In the Silence Long-Forgotten Almond Trees Blossom

In the Silence Long-Forgotten Almond Trees Blossom David B P Mayne has written an interesting story set in the future. Not the far distant future, but the near future.

In the 1980s a geologist, Jack, working in Libya is jailed. Eventually Jack is released from jail by the daughter of rich Greek/Libyan parents, Bushra.

They have a decade-long affair which is fraught with problems. He is in a marriage from which love is totally absent and her political activism are just two of them.

Bushra gives birth to twins fathered by Jack. Against the wills of their parents the children are separated at birth. Emma leaves for London with Jack, Stravros is taken by Bushra's parents to Benghazi.

Moving into the 2020s, Russia sweeps through the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean and Greece.

The UN steps in to create two mandates in Libya. In the East is Cyrenaica, under Russian control. 

In the West is Tripolitania and Fezzan under the guidance of the EDA, the European Defence Alliance.

Other factors in the region cause instability including climate change and a growing refugee situation.

By 2031 Emma's daughter has joined the EDA. She is captured on the border and taken by force to Cyrenaica.

But who ordered her capture? And why?

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99.

No Man is an Island

In No Man is an Island by Joseph Hucknall we read the exciting historical novel sequel to The Boy In a Turban.

Set in London in the 1750s, James Cudlip, who was born of a plantation owner and a slave, he is adopted and taken to Britain by an English sea captain.

James is a talented musician and eventually he becomes a music teacher and he befriends the heir to the throne, who would become George 3rd.

However, he soon finds that the established court is hostile toward him and bears him animosity.

His personal life is fraught with problems and his attempts to seek personal fulfilment and to find love in his life are blighted by tragedy.

However, despite the machinations of some members of the court establishment, he has something that they cannot take away from him, Royal approval.

This gives James something to aspire to. But will this bring him everything he needs, everything he desires? 

It's a fascinating historical novel and is published by the Book Guild at £7.99.

False Truth

 

False Truth is a debut crime thriller from C. D. Steele.

Joe Wilde is a former MI6 agent who is now a private eye. 

He is contacted by Sally Devlin who is the mother of an up-and-coming football star, Liam Devlin.

Liam Devlin is missing and because his car has been found abandoned in Hackney at Lea Bridge, a know suicide blackspot, the authorities have declared him to be a victim of suicide.

However, his mother thinks otherwise and she is convinced her son is still alive and she tasks Joe Wilde to find him.

Together with retired MI6 data tech Mark Thompson Joe quickly discovers that Liam had a massive secret that he had been hiding. Or, at least one massive secret.

The police officer in charge of the case, D. I. Whatmore is not pleased that a private investigator is working on what he considers to be very much his case and warns him off.

Joe finds a lead that takes him to South America and then things become really very, very complicated indeed and the body count starts to rise. 

Can Joe keep himself safe and who, exactly, is involved and what is their true end game?

It's published by the Book Guild at £8.99 and I certainly hope there will be more crime thrillers featuring a new and totally believable British private investigator. 

Measure of Days

 

In Measure of Days The world is in the grips of a plague known as FED, or Flesh Eating Disease.

However, Deter Edison knows little or nothing about this. She has a privileged life and is a normal, ordinary young girl who leads a fairly ordinary life under the care of a guardian, Amery.

However, all this is brought to an abrupt end when Deter is subjected to a vicious and brutal abduction.

She finds herself suddenly living in a dystopian nightmare where she realises that she might have been betrayed by her guardian.

Her captors are scientists who believe that Deter has an exceedingly rare gene that they want to harvest. And they make it clear that nothing will stop them from taking it.

Deter discovers that she is caught up in a battle between her captors and government agencies. 

She is aware that she must escape to London and seek security and safety there. But how can she achieve this? And if she can achieve it, who can she trust? How can she remain at liberty and hidden from those who want to control her body and the gene it carries?

