Please note – Europe at Midnight is a sequel to Europe in Autumn and this review will likely contain spoilers if you haven’t read the first book in this series. Dont say I didn’t warn ya! In a fractured Europe, new nations are springing up everywhere, some literally overnight. For an intelligence officer like Jim it’s a nightmare. Every week or so a friendly power spawns a new and unknown national entity which may or may not be friendly to England’s interests. It’s hard to keep on top of it all. But things are about to get worse for Jim. A stabbing on a London bus pitches him into a world where his intelligence service is preparing for war with another universe, and a man has appeared who may hold the key to unlocking Europe’s most jealously guarded secret.. I only read Europe in Autumn last week. I enjoyed it so much I went straight from that into Europe at Midnight. Near future Europe is falling apart, nation by nation. The United Kingdom is now far from united, and on the European mainland many other countries are following suit. As if this constantly shifting political landscape wasn’t complicated enough, it…

A fractured Europe, a cook-turned-spy, a mighty web of espionage – but what happens when conspiracy threatens to overwhelm even reality itself? Europe in Autumn is a dystopian SF espionage thriller that evokes the Cold War novels of John Le Carré and the nightmarish world of Franz Kafka, taking place in a war and disease-torn Europe of hundreds of tiny nations. Rudi is a cook in a Kraków restaurant, but when boss asks him to help a cousin escape from the country he’s trapped in, a new career – part spy, part people-smuggler – begins. Recruited by the shadowy organisation Les Coureurs des Bois, Rudi is schooled in espionage. When he is sent to smuggle someone out of Berlin and finds a severed head inside a locker instead, a conspiracy begins to wind itself around him. With kidnapping, double-crosses and a map that constantly re-draws itself, Europe in Autumn is a modern science fiction thriller like no other. Ok, I’ll admit it. I am more than fashionably late when it comes to this particular party. What can I say? The life of a book reviewer is a battle against the same ever encroaching horror – so many books, so little…

In Dubai there’s a new world of high-luxury resorts emerging for the super-rich – but at what price to everyone else? Lea, Roy and their 15 year-old daughter Cara live in a gated community reserved for foreign workers. Roy has been hired to deal with teething problems at Dream World, a futuristic beach complex. In the oppressive heat, the wives appear happy to follow behind their husbands, cooking and arranging tea parties, but Lea finds herself a virtual prisoner in a land where Western women are regarded with indifference and suspicion. At least there are a few friendly outsiders who don’t enjoy the conformity of the ex-pat community – until one night, when the most outspoken one dies in a suspicious accident. It’s the first in a string of terrible occurrences that divide the foreign workers. Lea’s neighbours start to blame migrants, locals and even each other. Lea is convinced that deliberate acts of cruelty are being committed – but is there a real threat to her life, or is she becoming paranoid? And what if the thing she fears most is really happening? What happens in a world where only the rich are important? Welcome to a future that’s…

Please note Grunt Traitor is a direct sequel to Grunt Life and it is entirely possible that this review may contain spoilers if you haven’t read the first book in this series. I recommend that you read Grunt Life immediately. Not only is it extremely good but this review will make a heck of a lot more sense once you have accomplished that simple task. Their spies were among us for years. They mapped our electrical infrastructure, learned our weaknesses, until finally they flipped the switch and threw us back into the Dark Ages. Only OMBRA and its battalions around the world seem capable of defending Earth from the next wave of attack – terraforming. But at what price can we gain our freedom from these yet to be identified aliens? They’re pushing the human race to the edge of extinction if we can’t find a way to change things. But what will we have to change? What will we humans become to survive this threat. This is a time for heroes. For killers. For Grunts. Benjamin Carter Mason will be asked this question over and over as he dives deep into the nasty heart of an alien transformed Los…

Earth has been invaded and the insect-like Crays have established secret hives across the world. The only thing standing between Earth and domination by these creatures are the Grunts, men whose business is soldiering. But this time they must learn how to defeat a very different kind of enemy from any human foe. Last year I read Seal Team 666: Age of Blood by Weston Ochse and enjoyed the non-stop action and supernatural adventure. When I heard that the same author was going to take on the end of the world, and would be adding a liberal dose of aliens to boot, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. The premise is pretty straight forward. An imminent alien invasion has been discovered and a clandestine organisation, known as Task Force OMBRA, are planning our planet’s response. The only problem? Who should be part of this group? What are the best qualities for a soldier facing off against an entirely new kind of threat? Made up from men and women from all over the globe each team member has been individually selected due to the nature of their pre-invasion experiences. They are a fascinating group. Primarily, we follow a new recruit called Mason but I don’t…

Fergus’s world changes forever the day his car crashes near the remote village of Allingley. Traumatised by his near-death experience, he stays to work at the local stables as he recovers from his injuries. He will discover a gentler pace of life, fall in love and be targeted for human sacrifice. Clare Harvey’s life will never be the same either. The young archaeologist’s dream find the peat-preserved body of a Saxon warrior is giving her nightmares. She can tell that the warrior was ritually murdered, and that the partial skeleton lying nearby is that of a young woman. And their tragic story is unfolding in her head every time she goes to sleep. Fergus discovers that his crash is linked to the excavation, and that the countryside harbours some dark secrets. As Clare’s investigation reveals the full horror of a Dark Age war crime, Fergus and Clare seem destined to share the Saxon couple’s bloody fate. I’ll begin with a confession, I’ve been told its good for the soul. I have spent the last week agonising over how to write anything resembling a coherent review of this book. Not, I should stress, because the book is bad, quite the reverse in…