The sangfroid, bravado, and wit of these four British special operations officers working behind enemy lines in World War II and the Cold War was astounding, enlightening, and entertaining. Deeply researched, the book reveals guerrilla actions from the Spanish Civil War through operations to undermine the Axis powers to Vietnam and Laos.
“Well researched and riveting….The struggle of these four men against totalitarian injustice was noble, and this book memorializes it superbly.”—The Wall Street Journal
The untold story of four special operations officers who fought together behind enemy lines across multiple theaters of World War II, and then continued to serve, officially and unofficially, for decades after in the hottest parts of the Cold War
There have always been special warriors; Achilles and his Myrmidons are the obvious classical examples. What we now think of as “special operations,” however, were born in World War II, and one of the earliest and most…
An intense and gritty read, it provides convincing backstory of savagery in the Spanish Civil War and World War II, as revealed in the journals of Inspector Javier Facoln's father, a noted artist whose secret life little resembled his public persona.
Called to a gruesome crime scene, Inspector Javier Falcón is shocked and sickened by what he finds. Littered like flower petals on the victim's shirt are the man's own eyelids, evidence of a heinous crime with no obvious motive. When the investigation leads him to read his late father's journals, he discovers a disturbing and sordid past. Meanwhile, more victims are falling. While Falcón struggles to solve the case, he finds the missing section of his father's journal-and becomes the murderer's next intended victim. Combining suspenseful storytelling with a thoughtful exploration of the human psyche, The Blind Man of Seville…
Set in St. Petersburg in 1917, it paints a fascinating portrait of Russia of the verge of revolution and civil war, with the aristocrats in hedonistic denial. A page-turning mystery, it is the first I've read where the Tsarina makes an appearance. Nice work.
January 1917—With St. Petersburg on the brink of revolution, Sandro Ruzsky, the city’s chief police investigator, returns from exile in Siberia only to be assigned a grisly case: the bodies of a young couple found on the ice of the frozen River Neva, just outside the Tsar’s Winter Palace. Ruzsky’s investigation leads him dangerously close to the royal family and to the woman he loves, and he finds himself confronting both a ruthless killer and the ghosts of his past as he fights desperately to save all that he cares for.
With meticulous research and narrative skillTom Bradbybrilliantly re-creates the…
Exiled to the city’s tough North Side, disgraced St. Louis Police Lieutenant Carlo Gabriel wants nothing more than to return to the headquarters hierarchy. To get his wish all he needs do is track down the missing husband of the mayor’s vivacious press secretary. Instead he unearths a morass of corruption, educational malpractice, and greed that threatens to consign thousands of at-risk youths to the mean streets of America’s murder capital. Worse, it’s the kind of information that could get a cop killed. Fighting for his life and his honor, Gabriel must make a choice that could shake not only his own future but also that of the city and its top leaders.
