History that few knew about encapsulated in a modern thriller. A true story of the women who put their live on the line in World War Two. A super read

This was my first Robert Harris book and I'm impressed!
I loved the way he entwined fiction and history together to make a really well written story.
Completely engaging and if this book is his standard of writing I will definitely have to read more of his books!

I read Fatherland when it came out and loved it, but inexplicably have not read any other books by Robert Harris until I got this through Netgalley. What a fascinating book - the cliche "it brings history to life" is over-used, but I'm going to use it again because he really does.
As the Author's Note says, the book focuses on the launch of V2 rockets against London in November 1944. The day-to-day activities concentrate especially on two characters - Kay Caton-Walsh, a WAAF trying to find out where the V2 rockets are launched and Dr Rudi Graf, a German scientist working on the rockets themselves. You really find yourself getting involved with the characters and what happens to them and how things play out. The historical details are wonderfully clear and so interesting. There are flashbacks to the development of the rockets in Germany and the details of casualties in London are simply stated, making it so poignant. Anyone with an interest in WW2 and also in rockets and space travel will enjoy this tightly-written intelligent book. I read it in 2 days, so engrossed was I.

Although a piece of fiction the book did not disappoint, it created a real sense of atmosphere and linked the tragic history with reality.

The novel is set in two places, on the coast of The Netherlands, around Scheveningen and in London. The events in the two places are synchronous. Taking place during November 1944.

There are two key characters: Rudi Graf, a German engineer and Kay Caton-Walsh, a WAAF officer. As the narrative of the story unfolds, aspects of their lives become enmeshed.

I won't go into detail for fear of spoiling the story. Suffice to say that Robert Harris manages to successfully marry up real historical events within an entertaining and credible piece of fictional writing.

The final pages make interesting although depressing reading.

I give my thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK (Cornerstone) for a copy in exchange for this review.

Robert Harris rarely disappoints with his historical novels and V2 is no exception to this excellent record. His latest novel explores a little known aspect of the German bombardment of London by Hitler’s revenge weapons. In developing his engaging narrative Robert Harris takes the opportunity to provide the necessary background but manages to do so without giving the impression to the reader that s/he has accidentally picked up a technical manual for the V2. The author’s signature feature, whereby the bigger picture is revealed through the intertwined lives of a number of key characters, again forms the central theme of the book. In addition, the plot’s clever use of two key characters drawn from the opposing forces manages to permit the reader to see the conflict though the eyes of individuals caught up in the impersonal mechanics of total war. A further striking positive feature of the book is the very careful balancing of the military, technical and personal themes that, together, give the book its overall strength. Strongly recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone, for the review copy.
This is an unbiased review of the author's work and style.
If you want spoilers, please see the publisher's blurb and other reviewers' reports.
V2 is, in my opinion, another remarkable success for Robert Harris. Before this, my only experience of his books was the Cicero Trilogy and Fatherland.
His skill lies in the way he can use plain English to draw you into the world of his books and carry you along a path of intrigue not knowing where you are going and where the journey will end. His knowledge and the level research he imbues within the story leave you much wiser as to the period and the background. Of course, it is a fictional tail but I frequently I found myself believing every twist and turn, and strangely when I surfaced and realised that it is, after all, a story I did not feel cheated.
Another five stars for a book beautifully written, structured, and balanced. Thank you, Robert Harris.
PS - please read the Acknowledgements at the end of the volume, once you’ve read the book, it will not only clarify the text but also fill in many gaps.

Fascinating as history but not particularly exciting. We didn't really get to know the characters at all and therefore I wasn't really interested in what happened to them. The end may be faithful to history but was a bit of an anti-climax.

This book combines real events in history with fictitious personal lives that no doubt existed and transpired given the WWll scenario. As a WWll history buff, the events on both sides of the Channel make sense and the plot was interwoven over the 5 days in such a way that the storyline was very plausible. This short story also evidenced the enormous waste of resources by the Nazi regime to develop and deploy the V2 rocket system for, in warfare terms, little benefit for the effort, which incidentally goes against one of the Principles of War. In addition, the immediate reaction of the British to rapidly develop a counter to the V2 attacks by developing the cadre of WAAF ‘calculators’ and deploy these to Belgium showed that rapid reaction to the live threat is possible. The personal lives of the Belgian civil population was another aspect we have experienced as we lived in Belgium for 10 years and met many that had lived through the occupation and the descriptions were very accurate.
A very enjoyable book on several levels, well researched and written.

