The City in Year Zero: The gripping WW2 historical thriller

by Michael Russell

Nothing thrived here, but something grew...

Germany, 1945. Year Zero. The war is at an end. When Ireland's ambassador to the Third Reich finally leaves the war-torn country, Garda detective Stefan Gillespie makes his way home under the watchful eye of British Intelligence, who are searching for some of the Irish citizens Ireland doesn't want back. The usual dirty business. But suddenly Stefan is drawn into a murder inquiry.

Unexpectedly arriving in a town he knew in his youth, on visits to his German relatives, Stefan feels compelled to help his cousin Annaliese and her hostile daughter Krista. Maybe it's nostalgia for first love, or for a time of peace, or maybe he just wants to do something that feels clean. But the past is a dangerous place to return to...

A darkness still hangs over Germany, and Stefan Gillespie is walking right into it.

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Praise for Michael

'Complex but compelling . . . utterly vivid and convincing' - Independent on Sunday

'A superb, atmospheric thriller' - Irish Independent

'A thriller to keep you guessing and gasping' - Daily Mail

'Atmospheric' - Sunday Times

Genres: Ireland

313 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 5, 2026

About the author

This is the disambiguation profile for otherwise unseparated authors publishing as Michael Russell

Reviews

[PHILIP LLOYD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant, engrossing read.

[alan macaskill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its unusual for book 10 of any series to be as strong as the rest but Michael Russell pulls of a bit of magic because this is certainly one of the best books in the Stefan Gillespie story. All of the background details from earlier books are used to bring together another story full of shades of grey, compromises and the compromised all of which makes it a very human story.