Kyiv Synopsis
The gripping new thriller from Graham Hurley, KYIV is set against the backdrop of Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's all-consuming invasion of the Soviet Union.
On Sunday 22nd June 1941 at 03.05, three-and-a-half million Axis troops burst into the Soviet Union along a 1,800-mile front to launch Operation Barbarossa. The southern thrust of the attack was aimed at the Caucasus and the oil fields beyond. Kyiv was the biggest city to stand in their way.
Within six weeks, the city was under siege. Surrounded by Panzers, bombed and shelled day and night, Soviet Commissar Nikita Khrushchev was amongst the senior Soviet officials co-ordinating the defence. Amid his cadre of trusted personnel is British defector Bella Menzies, once with MI5, now with the NKVD, the Soviet secret police.
With the fall of the city inevitable, the Soviets plan a bloody war of terror that will extort a higher toll on the city's inhabitants than the invaders. As the noose tightens, Bella finds herself trapped, hunted by both the Russians and the Germans.
As the local saying has it: life is dangerous – no one survives it.
Kyiv is part of the SPOILS OF WAR Collection, a thrilling, beguiling blend of fact and fiction born of some of the most tragic, suspenseful, and action-packed events of World War II. From the mind of highly acclaimed thriller author GRAHAM HURLEY, this blockbuster non-chronological collection allows the reader to explore Hurley's masterful storytelling in any order, with compelling recurring characters whose fragmented lives mirror the war that shattered the globe.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781838938345 |
| Publication date: |
3rd March 2022 |
| Author: |
Graham Hurley |
| Publisher: |
Head of Zeus -- an Aries Book an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
403 pages |
| Series: |
Spoils of War |
| Primary Genre |
Historical Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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Graham Hurley Press Reviews
You could read a lot of books before you found a tale better told - The Times
A masterful novel: a war narrative, a spy thriller, and a historical fiction steeped in meticulously-researched factual detail -- Dr Christine Berberich, University of Portsmouth
If you are unaware of what happened in Kiev after the Nazi invasion of Russia in 1941, Kyiv may be an eye-opener. To anyone not yet familiar with Hurley's superb wartime thrillers, it certainly will. Graham Hurley - already a respected crime writer with some thirty titles under his belt - has established himself in the pantheon of thriller writers who have set novels in and around WWII and his books sit comfortably alongside those of Philip Kerr, Ben Pastor, John Lawton, Alan Furst and David Downing - Shots Magazine
The fear enveloping Kyiv as the Soviets flee radiates from every page. Like Red Traitor, this is historical fiction of a high order - Financial Times
With distinct echoes of John Le Carre set against the desolate spectacle of the siege, Kiev's occupation and all the compromises and atrocities committed by all sides, this is a starkly evocative tale of wartime bleakness and the hall of mirrors of espionage in times of conflict. Grips you from end to finish and deserving, as Hurley invariably is, of much more attention than he has been getting of late - Crime Time
Could not be more timely - The Times
About Graham Hurley
Graham Hurley is the author of the acclaimed Faraday and Winter crime novels and an award-winning TV documentary maker. Two of the critically lauded series have been shortlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculier Award for Best Crime Novel. His thriller Finisterre, set in 1944, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. Follow Graham at grahamhurley.co.uk
Maxim Jakubowski's view on JOE FARADAY...
The investigations of a Portsmouth cop and a fascinating look into crime on the British coast. If you like Ian Rankin’s Rebus, this should be your next step. NO LOVELIER DEATH is the 9th book in the Faraday series.
A Q & A with Graham Hurley
Who’s your favourite author?
The Alan Furst of The Polish Officer and The World at Night.
Where do you live? And why?
Portsmouth. Because so many people ask me why.
What’s the greatest influence on your writing?
Lin Rowden.
What is your philosophy for life?
Check the tide tables and watch for eddies.
Have you had any formal tuition in creative writing? If so, where and what? Did you find it useful?
BA/MA Cambridge University (English – no help at all). No formal tuition in creative writing except a pathological nosiness and a fascination with story. Profound doubts about collective literary endeavour. Why? Because, in the end, writing is a solitary business.
Did you always want to be an author? If not, what did you originally want to be and when and why did you change your mind?
Yes. And like most authors, I’m not sure why. But – emphatically – yes.
Who do you most admire and why?
My mum (seriously). Because she’s never failed to make the very best of an occasionally dodgy hand. Huge fortitude.
What jobs did you have before you started writing?
Ice cream salesman, deckchair attendant, lifeguard, prep school teacher (scripture and cricket), Radio Victory reporter, TV promotion scriptwriter, TV researcher, TV documentary director/producer, Oz TV cop series writer.
If your house was burning down what would you save?
Lin Rowden, the cats, a framed photo of the Otter estuary, me.
What do you do when you are not writing? How do you relax? What are your hobbies?
Sailing, cycling, nosing around, tussling with French, dreaming of the day Tony Blair resigns.
More About Graham Hurley