A quick, fast-paced novel about V2 rockets towards the end of WW2. In the hands of another author this may not have been so readable. However Robert Harris has packed the story with detail, well drawn characters and great description, making this a book that was hard to put down.
I received a copy of this novel via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

V2 is set during World War II and follows the stories of two people on different sides of the conflict. Dr Rudi Graf is a German engineer who has played an important part in the development of the V2 rocket. Although his intention was originally to build rockets that could fly to the moon, the technology is now being used by Nazi Germany to carry out attacks on Allied cities, something Graf isn’t entirely comfortable with.

In London, meanwhile, Kay Caton-Walsh, a young officer in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, narrowly avoids being killed in one of these attacks when a V2 hits the building in which she is staying with her married lover. With her affair in danger of being exposed, Kay jumps at the opportunity to go to Belgium with a group of other WAAF officers on a mission to locate the V2 launch site and prevent the weapons from being used in any more strikes.

The whole novel takes place during just five days in November 1944, with Graf’s narrative alternating with Kay’s until eventually their stories begin to come together. I found both of them equally interesting to read about, but I was particularly impressed with the way Harris makes Graf such a sympathetic character, despite the fact that he is at least partly responsible for the death and destruction caused by the V2. His gradual disillusionment with his work is plain to see and he ends up being confronted with some moral dilemmas as a result. Kay’s work is rather different – she is trying to save lives rather than destroy them – but she also finds herself facing some difficult decisions when she begins to question who can and cannot be trusted.

The thriller element of the novel is very well done, with the tension rising chapter by chapter as each rocket is launched and Kay and her fellow WAAF officers race against the clock to stop them. The women are equipped with logarithm tables, slide rules and an ability to make quick and accurate calculations, but still feel under an immense amount of pressure, knowing that lives depend on their mathematical skills. The story does get quite technical at times, but don’t worry if you’re not a scientist or mathematician – the plot is easy enough to follow even if you don’t fully understand every aspect of Kay’s or Graf’s work.

The novel is equally successful as a portrayal of life in various parts of wartime Europe, from Mechelen, the city in Belgium where Kay is stationed, newly liberated from the Germans but still feeling the effects, to the forests of the Occupied Netherlands where Graf and his team are launching the V2 rockets. Although the V2 is an imprecise and expensive weapon and ultimately seen as a waste of German resources, it is still capable of causing enormous destruction and loss of life. It is in the sections of the book set in London that we see the evidence of this, such as when 168 people are killed in one strike on a branch of Woolworths, which is packed with shoppers who have heard that a new consignment of saucepans has just been delivered.

V2 has not become an absolute favourite Harris novel – I don’t think it really compares with An Officer and a Spy or the Cicero trilogy – but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I have had Munich, an earlier book by Harris, on my TBR for a few years, so I’m hoping to find time to read that one soon too.

Sadly I just couldn’t enjoy this. Pace was too slow, never really felt invested in the characters or the idea of what specifically was at stake. Far from his best.

Harris uses the device of using a double narrative to portray the horror of being on the receiving or launch end of a V2 ballistic rocket. In a short novel, he describes in a documentary style the fear of being hit by a V2, the successor of the V1, which at least warned of its approach before falling from the sky. The V2 was ballistic, meaning that after a short rocket burst, it followed a parabolic curve at supersonic speed to its target. A ton of explosives, no warning, almost invisible.

Of course, losses were few on our side, more died in its manufacture than in London, it was all down to the fear factor.

We follow Kay, a UK operative posted to Belgium to track down the launch sites for the RAF to bomb, and her nemesis Graf supervising launches from Holland. Both become our heroes in the story as it evolves.

A great, though short, story, with loads of details about operations and the V2 itself.

I’m not sure why I keep coming back to Robert Harris books. I feel like his stories continuously lack depth, both the characters and the plots. They always feel rushed, and the ending is always a let down.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts on V2. As always, the premise is good, I just feel like it could have been handled better. The story, short as it is, is quite good, the plot moves along quickly and the book is reasonably enjoyable.

