Incursion

The James Shaw Missions #1

by Richard Turner

Parachuted into Nazi occupied Norway, a team of allied commandos struggle against the elements and time try and locate an advanced German plane reported to have crashed in the hills near a small German army radio station. Working closely with the Norwegian resistance, Captain James Shaw and his team quickly discover that things are not what they seem. Soon, mysterious and unexplained deaths begin to plague the mission. Drawn into a deadly fight to stay alive against Nazi forces and an unseen, unstoppable foe, Shaw must determine what is killing his men before all is lost.

Genres: Thriller

334 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2014

About the author

Richard Turner proudly served in the Armed Forces for more than thirty years. He considers himself fortunate to have had numerous overseas deployments that took him to many varied locations throughout the world, including: Germany, Cyprus, Croatia, Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Egypt, Israel and finally two tours of Afghanistan. Wanting to try something new, he now spends his time writing.

Some of Richard's favourite authors include: James Rollins, Andy McDermmott and the many novels of Clive Cussler.


http://richardturnerauthor.blogspot.ca

Reviews

[Bev Walkling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so pleased when I found out that this new release was to be available free for several days on Amazon. I had read and enjoyed the author's previous release "The Last Eagle" and was very much looking forward to this one. It did not disappoint!

The story begins with a well-written prologue set in Maine in 1863. A union officer and his men are trying to find out why a crucial lighthouse has gone dark.What they discover is something more horrifying than anything they have ever seen before.All the men who manned the station are dead, some by their own hand, others brutalized. A journal left behind doesn't fully explain what has happened, and parts sound like the rambling of a madman. While this section was well-written, it rather slipped from my mind as I read the rest of the book and ultimately I don't feel it was crucial to the the story other than to point out that this event had happened and was similar to what would come later.

Fast forward to Norway in January of 1942 and a strange craft has crash landed. The pilot survives but I hesitate to tell much more for fear of spoiling the story.

Back in Scotland, we meet Captain James Shaw, a man who drinks too much as a means of coping with the recent death of his much loved brother Andrew. Shaw is woken in the middle of the night and sent to report to what turns out to be an office of the S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive). We learn that Shaw isn't who he really appears to be having signed up using a false name. He has more reason than most to wish the Nazi's defeat as his family is actually Jewish and emigrated to the US when they could see the situation in Europe did not bode well for their safety. Shaw has a special facility with languages, including German and Norwegian, which makes him an ideal choice as candidate for a mission to discover more about this strange craft which has landed in Norway.Chosen to join the mission with him are Duncan Bruce, an R.A.F. photographer with an eidetic memory but very few skills as a soldier and a free Norwegian soldier who is a demolition expert.

The team are parachuted into Norway where they are met by local resistance members. Sadly, not all parachutes have worked and their demolition expert dies on impact.A winter storm makes life increasingly difficult. As they set off to find the downed aircraft, some local resistance members arrive with the news that a local weather station run by the Germans appears to have undergone some type of disaster. All the men are dead - many by their own hand, some with dreadfully ravaged bodies.As it was still dark, the Resistance felt they had time to check the situation out before continuing on in their mission.

Unbeknownst to them, the Germans are also aware that something seems to have stopped the weather station from functioning. The Resistance are the likely suspects and two different German groups set out to ascertain what has happened. Major Jurgen Vogel is charged by his superiors to get to the station and determine what has happened before the SS arrive and cause even more Norwegians to turn to the Resistance.Vogel is a soldier with a sense of morality. His counterpart Wagner, from the SS is not.

What happens as these three groups arrive and interact makes up the rest of the story. The action is non-stop and kept me reading well into the night. Only a few survive to tell the tale of what has actually happened. As the book ends, one is left to think that future books may follow with some of the same characters. I would look forward to that.

I'm a big fan of fiction set in the era of the Second World War, and while this book headed in other directions too, the story fit within the wartime period well. If you are interested in pure history, this might not be the book for you. If you like a good story with lots of action and suspense, this could well be just up your alley.

I would have liked to have given this book 5 stars but feel I have to give it 4.5 instead. As with many Kindle books, there seemed to be quite a number of errors of a typographical nature - cearly instead of clearly; and instead of at to point out a few. One more editing pass might have picked these up.

[William Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is by far the best novel of Richard Turner's I've read, a non-stop thrill ride of action and intrigue. Incursion reminds me of the classic World War 2 movies, with Captain James Shaw recruited for a special mission behind enemy lines. But be warned this is not your standard war novel, it's better. Mixing genres seamlessly, the plot takes twists and turns as Shaw tries to complete his mission, but it never feels forced or contrived. The pace of the book is perfect and the characters are fleshed out enough. I particularly thought the German characters were well done, with none of the cookie cutter Nazis one might expect.

The only thing keeping me from rating 4 or 5 stars are the spelling or editing mistakes. There weren't enough to affect my reading experience, as I couldn't put the book down. But there were a few too many for a higher rating. Nonetheless this was a great read that I would recommend for action or thriller readers. I will definitely be reading the next in the series.