Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 9th July 2015
Pages: 395
MY REVIEW:
I received an advance copy of Secrets of the Last Nazi by Iain King from Netgalley in exchange
for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Bookouture.
I have never read anything by Iain King before. The
reason I picked this up is purely and simply because, I liked the look of the
synopsis when I saw it on NetGalley and everything else I have read from
Bookouture has been absolutely top quality. I was hoping this would be the
same.
In 2015, a well-connected ex SS commander dies. He takes
with him the last remaining secret of the Nazi era. Or does he?
An international investigation is set up to try and
uncover the secret Werner Stolz was protecting.
Led by an unconventional English military historian,
Myles Munro, the team must chase every clue left behind to try and decipher
them to discover exactly what Stolz was hiding.
What follows is a furious chase across three countries,
dodging conspiracies and espionage at every turn. Some want the secret to go
public. Some don’t. And there is a traitor in the team.
So modern day tales chasing Nazi secrets across Europe
are something I love to read so I was really looking forward to this one.
Although I enjoyed it I was left wanting more from the story. I’ll explain why.
We have a mixed bag of characters in this one. Myles
himself is a bit of an enigma. He is obviously very clever and an expert in his
field but also is a bit unorthodox and to be honest lacked a bit of oomph for
me in this story. His colleagues on the team are there purely on the requests
of their respective governments. We have Glenn, an American with a lot of
secrets of his own. He is the doubting Thomas of the group, never believing
anything they discover.
We have Zenyalena, a Russian who is the person who put
the investigation in motion. She is a stereotypical hard faced Russian who
wants the answers yesterday and will stop at nothing to get them. Jean-Francois
is the French delegate. He is a bit out of his depth but seems to be the only
genuine member of the team. He is replaced later on the team by Pascal who
seems the strong silent type but he also has secrets. Their translator is a
young German woman by the name of Heike-Ann. She is quite a timid character and
again always feels to be a bit out of her depth.
On the evil side of things we have Father Samuel. He is a
very mysterious man who lives in the Middle East and it’s hard at times to
figure out his exact role in the story. Deiter is his partner in crime,
shadowing the investigation team in Europe. Again very mysterious but deadly
with it.
The plot is as it says in the blurb. The Nazi kept
secrets and team are put together to find out what they were. Some people don’t
want the secrets to be made public and will do anything they can to prevent the
team from finding the answers.
I did enjoy this story but to be honest it had potential
to be so much better than it was. There were a lot of times during the story
where everything just felt a bit flat to me. The team have a series of clues to
follow to get to the end prize. Each time they get a clue something seems to go
wrong and they always seem to get out of their pickle. A couple of these
occasions seemed a bit unbelievable to me and should have been much more
difficult to get out of than they were. It was almost like The A Team at times
because they could get round anything that was thrown at them.
The Father Samuel part of the story was also a bit
confusing for me. Without giving anything away, it was difficult to try and
figure out exactly why he wanted the secret kept and his relationship with
Deiter was also confusing at times. They were able to organise things which
again, seemed almost impossible to do.
I did like Mr King’s writing style. He tells a good story
and for the most part this was a very enjoyable read. I just didn’t like the
confusing bits nor the flat bits.
It looks like Myles Munro is going to be a recurring
character for Iain King. I will definitely read more of him. I just hope the
stories and the characters develop a bit better. For me, they need a bit more
meat on them and definitely need more oomph in the stories. He certainly has
the writing talent to do this.
To summarise: a thrilling chase across Europe chasing
Nazi secrets and dodging nasty men that want the secrets to be kept just that.
Secret. A good read but definitely needed more for me to get the score up.
General rating:
★★★ needed more for me.
Thriller rating:
★★★ and again.
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Reviewer then please consider using the links below to buy Secrets of the Last Nazi or any other books from Iain. This
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books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
THE GREATEST DISCOVERY OF THE 20TH CENTURY.
KEPT SECRET.
UNTIL NOW.
Berlin, 2015 – a well-connected SS Commander is found
dead, having protected the last secret of the Nazi empire for seventy years. A
discovery by Nazi Scientists so potent it could change the balance of world
power – forever.
Led by misfit military historian Myles Munro, an
international team begin to piece together the complex puzzle left by SS
Captain Werner Stolz. As their hunt across Europe gathers pace, the brutal
killing of one of the group signals that they are not the only ones chasing the
answer.
Plunged into a world of international espionage, Myles
only has his intellect and instincts to keep him alive. As the team edge closer
to an explosive truth, it becomes clear to him that there is a traitor amongst
them.
Who can Myles trust? And can he unravel the clues of the
past in time to save the future?
Secrets of the Last Nazi is as controversial as it is
compelling. A heart-stopping, action-packed and scarily plausible adventure
which will captivate fans of Dan Brown, Scott Mariani and Clive Cussler.
Iain King CBE is an
expert on military history, and has lectured about war to packed university
halls across Britain. He has worked in ten conflicts around the world, and in
2013 became one of the youngest people ever to be honoured with the title 'Commander
of the British Empire', for his frontline roles in Libya, Afghanistan and
Kosovo. He has already written acclaimed non-fiction books on modern conflict,
the history of ideas, and philosophy. 'Secrets of the Last Nazi' is his debut
novel.
NEWSFLASH:
'Secrets of the Last Nazi' has just become the NUMBER ONE new release in its
fiction category in the USA!
And
for more about Iain, visit his site or find him on social media:
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page
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