However after finishing I was left feeling rather meh. Not a book that will live long in the memory.

V2: A Novel Of World War II by Robert Harris is a fascinating historical novel set over just four days in November 1944.
Robert Harris has used his knowledge to create a fictional story set around Germany’s V2 missiles. The novel is written from both the German and English point of view with alternating chapters. The reader sees life in London, Oxfordshire, the Netherlands and recently occupied Europe. It is a marvellous novel enabling the reader to understand some of the complexities of war.
There is the theme of trust – remembering that ‘loose lips sink ships’, war work was classified. The reader witnesses lies being told to both sides in order to keep up morale. By November 1944 the Nazis were in retreat but no one would admit this for fear of imprisonment or worse.
Not all Germans were Nazis. Those who were not, had to tread very carefully.
Women had a role to play in war as well as men. Keen mathematical brains and those with an eye for detail were needed. War produces character on both sides. We see just what people are made of.
All the characters were well drawn. I gravitated towards the leading lady. Robert Harris has perfectly captured the atmosphere of fear and helplessness in the face of the V2 whilst also having the indomitable bulldog spirit.
V2 was my first novel by Robert Harris and I definitely want more by him. The historian in me was fascinated. The lover of fiction was entertained. V2 was a compulsive read that I could not put down.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

It’s winter 1944 and Adolf Hitler can see defeat on the horizon, but he has one last desperate shot at changing defeat in to an unlikely victory. The V2 missile, a rocket that can reek devastating carnage, and the German hierarchy hope it will be enough to turn the tide.
This is a novel seen though the lives of two people.
Rudi Graf a brilliant scientist who’s dream is to send a rocket to the moon, but instead he is in charge of the V2 program in a miserable Dutch town.
Kay Caton-Walsh has just been on the receiving end of the carnage caused by the missiles and wants to help put a stop to it. She joins WAFF in Belgium. Armed with her math skills and a slide rule, the hope is that she can locate the launch site the enemy is using and destroy it.
Destiny will draw them together with the most epic of endings at the most desperate of times.
The author creates a poignant atmosphere with the most vivid scenes and powerful characters. His writing is just sublime and he truly is a master of his craft.
Robert Harris’ storytelling is in a league of its own and ‘V2’ is written with such aplomb you will not be able to put it down.
A novel that can only be described as breathtakingly brilliant.

Mostly written during the 2020 virus lockdown, Robert Harris’s ‘V2’ is a World War Two thriller like no other I have read – and I’ve read a few. I’ve been a Harris fan since the beginning with ‘Fatherland’. ‘V2’ is different because it tells two stories – the technical development of the V2 rockets, and five days in November 1944 when the lives of a German rocket engineer and British spy are changed by this weapon.
Harris skilfully handles truth, fiction, engineering details and mathematical calculations, adding two fictional characters to create a page turning story. The V2 rocket is placed firmly at the centre of this book. Without it, there would be no story. Originally conceived by scientists as a space project, the V2 was a hateful weapon that inspired fear. Unlike its predecessor the V1 which could be seen and heard before it descended giving time to take cover, the V2 hit without warning. It was also highly unreliable, going off-target, exploding at launch, crashing at sea, killing the people who built it – slave labourers – and launch crews.
The story opens as rocket engineer Dr Graf is trying to concentrate on pre-launch missile checks on the Dutch coast at Scheveningen. He is interrupted by the arrival of a Nazi officer. The rocket is launched. In London, WAAF officer Kay Caton-Walsh emerges from a bathroom wrapped in a towel. Her assignation with her married lover ends when the V2 lands on their building. Harris’s tightly plotted story sees Kay moved from London-based photo reconnaissance, studying launch sites of the rockets, to Mechelen in Belgium. There she and a team of female mathematicians calculate the flight trajectory of the rocket, tracking it backwards to identify the launch site for Allied fighter-bombers to target. As Dr Graf is pressured to launch rockets more frequently than is safe, Kay can’t shake the feeling she is being followed through the strange shadowy streets of Mechelen.
Occasionally the technical details get in the way of the story but what is most fascinating are the portrayals of the German and British leadership at a time when the end of the war seemed to be approaching. Doubts and regrets by some on the German side are balanced by fanatical demands and obsessive management from the SS. In London, key decisions about the defence of the nation are influenced by an extra-marital affair. On both sides, the men at the top making the decisions seem apart from real life. An excellent read, it is a race against time as Kay and her colleagues try to identify the launch locations and Dr Graf is questioned by the Gestapo. I raced through it.
I was fascinated to read the Author’s Note at the end, explaining the inspiration behind the book. In September 2016, Harris read an obituary in ‘The Times’ of 95-year old Eileen Younghusband, formerly a WAAF officer at Mechelen.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

