Michael and Kathleen McMenamin (http://www.winstonchurchillthrillers.com) are the author of nearly 10 novels. The Göring Gamble was published in March of this year, and it is the 9th book in the Mattie McGary + Winston Churchill Adventures series. It is the 33rd book I completed reading in 2024.

Due to scenes of violence and mature situations, I categorize this novel as R.

This chapter of the McGary + Churchill Adventures begins in March of 1933. Hitler is pushing for rearmament. Nazi Air Minister Hermann Göring is driving the growth of the Luftwaffe. To accomplish that, Germany needs high-performance aircraft engines. While their own industry is gearing up to the demand, engines must be obtained from outside of Germany. Secret deals are made with suppliers in the US, Britain, and France to provide those engines.

All three countries are desperate to keep knowledge of the sales from the public. Having former Allies against the Germans in WWI collaborating with them now to breach the terms of the Treaty of Versailles would be a scandal. Hearst photojournalist Mattie McGary is made aware of the secret deals by her godfather Winston Churchill.

McGary begins meeting with sources to verify the story of the sale. Soon, she finds sources disappearing or dead and her own life at risk. The powers at be do not want the sales revealed. In particular, the US Army MID, under the direction of Harold Canfield, wants McGary dead to both contain this story and to settle past grudges.

With many of the original sources gone, McGary and her husband, lawyer Bourke Cockran, must become creative. They seek the help of known Jewish gangsters to help ferret out the needed information. The closer McGary gets to having the story confirmed, the more danger she and those around her are in.

I enjoyed the 19+ hours I spent reading this 668-page WWII-era thriller. I have had the opportunity to read a few other novels in this series. They are The DeValera Deception, The Parcifal Pursuit, The Gemini Agenda, The Berghof Betrayal, and The Prussian Memorandum. They have all been excellent war-period thrillers. This novel is fiction, though many facts and persons of the era are woven into the plot. It is full of action, intrigue, and politics. I give this novel a rating of 4.5 (rounded to 5) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

This had everything that I was looking for from a historical fiction novel, I really enjoyed how good Winston Churchill was written in this adventure. It had that adventure element that I was looking for and thought it felt like that time-period was used perfectly. Michael McMenamin & Kathleen McMenamin has a great writing style and can’t wait for more.