Where Dead Men Meet is set in 1937. War is on the horizon, and Europe is full of nervous anxiety. Luke Hamilton, a young British air force intelligence officer in Paris, is shocked to find himself the target of an assassination attempt.

Initially, he believes the attempt to be a case of mistaken identity, but that misconception doesn't last long. Finding an unlikely ally in Borodin (one of the hit men originally targeting him), Luke ends up on the run. Borodin sends him to a woman who has been helping Jews escape from Germany, but his welcome doesn't reassure him, and Pippi has a grievance against Borodin.

Fast paced, this prewar thriller kept me on edge. A little convoluted with all of the mysterious backstory, but a suspenseful romp across Europe during a dangerous time.

Read in Jan.; blog post scheduled for May 14, 2017.

NetGalley/Blackstone Publishing

Suspense/Historical Fiction. May 30, 2017. Print length: 448 pages.

This is a somewhat complicated thriller that has fast scenes with a lot of background that does slow the pace of the story at times.

We begin the mystery with the murder of Sister Agnes, a kindly middle aged nun working on an orphanage. And lets be honest, is there any better way of starting a mystery than with the death of a good nun? Then we are introduced to Luke Hamilton, working for the UK embassy in Paris despite his not having 'typical' English looks. Luke was adopted by his parents from Sister Agnes' orphanage and was very close to her, making her death quite the blow. Then we are introduced to Bernard Fautrier, one of the main characters in the book who apparently saves Luke's life from not one but two assassination attempts. It is then revealed that Luke isn't who he thought he was, yet nor is it possible to be sure of who he might be and finding the truth might take all the courage he has. This leads to a story that takes place in several cities across central Europe. New characters are introduced and dispatched at high speed. There is a romance storyline but it is subtle and not the central theme of the novel.

Set in the turbulent times of 1937, there is some historical knowledge in the book to underscore the story. Luke becomes involved with a group smuggling Jewish families out of Nazi Germany, the war in Spain and the rise of Stalin in Russia are all touched upon, but not a great deal of detail is given apart from the basics.

If you can suspend belief that an amateur can outwit professional assassins and the like, this is a very entertaining read.

Where Dead Men Meet is quite a bit more thriller than it is historical fiction. Though the book is filled with historical context which concerns the Second World War and the various horrors and complications the war brought to Europe, the main event here is Luke Hamilton. Hamilton seems to attract danger/threats with ease and throughout the entirety of the plot he finds himself the target of many different killers. Hamilton's troubles extend far beyond his birth and it is quite the journey across Europe to discover the truth.

After Hamilton is the target of several assassination attempts in Paris, he is saved by one of his would be assassins and sent to Germany for protection. Unfortunately the individual who is tasked with Hamilton's protection has unfinished business with the assassin and believe Hamilton to be the enemy. From there the plot is rife with danger, threats, death and uncertainty as Hamilton struggles to obtain a grasp on his steadily crumbling life. Where Dead Men Meet takes the reader across war strung Europe, in and out of cross-hairs and down memory lane for one of the best WW2 thrillers I have read this year.

Mark Mills has a quality and gripping writing style that focuses on character interactions and reactions. He is excellent at building up and breaking down his characters and showing the reader that all is not what it originally seems. MM's writing is nothing groundbreaking but that said, I was gripped, invested and impressed with the plot development and how he organised and inserted his characters into the overall story line. I appreciated the fact that Hamilton had other smaller story-lines and episodes threaded though the plot to complement his presence and join the large and bold story arc together.

There are two distinct atmospheres included, the smaller more immediate tone is that of anger/revenge and the larger (national) tone was fear and uncertainty for the future. Hamilton is rapidly losing the life he once had and when he goes to re-assemble the pieces, his life looks completely different and I appreciated the way that Hamilton dealt with that scenario. There are many different themes included in this piece from family, war and revenge to murder, survival and identity. Mark Mills got a nice balance of action, thrills and detail along with character development. Hamilton is complex and he evolves nicely over the course of the book.