It's a novel with a great deal of soul and a little bit of science fiction. I can recommend it.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

Stranger From Berlin

In Stranger From Berlin author Beverley Hansford brings her readers another intriguing novel.

After several years Tim Mallon meets up with an old university chum, Boris Smirnov. 

Boris has a girlfriend called Lena and Tim is puzzled yet intrigued by both the relationship between Boris and Lena. He is also intrigued by Lena. After all, Lena is a pretty and attractive young lady yet Boris treats her with contempt and humiliation, which doesn't seem to phase or perturb her in the slightest.

Boris suggests that Lena stays with Tim and, with some wariness, he agrees to the idea.

Over time they have an amiable relationship which, at least as Tim is concerned, develops into love.

Tim is puzzled that Lena is extremely reticent to talk about her past life. Does she have a secret that she doesn't want to reveal or to be revealed?

Suddenly their apparently idyllic relationship is brought to an abrupt end when Lena is kidnapped from Tim's own doorstep and she is taken back to Berlin.

Tim immediately departs for Berlin in an attempt to find and rescue her and to learn the truth about what has happened and the mystery surrounding Lena's life.

However, when Tim arrives in Berlin he finds that he is being drawn into a shadowy and mysterious world where nothing is quite what it seems and he quickly learns that outside forces are controlling the situation.

Who can Tim trust? Can he get himself out of the nightmare world that he has, somehow, fallen into?

It's a very readable mystery and will appeal to people still interested in the sometimes fraught relationships between West and East Germany only several years ago.

It's published by Matador at £8.99.

Bloody Dominions

Bloody Dominions is a new novel from author and historian Nick Macklin.

He takes his readers back to the years 58-56BC. Caesar has launched his campaign to conquer Gaul.  

He brings to life Atticus a gifted soldier and military tactician whose grandfather was a member of the legions and who served with distinction. Allerix who is the Chieftain of the Aduatuci who finds himself in the schizophrenic situation of, at times, fighting both for Caesar and against him. And there is Epona, who is the adopted sister of Allerix and also a skilled and fierce warrior in her own right.

The conflicts they engage in are brutal and the impacts on both victor and defeated are powerful.

The main characters are fated to repeatedly cross paths and swords as they are doomed by circumstances to be enemies. However, all is not what it appears. I will say no more on this point as it might risk spoiling the enjoyment of this novel by my readers.

Whilst reading this novel the reader is transported back to the open lands and the dense, dark forests of ancient Europe as they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with tribal warriors and Roman Legionaries as they fight for conquest or to keep their lands free of conquering enemies.

The battle scenes are particularly affecting, especially when friends realise they are fighting against friends.

It's the first novel in the series, so do keep an eye open for the rest of them. 

It's published by Matador at £9.99.

The Brotherhood

In The Brotherhood published author Martin M. McShane brings to readers a story that is based on historical events.

The Holy Order of Knights has become a powerful, influential and very rich body. So powerful, influential and very rich that jealous and covetous eyes are turned toward them. As these eyes belong to the Pope and the King of France the future of the Holy Order of Knights is far bleaker than its members can understand.

The Pope is fearful of them due to their power and the King is fearful of them because he owes them a hug fortune. For these two, different reasons, the Pope and the King desire the ending of the Holy Order of Knights.

They form a scheme together which causes the Knights to be lured to Poitiers Castle where skilled assassins lie in wait for them to wipe them out.

However, the massacre is not without witnesses and three brothers are able to slip away from their captors and they are able to flee for their lives to their homeland, England.

The French King cannot allow them to escape and he employs vicious mercenaries to hunt them down and kill them.

As they continue their flight to freedom the brothers fight amongst themselves and they quarrel over the best way to seek revenge against the King of France. But which brother will rise above the others and will his schemes succeed?

This is a stirring and thoughtful book and is ideal for people who like their novels with historical settings.

It's the first of a series of novels.

It is published by The Book Guild at £8.99