The University of Westminster and the School of Law and ended as a Solicitor and Managing Partner of a law firm.

In-between Bryan was involved in the arts as a Director and Trustee of a regional theatre for six years. He has been, among other appointments, Chair of a charity and Chair of a Chamber of Commerce. Bryan is a trained Mediator.

Bryan wrote articles for a business magazine for several years; he had a play performed at Brentwood Theatre and his adaptation of Northanger Abbey was performed in over 31 locations by a professional touring troupe.

Bryan’s hobbies include writing, theatre, horse racing, sailing, golf, trekking and skiing.

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My thoughts: I wasn’t sure what to make of this at first, there are multiple narrative view points that build up the story of three old school friends and a brush with the world of espionage in the age of the Cold War. It was really interesting and clever, and I was hooked. I liked the little facts between each section too.

Gordon Shawcross saves the life of a school friend at a party, and years later that same friend – known as Jaffa, comes to ask a favour. It seems quite innocent but ends with Shawcross being threatened with arrest for treason.

His friends Geordie and Jaffa contribute their narratives, along with a few others, to explain how Gordon ended up in that situation. It’s a story of mistaken identities, people trying to do the right thing, a little paranoia and the bonds of friendship.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

A defector on the run. A faceless assassin. Breed’s toughest mission.

When CIA operator Anya Stein offers Breed a job in Vienna, he arrives just in time to save her from Russian assassins led by a deadly blonde in dark sunglasses.
Stein explains the mission: protect defecting rocket scientist Dieter Kromik, who holds the secret to Russia’s devastating Oreshnik missile – a conventional weapon that delivers a
nuclear-sized punch.

The Russians already have elite teams on the ground – and they’ll do whatever it takes to find and kill Kromik. Spetsnaz teams and the enigmatic assassin Strelko hunt them through the streets of Vienna and escape seems impossible. Their only hope lies with the Magnificent Strang, an ageing Cold War-era magician who once smuggled fugitives across the Iron  Curtain.

With his beautiful granddaughter Liesl, Strang guides the group on a deadly journey from  Vienna to Prague to Berlin. Outnumbered and outgunned at every turn, Breed fights a running battle across Europe as the body count rises.

The bloody finale awaits in a smoky Berlin nightclub, where Breed and Stein must use every one of their lethal skills – and a few of Strang’s illusions – to survive against impossible odds.

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Cameron Curtis has spent thirty years on trade floors as a trader and risk manager. He was on the trade floor when Saddam’s tanks rolled into Kuwait, when the air wars opened over Baghdad and Belgrade, and when the financial crisis swallowed the world. Having written fiction as a child, he is the author of the Breed action thriller series.

My thoughts: For Breed, it seems the Cold War never really ended. He’s still facing the same foes – Russians with bad attitudes towards international relations. He’s assisting in transporting a scientist across Europe for Stein and the CIA. Unfortunately, that isn’t a popular decision for regular nemesis Orlov, who once again faces Breed, gun in hand.

As they attempt to escape their pursuers, Stein and Breed enlist an old friend of Stein’s grandfather, the illusionist The Magnificent Strang, who once smuggled defectors across the Iron Curtain. Can he do the same for them and get them safely from Prague to Berlin, where the plane awaits?

Fast-paced and with a rather large and messy body count across three countries, Breed is rapidly running out of places he’s welcome, and Stein has some colleagues who aren’t very helpful at all. Relying on essentially the kindness of strangers rather than fellow agents, she has no real choice either. There’s a little bit of time for sightseeing, which considering they’re on the run, is quite funny. But Breed enjoys seeing the world in between gunfights.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

Crystal-clear waters. Cold-blooded murder. Deep blue lies. When Ava Whitaker is kicked out of medical school – and dumped by her boyfriend – her life falls apart. But the real problem isn’t her future. It’s in her past. She was born on the Greek island of Alythos, where her mother once mixed cocktails at the luxurious Aegean Dream Resort. Yet her mother has never spoken about that time, never explained why she left so suddenly, and never answered the one question that’s haunted Ava her entire life: Who was her father?

Desperate for answers, Ava travels to Alythos to discover the truth. But what begins as a search for her identity quickly turns into something far more sinister. The island’s aquamarine waters hide tragic secrets. The locals’ smiles don’t reach their eyes. And the abandoned resort, with its cracked pool and vine-strangled terraces, feels like a tomb.

Because something happened here twenty years ago. Something the locals have spent decades trying to forget. And something somebody will do anything to keep buried…

My thoughts: Dear Parents, please tell your children the truth about their parentage if there are any questions e.g. who’s their father or if they’re adopted. Otherwise, like Ava, they might go digging and find things out you’d rather they didn’t.

Ava knows that her dad is Greek and that she was conceived when her mum was working at a holiday resort on the island of Alythos. But her mum won’t tell her anything else, like her dad’s name or why they up and left Greece so quickly.

So, having been forced to drop out of medical school, Ava’s off to Greece, armed with a photo of her mum, a few facts and a whole lot of supposition.

