Finisterre

Wars Within #1

by Graham Hurley

Germany, October 1944: Dozens of cities lie in ruins. Enemy armies are at the gates. For the Thousand Year Reich, time is running out. Desperate to avoid the humiliation of unconditional surrender, German intelligence launch Operation Finisterre – a last-ditch plan to enable Hitler to deny the savage logic of a war on two fronts and bluff his way to the negotiating table.

Success depends on two individuals: Stefan Portisch, a German naval officer washed ashore on the coast of Spain after the loss of his U-boat, and Hector Gomez, an ex-FBI detective, planted by Director J. Edgar Hoover in the middle of the most secret place on earth: the American atomic bomb complex. Both men will find themselves fighting for survival as Operation Finisterre plays itself out.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, War, World War II, Espionage, Historical

431 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2016

About the author

Graham Hurley was born November, 1946 in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. His seaside childhood was punctuated by football, swimming, afternoons on the dodgems, run-ins with the police, multiple raids on the local library - plus near-total immersion in English post-war movies.

Directed and produced documentaries for ITV through two decades, winning a number of national and international awards. Launched a writing career on the back of a six-part drama commission for ITV: "Rules of Engagement". Left TV and became full time writer in 1991.

Authored nine stand-alone thrillers plus "Airshow", a fly-on-the-wall novel-length piece of reportage, before accepting Orion invitation to become a crime writer. Drew gleefully on home-town Portsmouth (“Pompey”) as the basis for an on-going series featuring D/I Joe Faraday and D/C Paul Winter.

Contributed five years of personal columns to the Portsmouth News, penned a number of plays and dramatic monologues for local production (including the city’s millenium celebration, "Willoughby and Son"), then decamped to Devon for a more considered take on Pompey low-life.

The Faraday series came to an end after 12 books. Healthy sales at home and abroad, plus mega-successful French TV adaptations, tempted Orion to commission a spin-off series, set in the West Country, featuring D/S Jimmy Suttle.

Launch title - "Western Approaches" - published 2012. "Touching Distance" to hit the bookstores next month (21st November).

Has recently self-published a number of titles on Kindle including "Strictly No Flowers" (a dark take on crime fiction), "Estuary" (a deeply personal memoir) and "Backstory" (how and why he came to write the Faraday series).

Married to the delectable Lin. Three grown-up sons (Tom, Jack and Woody). Plus corking grandson Dylan.

You're very welcome to contact Graham through his website: www.grahamhurley.co.uk

Or direct on seasidepictures@btinternet.com.


Series:
* D.I. Joe Faraday

Reviews

[Nick Brett · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thriller set at the end of WW2, two story elements that will eventually come together. At the Manhattan Project, clever scientists are building the super-weapon that may win the war. When one of them appears to have committed suicide, an investigator thinks there may be more to it and, despite being warned off, starts his own investigation.
Meanwhile, a German U-Boat Captain has been washed up on the shores of Spain and, while being nursed back to health by a local, finds his services may still be required on a special mission.
An odd style of writing here, it comes over as detailed and factual but lacks any real degree of tension or big reveal. I really wanted to like this more than I did, but I struggled to find that special something to really engage me and lift this above the average.

[Gram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graham Hurley takes a break from his excellent crime novels to produce this fascinating story. It is 1944, months after the D-Day landings and with the Red Army moving inexorably towards their final target of destroying Nazi Germany. German intelligence agents stage a last-ditch bid to negotiate a favourable peace deal with the Western Allies. The main characters are a young U-Boat captain, Stefan Portisch and Hector Gomez, an ex-FBI detective, planted by J. Edgar Hoover in the American atomic bomb complex at Los Alamos. Hoover was annoyed that the FBI was not allowed to run security at the world's most secret WW2 installation and Gomez is his means of discrediting the poor security set-up of the Manhattan Project. Portisch's submarine has been commandeered by the SS and is headed for the Spanish coast. But his final U-Boat voyage ends with him being washed ashore, badly injured, on the rocky coast of Northern Spain. At Los Alamos, Sol Fiedler - a Jewish scientist, involved in designing part of the atom bomb's trigger - is found dead in his home. The military authorities call it suicide and want to end any inquiry as quickly and quietly as possible, but Hector Gomez has his suspicions that the man was murdered. As Portisch is being nursed back to health in a small Spanish fishing village, the German intelligence service moves on with its plan to negotiate a deal that will save Germany from total destruction. There are 2 main female characters in this story - one, a Spanish woman who was on the side of the Republic during the Spanish Civil War and a Latin American woman, fighting for civil rights in the USA. Although both are strong, independent women, they seem to be relegated to minor roles but still have their parts to play in the unfolding drama. Disillusioned with the war, and having lost almost his entire family in the RAF's bombing of Hamburg, Portisch is drawn in to the German intelligence plot. Thousands of miles away, Gomez tries to solve the mystery behind Sol Fiedler's death. Several historical figures are featured in the story - J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, scheming to discredit security at Los Alamos; Robert Oppenheimer - lead scientist at the New Mexican desert base and Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr. - the man who directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb.
On the German side, there is Walter Schellenberg, an SS-Brigadeführer formerly one of the highest ranking men in the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and - after the abolition of Germany's main intelligence service, the Abwehr - head of foreign intelligence for the Reich. Schellenberg's plan is to convince the British and Americans that they should accept Germany's peace terms instead of demanding unconditional surrender. This plan is codenamed "Operation Finisterre" and Hurley ensures a nail-biting read as German agents try to alter the course of World War 2 to their country's advantage. Prior to his brilliant crime writing, Graham Hurley produced several stand-alone thrillers and "Finisterre" is one that is well worth reading. Highly recommended to fans of World War II fact/fiction novels and anyone who likes a good espionage thriller.

