Emerald

by James Baddock

Overview

Second in the Cormack and Woodward series. Based on a true story, Emerald is the fast-moving sequel to The Dutch Caper, showing Cormack and Woodward being flown into Berlin in order to bring out ‘Emerald’, the mistress of a high-ranking member of Hitler’s staff in Berlin but also a long-standing British undercover agent. She has been passing on information from Hitler’s Berlin Bunker for several months now, but has now become the object of an intensive Gestapo search. Emerald’s real name is Marianne Kovacs, the Irish born wife of a Hungarian diplomat, who has been working for SIS for four years, but who knows that she stands little chance of survival if she remains in Berlin. (Her character is based on an actual British agent, whose fate in real life remains a mystery.) Cormack, Woodward and Marianne have to escape from a Berlin that is being systematically destroyed by the approaching Soviet Army, with the Gestapo hot on their heels. To add to their problems, the Soviet NKVD (the fore-runner of the KGB) starts to take an interest in them as well…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782346142
Publisher:	Andrews UK
Publication date:	06/19/2014
Series:	Cormack and Woodward , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

James Baddock has had six thrillers published in the UK, USA and Canada. Reactions to these have included being described as ‘leading the pack in suspense mystery’ by Clive Cussler, and having ‘much in common with Jack Higgins’ by the Daily Express. His books are all very much fast paced espionage thrillers, with the emphasis on action, although characters are given space to grow and develop; indeed, one of his priorities is to avoid stereotypes and to let their strengths and weaknesses emerge as the story unfolds, especially in terms of how they behave when under extreme pressure. Five of these books (The Dutch Caper, Emerald, Piccolo, The Alaska Project and The Faust Conspiracy) are now being published as ebooks, along with two brand new titles (Berlin Endgame and Servants Of The State).
During a previous life, James taught English and Media Studies at several Secondary and Upper Schools, but still found time to gain an Honours Degree in English Literature and a Masters Degree in Media, Culture and Communications. His interests include reading, rock music, films and Tottenham Hotspur (not necessarily in that order).

Editorial Reviews

British author Baddock ( The Dutch Caper ) keeps his latest espionage thriller whizzing along right up to a slam-bang ending. During the last days of the Third Reich, agents Alan Cormack and Tony Woodward are dropped into Hitler's crumbling Berlin to try to bring out an Allied spy called Emerald. The glamorous Emerald is Marianne Kovacs, nee Driscoll, the Irish-born wife of a Hungarian diplomat; she has fed important information to England for years. Currently the mistress of a German general, she has also dallied with Goebbels. While Cormack and Woodward suspect they are expendable, they don't know the extent of the danger closing in on them and Marianne. The NKVD, aided by double agent Kim Philby, is plotting to grab her. The Russians blackmail a German colonel into chasing Marianne, and she and the British agents weave in and out of several traps in breathtaking episodes filled with violent action. If the characterization is not very deep, the pace is terrific and Baddock holds the reader all the way to the gory finale. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

YA-- It is known that there was a British agent in Hitler's bunker in 1945 working as a mistress to his top aides. Braddock has taken this fact and developed an adventure novel of what might have happened if two talented but expendable agents assisted her in fleeing to England. This entertaining novel shows their successes and failures as they face many obstacles, including German officers who are under orders to kill them. The wartime atmosphere and the desperation to escape are particularly well drawn. One of the most memorable characters is a German officer who is being blackmailed by the Russians. --Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax

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