Member Reviews

“The Valkyrie Directive” eBook was published in 2017 (original paper edition was published in 1987) and was written by Peter Berresford Ellis under the pseudonym of Peter MacAlan (https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/peter-macalan/). He is also know under Peter Tremayne. Mr. Ellis published more than 90 books under those names.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in the early years of World War II - 1940.

Germany has just invaded Norway and there is a accomplished surgeon, Dr Didrik Stenersen, in Oslo that is wanted in London to treat a critical patient. A small team made up of the Doctor’s niece who had been studying in England, a Norwegian who had recently escaped from Norway ahead of the Germans and a British Doctor in London who had worked with Stenersen are chosen for the mission.

The three are quickly recruited and parachuted into Norway. They must come up with some kind of a plan to contact Stenersen and his surgical team, then sneak them out of the country and back to England. They have to evade the German Army and the Gestapo. They must also be wary of German sympathizers within the Norwegian population.

I thought that this was an interesting read of just under 6 hours for this 294 page World War II Thriller. I have not read much before about the war in Norway. I thought that the characters were well developed and I liked the plot. This novel is a bit unusual in that one character does not truly stand out as the primary. I do not think much of the cover art. Something relating more to the snow and ice of Norway would have been better. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

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An exciting, well researched 2nd World War adventure mainly set in Norway when Hitler was spreading his forces in Europe. A small group was sent to Norway by Churchill, to bring back a group of skilled medics including an expert who would be able to operate on a prominent English politician. Excellent scene setting start to the book, and plenty of chases involving avoiding the Germans - which I love! The author tried really hard to describe the snow and ice chase which is usually quite tricky. Strange ending, and I kept telling the main character to dye his hair! Thanks to Net Galley for this war time yarn.

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