Spoils of War
6 primary works • 7 total works
Book 1
Germany, October 1944: Dozens of cities lie in ruins. Enemy armies are at the gates. For the Thousand Year Reich, time is running out.
Desperate to avoid the humiliation of unconditional surrender, German intelligence launch Operation Finisterre - a last-ditch plan to enable Hitler to deny the savage logic of a war on two fronts and bluff his way to the negotiating table.
Success depends on two individuals: Stefan Portisch, a German naval officer washed ashore on the coast of Spain after the loss of his U-boat, and Hector Gomez, an ex-FBI detective, planted by Director J. Edgar Hoover in the middle of the most secret place on earth: the American atomic bomb complex. Both men will find themselves fighting for survival as Operation Finisterre plays itself out.
Finisterre is part of the SPOILS OF WAR Collection, a thrilling, beguiling blend of fact and fiction born of some of the most tragic, suspenseful, and action-packed events of World War II. From the mind of highly acclaimed thriller author GRAHAM HURLEY, this blockbuster non-chronological collection allows the reader to explore Hurley's masterful storytelling in any order, with compelling recurring characters whose fragmented lives mirror the war that shattered the globe.
Book 2
Barely half of the Bomber Command's aircrews survive a full tour, but wireless operator Billy Angell has beaten the odds and completed his 30th – and final – mission. Now, Billy is due two-weeks leave, a posting to a training squadron and a six-month exemption from active duty.
Except that MI5 need an airman to drop into Nazi-occupied France.
MI5 are interested in Hélène Lafosse, a Frenchwoman keeping unusual company in her small family château in the depths of the Touraine. Hélène has begun an affair with a senior Abwehr intelligence officer, who, in return, has turned a blind eye to the succession of Jews, refugees, resistance fighters and downed Allied airmen to whom she offers shelter. MI5 believe they can exploit this relationship and plant a false lead about the anticipated allied invasion of northern France.
It falls to Billy, playing a downed airman, to find Hélène, to win her confidence and to plant a lie that will only make sense to her German lover. But this time, Billy isn't flying at 20,000 feet and he won't be able to escape the incendiary consequences of his actions.
'Hurley's capable and understated characterization makes his lead's story plausible and engaging' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.
Book 3
1937. Flying for the infamous Condor Legion over the battlefields of Spain's civil war, Merz has been able to unleash the fearsome potential of the Luftwaffe's newest weapon against his opponents. In Dieter's hands, the Messerschmitt Bf-109 is as graceful as a matador's killing strike: la estocada.
Scotsman and ex-marine Tam Moncrieff is recruited by a nameless intelligence agency in London to go to Germany and sound out Hitler's resolve. Does he really intend to invade Czechoslovakia? Do his generals support him? Can the march to war be stopped?
As duty collides with conscience, fate will bring both men together. In a world wedded to violence and ambition, desperate steps must be taken. To avoid war a killing strike is needed.
The question is, who is the matador, who is the bull?
Estocada is part of the SPOILS OF WAR Collection, a thrilling, beguiling blend of fact and fiction born of some of the most tragic, suspenseful, and action-packed events of World War II. From the mind of highly acclaimed thriller author GRAHAM HURLEY, this blockbuster non-chronological collection allows the reader to explore Hurley's masterful storytelling in any order, with compelling recurring characters whose fragmented lives mirror the war that shattered the globe.
Book 4
Spring, 1941. The war in the West is as good as won. Nation after nation has fallen before the Reich's armies. Only Britain endures, her cities under nightly bombardment from the Luftwaffe.
Berlin would happily call off the bombers in exchange for a peace treaty. Hitler would like to persuade Britain to turn her back on Europe, to attend to her precious Empire instead, to allow Germany a free hand to deal with the real enemy in the East.
Peace, perhaps, but at what cost?
For Churchill the price is too high; but for others within the British establishment, it is a price worth paying. On both sides of the channel, advocates of total war or peace-at-all-costs are at each others' throats – all unaware that Rudolf Hess, Hitler's quiet, contemplative deputy, has already taken radical steps to change the fortunes of the war...
Raid 42 is part of the SPOILS OF WAR Collection, a thrilling, beguiling blend of fact and fiction born of some of the most tragic, suspenseful, and action-packed events of World War II. From the mind of highly acclaimed thriller author GRAHAM HURLEY, this blockbuster non-chronological collection allows the reader to explore Hurley's masterful storytelling in any order, with compelling recurring characters whose fragmented lives mirror the war that shattered the globe.
