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ATDrake · 04-26-2017, 02:58 PM

Bargain @ $2.99 from HarperCollins' William Morrow imprint in Canada and presumably also the US (linkage goes to Kobo, should be matched at all the usual stores):

The Darkest Hour by British author Tony Schumacher (ISFDB, Wikipedia), 1st in a series of mystery/suspense/espionage thrillers set in an alternate history where the Nazis were successful in their invasion of Britain, and as of 1946 a British detective has to work with the SS, similar to Len Deighton's excellent and recommended SS-GB, which is also incidentally still on sale for $1.99 as part of Kobo's Killer Crime Club promotion on mystery/thrillers mostly from the Big 5 publishers at $4.99 or under, which incidentally ends today (so perhaps the prices will be going up shortly afterwards).

I really liked SS-GB, so while this is a little pricier than I normally like to spend on a totally unknown-to-me newbie author who's not already wishlisted to try (and not from a small specialty press where I'm willing to go a bit higher to support their endeavours) and doesn't have any award noms or previously-established rep, it's down from $12 CAD and Wikipedia says the series (now up to book #3) was generally well-received. So hopefully it works out, and will be interesting to compare to other such WWII alternate history mystery/thrillers such as Robert Harris' Fatherland and Jo Walton's Small Change trilogy.

A crackling, highly imaginative thriller debut in the vein of W.E.B. Griffin and Philip Kerr, set in German-occupied London at the close of World War II, in which a hardened British detective jeopardizes his own life to save an innocent soul and achieve the impossible—redemption.

London, 1946. The Nazis have conquered the British, and now occupy Great Britain, using brutality and fear to control its citizens. John Henry Rossett, a decorated British war hero and former police sergeant, has been reassigned to the Office of Jewish Affairs. He now answers to the SS, one of the most powerful and terrifying organizations in the Third Reich.

Rossett is a man accustomed to obeying commands, but he’s now assigned a job he did not ask for—and cannot refuse: rounding up Jews for deportation, including men and women he’s known his whole life. But they are not the only victims, for the war took Rossett’s wife and son, and shattered his own humanity.

Then he finds Jacob, a young Jewish child, hiding in an abandoned building, who touches something in Rossett that he thought was long dead.

Determined to save the innocent boy, Rossett takes him on the run, with the Nazis in pursuit. But they are not the only hunters following his trail. The Royalist Resistance and the Communists want him, too. Each faction has its own agenda, and Rossett will soon learn that none of them can be trusted . . . and all of them are deadly.

04-26-2017, 02:58 PM	#552
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Bargain @ $2.99 from HarperCollins' William Morrow imprint in Canada and presumably also the US (linkage goes to Kobo, should be matched at all the usual stores): The Darkest Hour by British author Tony Schumacher (ISFDB, Wikipedia), 1st in a series of mystery/suspense/espionage thrillers set in an alternate history where the Nazis were successful in their invasion of Britain, and as of 1946 a British detective has to work with the SS, similar to Len Deighton's excellent and recommended SS-GB, which is also incidentally still on sale for $1.99 as part of Kobo's Killer Crime Club promotion on mystery/thrillers mostly from the Big 5 publishers at $4.99 or under, which incidentally ends today (so perhaps the prices will be going up shortly afterwards). I really liked SS-GB, so while this is a little pricier than I normally like to spend on a totally unknown-to-me newbie author who's not already wishlisted to try (and not from a small specialty press where I'm willing to go a bit higher to support their endeavours) and doesn't have any award noms or previously-established rep, it's down from $12 CAD and Wikipedia says the series (now up to book #3) was generally well-received. So hopefully it works out, and will be interesting to compare to other such WWII alternate history mystery/thrillers such as Robert Harris' Fatherland and Jo Walton's Small Change trilogy. A crackling, highly imaginative thriller debut in the vein of W.E.B. Griffin and Philip Kerr, set in German-occupied London at the close of World War II, in which a hardened British detective jeopardizes his own life to save an innocent soul and achieve the impossible—redemption. London, 1946. The Nazis have conquered the British, and now occupy Great Britain, using brutality and fear to control its citizens. John Henry Rossett, a decorated British war hero and former police sergeant, has been reassigned to the Office of Jewish Affairs. He now answers to the SS, one of the most powerful and terrifying organizations in the Third Reich. Rossett is a man accustomed to obeying commands, but he’s now assigned a job he did not ask for—and cannot refuse: rounding up Jews for deportation, including men and women he’s known his whole life. But they are not the only victims, for the war took Rossett’s wife and son, and shattered his own humanity. Then he finds Jacob, a young Jewish child, hiding in an abandoned building, who touches something in Rossett that he thought was long dead. Determined to save the innocent boy, Rossett takes him on the run, with the Nazis in pursuit. But they are not the only hunters following his trail. The Royalist Resistance and the Communists want him, too. Each faction has its own agenda, and Rossett will soon learn that none of them can be trusted . . . and all of them are deadly. Last edited by ATDrake; 04-26-2017 at 03:15 PM. Reason: Add ISFDB linkage, since of course they keep track of these things.