Like his novel Munich which I read recently, V2 is set over the course of a few days. However, this time it's 1944 at the height of the German onslaught on London with the deadly V2 rockets, the devastating effects of which are vividly described. The book alternates between the stories of two main characters - German engineer, Dr. Rudi Graf and British WAAF Officer, Kay Caton-Walsh. Despite being on different sides, their lives will intertwine in a number of ways.

The book contains many powerful scenes including the intricate and highly risky process involved in launching the V2 rockets, the scenes of devastation on the streets of London caused by their impact and, most memorably for me, Graf's recollection of his visit to witness the construction using slave labour of the vast subterranean factory at Nordhausen where the rockets are to be manufactured. "The stench of it. And the noise of it - the rumble of cement mixers, the ring of pickaxes, the muffled boom of explosions...the clank of railway trucks moving up and down the line... And the sight of it, wherever one looked in the eerie dim yellow light: the moving sea of striped uniforms, an undifferentiated mass unless one made an effort to fix one's eyes on one of the pale, emaciated figures that were hurrying everywhere."

The tension builds as an exciting but deadly cat-and-mouse game takes place in which Kay and her colleagues - slide rules and logarithm tables at the ready - race against time to locate the launch sites of the V2 rockets so that bombing raids can be launched by the RAF.

War is never straightforward and Kay in particular lets her feelings override her judgment resulting in unintended consequences for others. I found Graf an especially interesting character. He becomes increasingly appalled by the use to which the technology he helped develop is being put and the motivations of those higher up in the command chain. "He felt himself to be like one of the rockets - a human machine, launched on a fixed trajectory, impossible to recall, hurtling to a point that was preordained." The end of the book sees him faced with a similarly difficult moral choice.

In V2 Robert Harris once again blends historical fact and fiction to produce a fascinating and utterly gripping story.

V2 by Robert Harris
I am a fan of Robert Harris’ writing and was therefore delighted to have the opportunity to review this novel which he wrote during the lockdown. The prose is very well constructed and the pacing is excellent. We view the story of the V2 from 2 sides – that of Kay the WAAF who is almost killed by a V2 in London and Dr Graf who had been a part of the bid by Von Braun to be the first to launch a rocket into space since its inception.
I found the book a gripping read; it was excellent at detailing both sides of this fascinating story. We are thrown into the action of the story immediately as Kay is almost struck by V2 whilst spending the weekend with her married lover. It was a real insight into the life of the WAAFs as they struggled to read the aerial images which had been captured by the brave boys in the RAF and also the pressure which was placed upon the German scientist/engineers to launch as many V2s as possible upon London.
Robert Harris engages your emotions leading you to invest in characters on both the British and German sides. His portrayal of the British heroine Kay Caton-Walsh who is determined to play her part in the war and locate the launch site of the V2 rockets is balanced by that of the idealist Dr Rudi Graf who has long dreamed of developing of rocket travel to the moon.
I would thoroughly recommend this novel and would like to thank the author, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Another excellent novel by this renowned author who ably blends fact and fiction to pen a masterpiece of historical fiction. Set in WW11 this follows the development and deployment of the infamous V2,rocket. It is told in two voices, that of Graf , a scientist working on the rocket and Kay a young WAAF officer involved in the tracking of the rocket. There is a considerable amount of factual knowledge embedded in the storyline connected to the V2 and the part women plAyed in wartime

I always enjoy Robert Harris books. This wartime novel s a skilful blend of historical figures and facts. The author's descriptive powers make is very easy to imagine that you are there. Tremendous research from Robert Harris and his fascination for the German war machine as they desperately launch their V weapons at the end of hostilities. A very good book. Usual Robert Harris