But as she learns about what happened at the resort twenty-three years ago, the questions mount up. Is she the baby left alive after the murder/suicide of the resort’s manager and his girlfriend? How does her mum fit in to that story? As Imogen (her mum’s friend) and her mum also head out to Greece, will Ava finally get some answers and will what she learns give her the peace she needs?

Full of shocking revelations and twists, this is one summer of discovery no one is coming away from unchanged.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

In the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel, Mossad’s London station chief Eli Amiram is fighting battles on all fronts. When his ambitious rival plans an assassination on British soil – supposedly authorized by Trump supporters – Eli suspects a deeper conspiracy.

Meanwhile, British intelligence asset Petra is hunting for redemption. Tasked with recruiting Wasim Al-Arikhi – whose sister she failed to save from becoming a suicide bomber – Petra’s drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Can Wasim be trusted or has she become a target?

As Eli and Petra’s paths converge, they discover that in the shadow world of international espionage, the greatest threats often come from within. They must confront not just their enemies, but their own moral choices.

A sophisticated spy thriller that weaves together tradecraft, betrayal and the human cost of intelligence work.

Merle Nygate is a screenwriter, screenwriting lecturer and novelist. Her career has taken her from working on BAFTA winning TV to New York Festival audio drama to writing original sitcoms. She previously worked for BBC Comedy Commissioning. She has been a writer and script editor across multiple genres. Her first espionage novel won the Little Brown/UEA Crime Fiction award. Her second was a Sunday Times Thriller of 2024.

My thoughts: A very timely read, concerning itself with the immediate aftermath of the October 7th attack in Israel and the Mossad agents stationed in the UK.

Eli is an interesting figure – he’s worried about the temporary head of the Washington office, who is all gungho for an assassination to take place on British soil, but his information is a bit suspect and Eli needs to prove it’s a bad call.

He’s also attempting to recruit a student – Wasim who he thinks might be a good source of information. But after being rebuffed he sends in Petra, who knew Wasim’s sister. Unfortunately Wasim has to come to the attention of a rather troubling individual and now Petra has to resolve things.

There’s a bit of sneaking around in the countryside, meetings in coffee shops and restaurants with spies from other countries – and their own side, and personal problems for Eli and his number two.

It was a really interesting read, and managed not to be too weighted or lecturing. Even the Mossad agents are at a loss as to how to react to the events unfolding in their home country, they just have to try to focus on their jobs. It was a clever, intelligent thriller and the characters are engaging and realistic.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

In a waiting room hidden high away from everyone, six disgraced celebrities are desperate to recover their heavily tainted reputations. An incredibly controversial new gameshow is offering them a route back to the big time, along with a $7.2 million cash prize. But with no consolation
prizes and serious consequences every time someone loses out, will signing up prove their salvation or their downfall?

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Half-Mexican, half-Welsh and growing up in London, Alex Raphael was surrounded by different influences and interests. But it was always books that spoke to him most and had the greatest impact.

He started writing when at college, where his love of reading evolved into a desire to write, in particular focusing on poetry and short stories. Studying English and American Literature at university meant he took a break from writing, as well as giving him the chance to see more of
Mexico on his travels. He concentrated on his journalistic career while working on different writing projects, but his favourite genre of literature has always been short stories as they are what first inspired him to write.

That’s why his first book was The Summer of Madness, a romantic short story that tells of a guy who goes out to try to win his ex-girlfriend back. Will you be rooting for Kurt and his big public gesture or is it more complicated than that and you don’t want her to date him again? Either way you’ll get to know a memorable set of characters along for the ride.

His second book Illusions, Delusions reflects Raphael’s love of alternative short stories from the writers of his childhood and challenges the idea of the narrative. Will your favourite be the story in
the form of a questionnaire, a poem or a set of jokes, among the seven very different styles?

Alexander Raphael’s third book is Always Never, Rarely Sometimes, featuring original premises and distinctive characters with his trademark imagination, humour and memorable dialogue. Among others, meet a sinister magician with an array of pranks, a long-suffering husband finally becoming
more decisive and a group of young guys intrigued by a pretty woman at another table.

Alexander Raphael’s latest offering is The Gameshow, about six disgraced celebrities who are unaware of just how much trouble they are in, having signed up for the most provocative of television shows. His satirical debut novel is a look at the constant decision-making needed by stars
to remain popular and relevant, and just how desperate they can become when the wrong decisions are made.

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My thoughts: Six disgraced celebrities, including an American football player, a comedian and a singer, are offered the opportunity to reclaim their spotlight by going on a mysterious new gameshow.

With a spin of the wheel one of them will face their biggest fear – there can only be one winner, it’s all a game of chance and under constant camera surveillance, will one of them crack before they face their fears?

It gets controversial and the enigmatic producer, Selina, refuses to step down the game, pushing the contestants to their limits and amping up the tension.

Even the end of the game comes with a twist, one you won’t expect.

Clever and with a sinister undertone, this is one show you won’t want to miss.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.