NOVEMBER 2020 - AudioFile
Fact and fiction are interwoven in this historical novel about Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket scientists, who in this thriller are on the verge of defection to the U.S. David Rintoul, who narrates with a plummy English accent and a detached air, presents characters on both sides of WWII with equanimity. The story traces the impact of Hitler’s decision to unleash powerful V2 rockets on London and Antwerp. It is told from the perspectives of Dr. Rudi Graf, a colleague of von Braun, and Kay Caton-Walsh, a WAAF officer. Graf is the reluctant scientist who must obey his commanders’ orders, and Kay is tasked with tracking the rockets’ arcs. Though Kay and Graf play key roles, the sinister power of the V2 is front and center. L.W.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
"Spies and informers lurk. Period details are piquant. . . . Above all there’s suspense. As Graf and Kay plot and counterplot, questions rise and fall like rockets. . . . V2 will keep you pinned on a compelling trajectory."
—The Sunday Times
"Weav[es] a personal thriller on to a major historical tapestry. . . . The joy is in the history as much as the story."
—The Financial Times
"Engrossing. . . . Harris brings the past to life through vivid characterizations and clever plotting. Fans of superior historical fiction will be rewarded."
—Publishers Weekly
"A veteran historical novelist homes in on one of Hitler’s last desperate hopes. . . . [An] enjoyable thriller with plenty of well-researched historical nuggets."
—Kirkus Reviews
"[An] historical-fiction master. . . . Crosscutting between those launching the rockets and those on the receiving end proves to be a superb narrative device. . . . [This] novel combines fascinating technical detail with a wartime drama that finds human ambiguity on both sides of the battlefield."
—Booklist
NOVEMBER 2020 - AudioFile
Fact and fiction are interwoven in this historical novel about Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket scientists, who in this thriller are on the verge of defection to the U.S. David Rintoul, who narrates with a plummy English accent and a detached air, presents characters on both sides of WWII with equanimity. The story traces the impact of Hitler’s decision to unleash powerful V2 rockets on London and Antwerp. It is told from the perspectives of Dr. Rudi Graf, a colleague of von Braun, and Kay Caton-Walsh, a WAAF officer. Graf is the reluctant scientist who must obey his commanders’ orders, and Kay is tasked with tracking the rockets’ arcs. Though Kay and Graf play key roles, the sinister power of the V2 is front and center. L.W.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2020-08-19
A veteran historical novelist homes in on one of Hitler’s last desperate hopes.
In 1944, the Nazis know they're losing the war. They’d developed the V1, a pilotless drone bomb its targets could hear coming, and now its successor, which strikes without warning. The Nazis call it Vergeltungswaffen Zwei, Vengeance Weapon Two. The V2 rockets are notoriously unreliable, though. Although they're aimed at Charing Cross Station in the heart of London, any strike within five miles is considered a success. Many hit English neighborhoods, killing dozens of civilians, while others explode at launch or veer off into the sea. Chapters of the novel alternate between the two sides, specifically between German engineers and British intelligence. Twenty-four-year-old intelligence analyst Kay Caton-Walsh is in a married man’s bed and survives a direct hit as floors of the building collapse around her. A half dozen people are killed and almost 300 injured. Meanwhile, German engineers work furiously to prepare missiles for launch from Belgium. Despite severe technical problems, they are under great pressure to produce the weapons in the thousands and rush them into service. The story has plenty of interesting details—for example, the bulk of Germany’s potato crop that year had been requisitioned to be distilled into alcohol for use as rocket fuel. British radar can spot the V2s in flight, but “where exactly were they coming from? That was the mystery.” If only the Brits could look at a rocket’s parabola and calculate its point of origin....Caton-Walsh volunteers to help find out: “I’m good at maths. I know how to use a slide rule.” She joins a team of women working on the problem. Readers may recognize Germany’s main rocket engineer, Wernher von Braun. Though he shows necessary fealty to the Nazi cause, his secret dream is to send a rocket to the moon. And if he has to do that from America, that’s another story.
A short, enjoyable thriller with plenty of well-researched historical nuggets.
