Free (Kindle/Kobo) Contraband by Dennis Wheatley [Vintage Proto-Bond Spy Thriller]

[ATDrake]

Contraband by the late Dennis Wheatley (SYKM, Wikipedia) is the 1st in his Gregory Sallust series of vintage international espionage thrillers with occasional supernatural elements which are apparently considered a precursor to the James Bond template of such, starring a British Intelligence officer, this installment an apparently non-supernatural one with intrigue centred around secret plane landings, free courtesy of publisher Bloomsbury, who are e-printing it from its original 1936 edition.

This is apparently being made free to promote Bloomsbury's reprints of the entire series as well as Wheatley's other books (some in money-saving omnibus editions), and comes with a new retrospective foreword from the author's grandson.

Currently free @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK), Kobo & Google Play (both available to Canadians). Price-drop-check linkage for B&N (also UK) & iTunes, where Bloomsbury freebies often also show up.

If it happens you like this one and would like to read more, it looks as though Bloomsbury is couponable @ Kobo (and eligible for the extra VIP discount and Super Points as well), and reasonably low-priced, with two novels in his Duke de Richleau occult adventurer thriller series (Wikipedia, also adapted into films) introductory-priced at just ¢99 each (though it does look like it would work out a lot cheaper to pick up the complete omnibuses with good couponage).

Description
Contraband is the first in Dennis Wheatley's bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming's James Bond.

Gregory Sallust is a British Intelligence agent; a self-reliant thrill seeker with a love of adventure and a weakness for women.

As Sallust enjoys a holiday in France before starting a new mission, he is intrigued by a beautiful woman in a casino.

Captivated by the elusive Sabine, he follows her to a rendezvous with a mystery airman at midnight. The next morning, Sallust finds himself under attack and, although he escapes danger, Sabine disappears.

Returning to England, Sallust discovers a ring of smugglers orchestrating the dispatch of heavy bombers with contraband goods. When he discovers that an inspector from Scotland Yard is also on the case, and that Sabine may be involved, his loyalties are torn.

In a thrilling start to the Gregory Sallust series, Contraband is a story of international intrigue where planes flit by night to secret landing grounds, and near-death experiences are masterfully stretched to nail-biting conclusions.