Book 5
Berlin, 1942.
For Werner Nehmann, a journalist at the Ministry of Propaganda, the dizzying victory of the last four years has felt like a party without end. But the Reich's attention has turned East, and as winter sets in, the mood is turning.
Werner's boss, Joseph Goebbels, can sense it. His words have propelled Germany towards its greater destiny and he won't – he can't – let morale falter now. But the Minister of Propaganda is uneasy and in his discomfort has pulled Werner into his close confidence.
And here, amid the power struggle between the Nazi Chieftains, Werner will make his mistake and begin his descent into the hell of Stalingrad...
Last Flight to Stalingrad is part of the SPOILS OF WAR Collection, a thrilling, beguiling blend of fact and fiction born of some of the most tragic, suspenseful, and action-packed events of World War II. From the mind of highly acclaimed thriller author GRAHAM HURLEY, this blockbuster non-chronological collection allows the reader to explore Hurley's masterful storytelling in any order, with compelling recurring characters whose fragmented lives mirror the war that shattered the globe.
Book 6
'Historical fiction of a high order' The Times
'Original and compelling... The fear enveloping Kyiv as the Soviets flee radiates from every page' Financial Times
On Sunday 22nd June 1941 at 03.05, three-and-a-half million Axis troops burst into the Soviet Union along a 1,800-mile front to launch Operation Barbarossa. The southern thrust of the attack was aimed at the Caucasus and the oil fields beyond. Kyiv was the biggest city to stand in their way.
Within six weeks, the city was under siege. Surrounded by Panzers, bombed and shelled day and night, Soviet Commissar Nikita Khrushchev was amongst the senior Soviet officials co-ordinating the defence. Amid his cadre of trusted personnel is British defector Bella Menzies, once with MI5, now with the NKVD, the Soviet secret police.
With the fall of the city inevitable, the Soviets plan a bloody war of terror that will extort a higher toll on the city's inhabitants than the invaders. As the noose tightens, Bella finds herself trapped, hunted by both the Russians and the Germans.
As the local saying has it: life is dangerous – no one survives it.
Kyiv is part of the SPOILS OF WAR Collection, a thrilling, beguiling blend of fact and fiction born of some of the most tragic, suspenseful, and action-packed events of World War II. From the mind of highly acclaimed thriller author GRAHAM HURLEY, this blockbuster non-chronological collection allows the reader to explore Hurley's masterful storytelling in any order, with compelling recurring characters whose fragmented lives mirror the war that shattered the globe.
'You could read a lot of books before you found a tale better told' The Times
'This is a masterful novel: a war narrative, a spy thriller, and a historical fiction steeped in meticulously-researched factual detail' Dr Christine Berberich, University of Portsmouth
The new blockbuster thriller from Graham Hurley, The Blood of Others is part of the SPOILS OF WAR Collection, a thrilling, beguiling blend of fact and fiction born of some of the most tragic, suspenseful, and action-packed events of World War II.
Dieppe, August 1942. A catastrophe no headline dared admit.
Plans are underway for the boldest raid yet on Nazi-occupied France. Over six thousand men will storm ashore to take the port of Dieppe. Lives will change in an instant – both on the beaches and in distant capitals.
Annie Wrenne, working at Lord Mountbatten’s cloak-and-dagger Combined Operations headquarters, is privy to the top secret plans for the daring cross-Channel raid.
Young Canadian journalist George Hogan, protege of influential Lord Beaverbrook, faces a crucial assignment that will test him to breaking point.
And Abwehr intelligence officer Wilhelm Schultz is baiting a trap to lure thousands of Allied troops to their deaths…
Three lives linked by Operation Jubilee: the Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942. Over six thousand men will storm the heavily defended French beaches.
Less than half of them will make it back alive.
The blockbuster SPOILS OF WAR non-chronological collection features compelling recurring characters whose fragmented lives mirror the war that shattered the globe. For fans of Philip Kerr and Robert Harris.
What reviewers are saying about The Blood of Others:
'Hurley’s depiction of the period is as enticing as ever.' The Times
'A masterful and fascinating historical thriller. ' LoveReading
‘There is far more to this novel than sheer military action, though that is, as usual, superbly done… Historical fiction of the highest order.’ Mike Ripley, Shots
Reviews for Graham Hurley:
'Tense, absorbing and faultlessly plotted' Sunday Times
'Beautifully constructed... This is one of Hurley's finest' Daily Mail
'Capable and understated characterization' Publishers Weekly