Author:Patrick Robinson
International bestseller and multi-million copy selling author Patrick Robinsonhas penned a sharply-focussed submarine thriller with a plot that spans the globe and weaves acute political tension with engine-driven action. Perfect for fans of Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler and Frederick Forsyth...
'Mind-blowing' -- The Daily Mirror
'Robinson rules the waves... a page-burner of a techno-thriller that matches Clancy at his best' -- Northern Echo
'Gripping... a sure hit' -- Publishers Weekly
'An edge-of-your-seat terror ride. Patrick Robinson has tapped into our fear to create a spellbinding novel' -- Herald Express
'Robinson is in a league of his own.' -- ***** Reader review
'Excellent - very well written!' -- ***** Reader review
'Gripping' -- ***** Reader review
'Simply brilliant' -- ***** Reader review
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SLEEK. SILENT. DEADLY.
It's a mystery whenMajor Ray Kerman, a high-ranking SAS officer and renowned submariner, disappears one day amidst a blood bath on the streets of Hebron.
In the following months, a series of utterly devastating Hamas terrorist hits stuns the British and American governments. Plainly, a military genius is at work. Kerman, intelligence chiefs believe, has crossed over to the enemy's side.
When, in quick succession, the main US oil supply lines from Alaska are attacked and destroyed, without trace or clue, one of the Pentagon's worst nightmares may have come true. Has Kerman acquired a nuclear submarine, and navigated the killing machine through the treacherous straights of the northern Pacific, and on down the American West Coast? The Pentagon now stands helpless in the face of an enemy they cannot see, and cannot stop -- the mysterious Barracuda 945.
But Admiral Arnold Morgan, National Security Advisor to the President, and his intelligence specialist Jimmy Ramshawe, plan a massive US revenge.
If anyone can thwart this, they can...
Grips from start to finish . . . Munich captures the mood of the times: the suspicion and the fear, the political intrigue, the swagger of the Nazi machine and the widespread elation at the mistaken belief that war has been averted. Superb.
—— Simon Humphreys , Mail on SundayHarris’s cleverness, judgment and eye for detail are second to none . . . his research is so impeccable that he could have cut all the spy stuff and published Munich as a history book. Harris’s treatment of Britain’s most maligned prime minister is so powerful, so persuasive, that it ranks among the most moving fictional portraits of a politician that I have ever read
—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday TimesAn intelligent thriller . . . with exacting attention to historical detail
—— The Times, BOOKS OF THE YEARA gripping account of the negotiations between Britain and Germany in 1938 before the outbreak of war
—— GuardianAtmospheric and fast-paced literary thriller . . . [it] grips from start to finish . . . Superb
—— Mail on SundayUnputdownable to the point of being dangerous: the house could have been on fire while I was reading and I wouldn’t have noticed
—— Jake Kerridge , Sunday ExpressHarris makes the reader gasp at every turn, with a truly moving portrayal of Chamberlain as a man who did the wrong thing for the right reason
—— Daily Express, BOOKS OF THE YEARA brilliantly constructed spy novel set amid the politicking of Chamberlain’s last-ditch negotiations with Hitler
—— Ben East , ObserverA tantalising addition to the inexhaustible game of “what if”?
—— Anthony Quinn , GuardianA wonderful tale of personal relationships and political drama…This is a very, very good read
—— Vince Cable , Spectator, BOOKS OF THE YEARI enjoyed romping through Robert Harris’ Munich
—— Nick Curtis , Evening Standard, BOOKS OF THE YEARTaut and finely paced novel . . . superbly observed . . . it is hard not to break out in a cold sweat just reading it….The details of railway carriages, hotel rooms, 10 Downing Street and even the Fuhrerbau in Berlin are faultless . . . an utterly compelling and fantastically tense historical thriller by a writer at the very top of his game.
—— James Holland , Literary ReviewWhat distinguishes Munich is the subtlety with which it uses the formulaic elements of the genre to explore the ethics of information and functions of bureaucracy
—— New StatesmanFascinating . . . Seamlessly weaving his fictional tale into the real events of September 1938…Harris has once again shown himself to be a master storyteller
—— Nick Rennison , BBC History MagazineA novel of ideas and a gripping thriller… Harris is a marvellously compelling story-teller
—— ScotsmanWith moral subtlety as well as storytelling skill, Harris makes us regret the better past that never happened — while mournfully accepting the bitter one that did
—— Boyd Tonkin , Financial TimesA fantastically entertaining historical novel that you won’t want to put down until you finish . . . For me, this is a better novel than Fatherland, which posited the ‘what if Hitler was still Fuhrer in 1964?’ scenario. It is altogether more grounded and serious, but equally enjoyable
—— NudgeExerts a powerful grip
—— Jasper Reese , The Arts DeskIt’s hard to imagine how history can be told better
—— Sport NewspaperLovely details. Clever Twists. Superb.
—— Evening StandardThis novel is gripping from start to finish
—— Waitrose WeekendIn recent years there have been a number of very good novels by veterans of the Global War on Terror. None is as ambitious, inclusive or powerful as Brian Van Reet's Spoils; none has this novel's range or uncanny ability to transport the reader to the battlefield and those rarely explored margins at the battlefield's ragged edge. Spoils is a fantastic debut.
—— Aaron Gwyn, author of Wynne's WarVivid and fierce, Spoils is an eloquent exploration of humanity. Depicting a world with no obvious villains or heroes, this novel is as important as it is timely. By exploring the nuances of motivation, loyalty, and sacrifice, Van Reet exposes the connections that bind us across even the greatest divides.
—— Virginia ReevesThe brilliance of Brian Van Reet’s Spoils lies not only in the sheer forward-motion velocity of its plotting, but in the psychological terrain it explores: what a generation of young women and men went looking for in Iraq, what they found, and why that discovery matters so profoundly for the rest of us.
—— Anthony GiardinaIn Spoils, Van Reet has imbued his subject with subtlety — something that it is so often stripped of, both by combatants and the media. One rarely sees a war novel by a soldier with such convincing writing on both sides of the trenches.
—— Jonathan McAloon , Financial TimesThis is a great novel… Brian Van Reet [is] a special talent.
—— NudgeAn honest glimpse into the action, emotion and futility of war.
—— UK Press SyndicationThe action is realistic and relentless, the writing lean and muscular, the tale harrowing, and the horrors seemingly inevitable but no less powerful for that.
—— John Walshe , Hot PressIn dazzling and propulsive prose, Brian Van Reet explores the lives on both sides of the battle lines… Depicting a war spinning rapidly out of control, destined to become a modern classic, Spoils is an unsparing and morally complex novel that chronicles the achingly human cost of combat.
—— Victoria SadlerSpoils reeks of the fog and futility of war… It has its own blue-collar beauty as it tells its tale from three perspectives: a gay, female US soldier, an Egyptian jihadist and a US tank commander.
—— Donal O’Donoghue , RTE GuideBrian Van Reet has firsthand combat experience to draw upon for this powerful piece of fiction, rendering it an intensely humane story, giving credible authenticity to the plot, and scenes presented to the reader… Enlightening, thought provoking and hauntingly mesmerising, I cannot recommend Spoils highly enough to anyone interested in novels about war and conflict.
—— Sharon Mills , NudgeEvery page brims with brutal authenticity.
—— The Mail on SundaySpoils bears eye-widening witness to valour, horror, violence, cruelty and absurdity.
—— Marcel Theroux , Guardian