"The Last Eagle", by Richard Turner

“The Last Eagle” kicks off right from the start and the action never stops, this novel is a real page-turner, an excellent adventure that takes us back to the late 1920 during the Bolshevik Revolution.

The story is fast paced and exciting. I really enjoyed every moment it is such a hard book to put down. Early on we are introduced to Captain Christopher Sheppard, an experienced soldiers and your classic hero. With Harry Campbell, his trusty aid and chauffeur, they soon find themselves in a lethal cat and mouse game facing enemy agents and deadly adversary as they cross Europe, Russia and Mongolia to rescue a descendant of the tsarists dynasty.

I loved this book but it needs some improvement, what is annoying is a story that flips from one character to another simply with a new paragraph, a bit confusing at times. Minor repetitive words in the same sentence should be illuminated. With a few tweaks here and there this would be an awesome story. Apart from these minor points, the novel is smooth to read and the story is captivating from start to finish.

Having said my pet peeves, now I will provide more good points: no doubts this is a gripping story with fight scenes that are very visual and seem quite realistic. We find a whole raft of well- developed characters including nasty opponents and charismatics good guys and of course at the heart of this drama are two damsels in distress.

“The Last Eagle” is a good novel that focuses on the plotting and is action driven. Without any doubts this is my kind of novel.

"The Surfacing", by Cormac James

“The Surfacing” is a psychological novel about how a group of European sailors looking for Franklin’s expedition lived together after getting lost in the Arctic. They set sail in 1850.

This story is austere to read and I struggled to keep focus all through this drama. It begins with the ship, Impetus, leaving Greenland and navigating north till it gets stuck in pack ice where it remains for the rest of the story. Each chapter is dated and tells the day to day life aboard the ship during the two years the Impetus was trapped in winter’s grip. What gives this story an edge of expectation is when Morgan, the second in command realizes that on-board there is a pregnant stowaway disrupting their male world and that he is the father. The sharp prose is very poetic and is fabulously detailed, both in its historical research as well as how it depicts the harsh landscape. How many nuances can one give to ice and snow without being repetitive? Although this grim multi-layered subject moves in slow motion it nevertheless excels in fictionalizing the hope, hardship and heroism of the men.

In a few words “The Surfacing” was too tedious for my enjoyment, too obscure to have kept me captivating from the first page and like the high Arctic left me cold by the time I reached the ending. This novel was by far not my preferred book this year but again this is only the way I see it. You may have a totally different opinion.

"Leaving Berlin", by Joseph Kanon

For those who love spy thrillers stage in the aftermath of WW11 “Leaving Berlin” brings us to 1949 the year of Berlin Airlift, after the roads and railways were closed and the city was partitioned into sectors. You needed to cross checkpoints to travel between East and West Berlin and this if you were permitted to do so.

Alex Meier is the main player, a novelist and refugee who has returned to Berlin after being expelled from the USA. The communists greet him with open arms but soon the CIA will offer him a deal he could not refuse…..Alex becomes a pawn in a chess game…..

This plot left me hot and cold, the first part I really didn’t know where it was going I found it babbled for long period and the dillydally around became an irritant. Was the plotting to intricate or simply too confusing for me I cannot confirm or deny this. I had a hard time getting through half the book and I almost gave up how much this plot was dragging along. The second half was better crafted with some old fashioned plot twists, some great setup and chocked with historical details. The author has mixed fiction and facts seamlessly and finally gave his story a note that rang true and basically made it believable to a degree. This book is also heavily populated with a toxic mix of interests: good guys and bad guys take your pick but it is a challenge to know which is which….The writing style is unusual and the dialogue is particularly staccato, it takes time to get used to both and by then I had happily reached the conclusion…..

Not my preferred spy thriller but not to say it is a bad one and this by far, in fact many readers have enjoyed it immensely. This book is simply not my cup of tea but it may be yours