The characters in Where Dead Men Meet are what kept me invested, so if you don't really like character driven stories then this won't be for you. Hamilton is not going down without a fight. Pippi is grieving and wants justice in any form. Borodin has had a change of heart and wants to make up for a life of wrongs. Each of them had me hooked and along with the fast paced plot, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the book.

Overall, I would recommend this book to both thriller and historical fiction lovers. It doesn't re-write the book on WW2 fiction, but it sits nicely within the ranks of other books in the genre. Thank you to Headline for sending me a copy for review. Mark Mills is a talented and gripping author and I look forward to reading more of his material. If you want a story that is complex, entertaining and engaging then please pick up Where Dead Men Meet and tell me what you thought.

Thank you.
Enjoyed it.
Will get copies for family and friends.

I read Savage Garden some time ago so it took me a little while to adjust back into Mark's narrative, and getting to know the characters, but after 30 or 40 pages I was in and the pace was fast and furious which allowed me to devour the book quickly.
The adventure sees a RAF intelligence officer based in Paris get mixed up in a supposed mistaken identity situation, the pace picks up and doesn't really let off from the moment of the meeting in a restaurant and doesn't end until some days (and dead bodies) later in Italy.
A really good insight into life across Europe in the 1930s in the build up to World War 2. You warm to the characters quickly and I found myself quickly thinking of who could play Luke and Pippi on the big screen or TV drama of this.
I really enjoyed Where Dead Men Meet it is a little different to my usual reads, but after how much I was surprised by how much I liked Savage Garden, I knew that this wouldn't disappoint.

Thanks to the publishers for my free copy in exchange for my review.

The year is 1937 and Luke finds out Agnes, the nun who cared for him when he was a foundling, has been brutally murdered. In Paris at the time, he is forced to flee for his life, without any idea as to why. Borodin, a contract killer hired to kill Luke, changes his mind inexplicably and warns Luke to run to Germany, where he meets Pippi, the woman who will eventually change life as he knows it.
The novel gives you a marvellous sense of Europe before WWII, lots of adventures and a delicious mystery: who is Luke, where did he come from?
A welcome respite from serial killers and technology, this novel really satisfied my nostalgia for old world Europe.
Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and Mark Mills for the eARC.

(Lengthened review to come shortly... Stay tuned...)

Someone is trying to kill Luke Hamilton. Why would anyone think Luke, a minor diplomatic attaché in the British Embassy in Paris, 1937, worth the effort to kill? He is a very nice, well-educated young man who does his job efficiently, but he holds no state secrets, has no lurid love affairs worthy of murder. Still, someone very professional is trying to kill him. Could it have something to do with the tragic event in England where Sister Agnes, his mentor and guardian at the orphanage where he was raised until he was adopted by the Hamiltons, was brutally murdered? Who would want Sister Agnes dead? Who would want him dead?

If Luke wants to stay alive, he needs help and it comes from a very unexpected source, his would-be assassin. Because of a casual remark Luke made about the horrors depicted in Picasso’s Guernica, his life is spared and instead of being a victim he becomes the ally of Borodin a notorious contract killer. Why did Borodin spare him and warn him of future dangers? It was a serendipitous fact that Borodin was moved by the vile acts depicted by Picasso in his masterpiece and something that may have been dead in his soul stirred to life. When the young man he was stalking expressed the same sentiment he was feeling, Borodin let him live. It was a whim.

And so Luke finds himself on a wild run from Paris to Venice where Borodin assures him that the truth behind his birth will be revealed along with the enemies out to destroy him. Along the way he is joined by a beautiful young woman, part of a network already secretly fighting the fascists in Europe. They have to kill in order not to be killed and Luke must face a heart-breaking betrayal before he finds safety again with his adopted parents.

This is a very entertaining and cinematic chase novel with enough danger, intrigue, romance and exotic settings to satisfy the most discriminating fan of the genre.

This is set up for a sequel and I will certainly read it.