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My thanks to Bonnier Books U.K. Zaffre for an eARC and to Bonnier U.K. Audio for a review copy of the unabridged audiobook edition, both via NetGalley, of ‘The English Führer’ by Rory Clements. The audiobook is narrated by Adam Sims. Corpus is quite rich in history and detail within the plot, so there are many threads to follow. The author has done a great job of weaving it together cohesively and the end result is a highly intriguing read. The mystery of Nancy's death stays at the centre of the book, as the story branches out with other murders and subterfuges. I was missing the involvement of Tom’s partner, Lydia, up to this point but was pleased to see her play more of a role as the book builds to its nail-biting climax. And it wouldn’t be a Tom Wilde book without an appearance by his beloved Rudge Special motorcycle.
It's not the 'peace' Tom imagined. Many British Fascist and Nazi sympathisers have been released from internment at the close of the war, and Oswald Mosley is still around (I had no idea what became of him after the 1930s). A decent spy thriller centred on a plot concerning the abdication of King Edward VIII who proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Edward and Wallis were admirers of Hitler and this story revolves around a Nazi plot to ensure Edward continues as king. As the bodies mount, a few red herrings in the form of an alleged Communist uprising in Britain and murders blamed on Commie assassins. Meanwhile people in Britain's high places move to cement their power and prevent the abdication plan engineered by British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin. One of those books where you want to take in every word and thanks to the authors creativity and writing you can feel yourself there as the action unfolds. Unfortunately, it looks as though the queen is not totally opposed to the advances of the ambitious earl. In fact, the Queen seems to be fairly flattered by his overtures and attempts to win her over. This is also surprising because his mother is Lettice Knollys. Gorgeous and dangerous at the same time, Lettice presides over her own court. Maybe it’s a strange court of people, but they should not be taken lightly.
Corpus is also a crime thriller though, albeit in an era that I wouldn’t be used to reading about. I found it to be quite engaging as it flowed quite well. It was relevant to the time period and political events that were happening at the time too. On the eve of war, there’s a secret out there that is so deadly that no one may end up being safe from it. The time is June, and the year is 1939. England is throwing parties everywhere and going like tomorrow will never come, all while having gas masks ready to go. The May Balls are being put on with intensity in Cambridge, however, the good times are not to last. As you would expect from a novel set during the war there are unpleasant scenes but these only add to tension, the horrors and risks that people undertook and endured are wonderfully dealt with, the violence is not there just to glorify the story but to add a depth and realism. The risks that people undertook should never be underestimated. A young English lady works in Berlin to get important papers to a Jewish scientist, evading the Gestapo to do it. But just a few weeks later, she is discovered dead with a silver syringe in her hands. Then in an exclusive club in London, a conspiracy takes off that could threaten the very center of government.
This is a historical thriller set in 1936 as tumultuous political events take place in Europe prior to the second world war. In Berlin, Nancy helps a Jewish physicist only for her to apparently die of an accidental drug overdose in Cambridge a few weeks later. Three high level establishment figures meet and trigger a set of events aimed at changing the political landscape of Britain. We have the constitutional crisis with a King who looks on the Nazis in a favourable light and is intent on marrying the American divorcee Mrs Wallis Simpson. The battles between left and right are fought intensely in Cambridge and within the colleges. Rory Clements Tom Wilde Series 5 Books Collection Set (Corpus, Nucleus, Nemesis, Hitler's Secret, A Prince and a Spy): This suspenseful engaging spy thriller is the 4th volume of the tremendous "Tom Wilde" series from the great author, Rory Clements. The truth is I was bored, and struggled to read for more than twenty minutes without losing concentration, and I don't know why. It is slow-building drama, perhaps I found it a little too dawdling and quaint. Thomas Wilde is an American, and a History professor at Cambridge. He's focused on his students reaching their full potential, by questioning everything they come across. And he is determined not to let himself be swayed by any of the propaganda and the increasingly impassioned and volatile politics.
What is the Tom Wilde series about?
What is to follow is a rollercoaster ride that will start in Berlin and will more or less end in and around Cambridge for Tom Wilde, Sunny Somerfeld and ten-year-old Klara, in an attempt to try and stay ahead from deadly enemies from Nazi Germany, and all along with Klara Wolf (Rieger) being used as a pawn in a devious deadly Nazi chess-game between on the one hand, Hermann Göring, and on the other, Martin Bormann, and each with their own agenda for power. As for the book, I really enjoyed it. It's my first experience with Rory Clements, who has chosen a much more modern period than usual: the 1930s. It's the perfect foil for political intrigue: Nazis, spies, Cambridge professors involved in Communist or Nazi plots, the abdication of the King, murder, drugs, Spanish gold... Clements has thrown it all in. The plot was well done, the writing good, but the winner for me was the lead, Thomas Wilde. He's intelligent and capable without being a superman. Plus, I was won over by that speech early on and thankfully never had to change my opinion of the man as the story sped along. I will certainly be around for his next adventure. As always with all this author’s books, I raced through it, most of the time sitting on the edge of my seat. Definitely an enjoyable and exciting read which I thoroughly enjoyed. Recommended!
I hadnt realised how often the pendalum had swung in that period for the man in the street. How the support was split between the fascists and communists in Spain only to move to the communists with the rise of the threat from Hitler, only to swing again away from the communists as we edged towards the Cold War. When an aristocratic young cousin of Queen Elizabeth is found murdered in a burned house, things are bad. Things get stranger and more heinous when they find that her flesh was marked with symbols of the profane. The year is 1587 and England’s most famous sea warrior Sir Francis Drake is targeted by an assassination around the same time as the murder. If the plot is pulled off, Spain could have the opportunity to invade a defenseless England.The reason for this is that a rumour is going around that the Nazi machine is still operational in England with at its centre a man called, Sir Neville Catesby, who acts as the "English Führer", and who's accompanied by several associates of like mind, but who will later on turn into someone and something else entirely, and that all in an effort to put the blame on Fascism. I felt sorry for Tom having to cope alone whilst Lydia is away and I wondered if she would come to regret her decision to live apart from her husband and child, rather a selfish decision in my view. The setting of post war England where everyone was trying to come to terms with the new normal, highlighted that there were those that struggled with what they had seen and done. Unfortunately for Tom Wilde he was up against those that were not happy with the new world and believed that they would be better in charge and would use any method and means possible to achieve it no matter who was harmed in the process. The series is set in the years leading up to and during World War II, and follows the adventures of a Cambridge professor and secret agent for the British government named Tom Wilde who must navigate the treacherous waters of wartime espionage and intrigue.
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