Trust No One by Glenn Dyer – 4.5 Stars
Publisher: TMR Press LLC
ISBN: 9781701105784
I guess I should have read up on
this novel before I started reading it. I hope Mr. Dyer did a better job in the
Prologue, or even a Forward preceding it, to refresh his first 3 books and
characters before releasing the final copy. It is important to note that following
the actual novel text was the “Author’s Note” which I wish had read first. I
struggled for many chapters getting into the event(s) and relearning the
characters. That said, the way it was introduced lowered my 5-stars rating to a
4.5-starss for an excellent story in itself. Mr. Dyer, please put the “Author’s
Note” up front!
Over two years passed since the
last read of his third book and unlike Mr. Dyer who lives in this WW II,
I forgot most of it. I accept your apology for this long absence in completing
it.
Conor and Emily were well
remembered and their cleverness and feistiness continued. It’s always a pleasure,
particularly today in the world that has become so touchy-feely instead of suck-it-up
and live with reality. Conor and Emily face a lot of adversity in a
not-so-important-looking mission. Again, I stress that the Author’s Note be
read first to get a perspective of why it was important, plus an additional
refresh of some of the real-to-life characters. Mr. Dyer precedes each chapter
with dates and places which without would really make this impossible to follow.
My only suggestion relative to that is that the number of chapters be reduced
and the consolation of pertinent information be done in larger chapters before
hopping off to somewhere else.
After finally understanding the
characters, I could then consciously visualize the events and journey to its
end. Bravo Mr. Dyer. But, the continuous referencing of character by names and/or
positions, some in long German military and political position identities, and
the numerous factions of Germany and France involved might have been a
no-brainer for a history-buff. I’m still in infancy with the wars, hated history
in school way back before the mid-1960s, but my interest finally peaked. Mr.
Dyer’s Series was a great way to capture and promote that interest. Please
spare your readers of the unnecessary military positions and better introduce
the different country factions.
With all that said, I am amazed
how well the history is imbedded with fiction in all the Connor Thorn &
Emily Bright novels. Thank you, Mr. Dyer. If I can summarize, without revealing
too much, this novel begins with the hiding of archives that start with thoughts
it is limited to who assassinated a French Admiral., as his Author’s Note
explains quite well as a document that could also endanger the coalition of the
allies and outcome of the war. It was important to find the archives and
determine the implications. General Eisenhower even committed to resigning if
the OSS and SOE (look them up) were involved in the assassination of a Admiral,
who in the beginning may or may not have been involved with Nazis. Conor and
Emily’s journey started out rough with them being kicked out of their
perspective organizations, but who do you call when you really need top spies
to do an important mission? They again teamed and traveled through many
locations to play detective, find the archives, assassinate a few Germans, and
get beat up and shot on the way. The secrecy and cat-and-mouse events create a
story that can not be put down, after the first several chapters as noted
above. I almost want to read it again to appreciate the first part which I
couldn’t reassemble from past novels in the Series. For example, I had totally
forgot that Conor had a sister Maggie Thorn and for a while had her mixed up
with Emily Bright Thorn his wife of 9 days when the novel began.
It is only because of the structure
of the novel that I removed ½ star from my rating, and would have liked to have
rated it a 4.5 Star. The history and story rock as always.
Reviewer: Rich
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