Author:C.S. Forester
The Third Horatio Hornblower Tale of the Sea
April 1803, and the Peace of Amiens is failing as Horatio Hornblower takes a sloop on a vital reconnaissance mission . . .
On the day of his marriage to Maria, Hornblower is ordered to take the Hotspur and head for Brest - war is coming and Napoleon will not catch His Majesty's navy with its britches round its ankles. With thoughts of his new life as a husband intruding on his duties, Hornblower must prove himself to be not only the most capable commander in the fleet, but also its most daring if he is to stop the French gaining the upper hand.
This is the third of eleven books chronicling the adventures of C. S. Forester's inimitable nautical hero, Horatio Hornblower.
Featuring an exclusive introduction by Bernard Cornwell, creator of Sharpe
'A master of the genre' New York Times Book Review
I recommend Forester to every literate I know
—— Ernest HemingwayI find Hornblower admirable, vastly entertaining
—— Sir Winston ChurchillAn 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