Aurore

August 28, 2017
Hurley’s solid sequel to 2016’s Finis-terre continues his credible re-creation of the WWII era in Europe. As a teenager, Billy Angell, a Quaker, wanted nothing more than a career on stage. He channeled that passion into increasingly prominent acting parts, including a run on Broadway. But after a German bomb destroyed the Quakers’ London meeting house and killed his theater mentor, Billy lost his faith and joined the war effort. By 1943, Billy has reached the rank of staff sergeant, serving as a wireless operator for Bomber Command. He survives his hazardous last mission, a bombing run over Hamburg that inflicts massive damage on the enemy and takes a toll on his flight crew as well. Then, in an unexpected and dramatic turn, Billy is recruited to fight the Nazis covertly, as a member of MI5. He’s dropped into occupied France as part of a risky operation to fool a high-ranking German intelligence officer. Hurley’s capable and understated characterization makes his lead’s story plausible and engaging.

September 1, 2017
Hurley is a popular crime writer in the UK, but his books have received little exposure in the U.S. Let's hope this WWII espionage tale helps change that. It's 1943, and Billy Angell, a radio operator on a British bomber, has just survived his thirtieth mission (described in vivid detail) and is scheduled to stand down. Then he is approached by MI5 with an altogether different but equally dangerous assignment: sneak into occupied France and pretend to be a downed British flier. After making the acquaintance of a certain Madame Lafosse, who helps Jews escape France and who is having an affair with an Abwehr officer, Billy is to plant a story about where the upcoming cross-channel invasion will take place. A straightforward wartime premise, right out of the Ken Follett playbook, but Hurley freshens it nicely. The mission quickly runs off the rails, and the focus turns to survival, with Billy under suspicion from Madame Lafosse's friends of being a German spy. Hurley brings an almost noirlike sensibility to the surprising finale, though a melodramatic twist at the very end detracts a bit from the impact.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)