[Ian Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is set towards the end of 1944. Kapitän Stefan Portisch commands one of the new Elektro U-boats, and he is supposed to take a number of SS men to Portugal, where it appears they will escape to Sth America with a lot of ill-gotten gains. The boat is something of a crock, and off the coast of Spain it surrenders to a storm. Stefan is the only survivor, albeit badly injured. There is a second strand, set in the Manhattan project, where one of the engineers apparently commits suicide, but FBI agent Hector Gomez does not believe that. These two strands continue for some time, and you wonder if you are reading two separate stories. Then they come together in a startling way.
The writing is very good, the characters well-drawn, and the descriptions very good. The way Stefan, who has been in the U-boats since the start of the war, has to deal with the now obvious fact that Germany is going to lose and most his fellow submariners are dead is emotionally grabbing. The plots of the two strands develop, with one exception, very credibly and very well, however when they start to mesh, for me the credibility started to take a dive. The one early exception: why would the Reich send one of its most valuable assets off to aid some SS officers to escape with stolen goods? Hitler would have such escapees shot on sight, if they were extremely lucky. I cannot discuss the end without spoiling. Overall it is an exciting well-written story, and but unfortunately, the last third does not really make sense. Read, enjoy, and don't think too hard.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy courtesy of NetGalley and the publishers in return for an honest review.

This is an assured historical fiction/thriller set towards the end of World War II at the point where Germany is facing the prospect of defeat. The novel is structured around two separate stories and it’s not until over two thirds of the way through the book that the connection between the two is made clear. For me, the story set in Los Alamos was the more successful and compelling as ex-FBI detective, Hector Gomez investigates the apparent suicide of one of the scientist working on the atomic bomb project. This has lots of twists and turns and the mystery of what has really occurred is sustained until the reveal in the final pages. I found the parallel story of Stefan Portisch less convincing as there were a number of convenient occurrences and the connection with the Los Alamos story I didn’t feel was that crucial in the end. An enjoyable read with some interesting historical detail that was clearly well-researched but, in the end, left me wishing to have been slightly more satisfied with how the two strands came together.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. The first chapter is so promising, but then it stagnates, with two dull and mostly unrelated plot lines plodding on endlessly.

[Everett Egginton · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel is built around two different sagas and the two don’t come together until the last third of the book. I was trying to figure out where and how the two would come together as I plowed through the first 300 pages or so. I never made the connection until the author did so. Saga number one takes place in northeast Spain, Coruna—or better known as Finisterre—and is based on the repercussions of a German submarine destroyed by a storm as it surfaced out of necessity to recharge its batteries. The submarine’s captain, Stefan Portisch, the sole survivor of the destroyed submarine, is the protagonist for saga number one. Saga number two takes place in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and focuses on the scientists and the scientific research that resulted in the development of the atomic bomb. Saga number two’s protagonist is a U.S. Army officer and investigator, Hector Gomez. For me, the novel has too many twists and turns, ups and downs, and unconnected strands. I’m not in any rush to read his two sequels, but, in truth, I enjoyed the book—at least somewhat.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seem to be on a good run at the moment, especially with espionage novels that blend fact and fiction in both their plots and their characters. This is the first book in a trilogy 'Wars Within' and book 2 is already on my wish list and book 3 will b.e when it appears. It is a complete change of style and genre for the author, moving right away from his police procedurals which I have enjoyed without feeling the need to rush on to the next one. The set up for this book is two separate strands; the shipwreck of a U boat off the coast and Galicia, and the suicide of a scientist at Los Alamos. Whilst enjoying reading the first 270+ pages, I could not help but wonder how on earth they would be drawn together. But they are, and it is handled very elegantly but the author still has a few tricks for us to enjoy. The lead characters are both very interesting and engaging and the writing is effective. I really look forward to 'Aurora'

[Wendy Hearder-moan · Rating 4 out of 5]

War stories, especially those involving intelligence and counter-intelligence are not usually my cup of tea, but I expected Hurley to serve up a better brew and he did not fail me. There were still a lot of allusions that went right over my head, I’m sure, but generally speaking, he humanizes the war and makes you realize that there is no black and white. Also when it comes to war, everyone loses. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

[Lindasp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book set during WWII with a double focus on the secret lab in Los Alamos where scientists worked on developing the atomic bombs and on a German sub commander who survives the sub going down off the coast of Spain. It took quite awhile for the 2 story lines to connect although I'm not sure exactly what the reason for the story with the sub commander was or where it was going. With about 15 pages left to read, I was afraid I'd be left with a lot of unanswered questions, no 'closure' and with a hook to read a second book in the series but everything was pretty neatly tied up in the those last pages. Apparently there is another book coming but it won't be a continuation of this book, so that's good. Lots of interesting details.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is always interesting when a favourite author turns their hand to a different genre, to another form of expression. Finisterre is Graham Hurley's first WWII story. Set in the hothouse atmosphere of the Allied atomic bomb development at Los Alamos, it details a complex Nazi plot to undermine the whole programme. Complex, detailed and absolutely gripping.

[Hilary Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing. Did not like the way the two separate stories were interleaved. They seemed to be completely disconnected until fairly near the end and even then I didn't quite understand the plot.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is September 1944: knowing that the war cannot be won, and desperate to avoid having to accept unconditional surrender, the German intelligence service launches Operation Finisterre in the hope of convincing the British and American governments to negotiate a peace deal with Hitler. The success of this mission is dependent on the actions of two men, who are involved in two apparently unconnected incidents.
Twenty four year old Stefan Portisch, the experienced and well-decorated captain of a German U-boat, is charged with taking five SS men, along with their mysterious cargo, to Lisbon on a top-secret mission. However, when crossing the Bay of Biscay in a storm, his vessel sinks and the crew is forced to abandon ship. Badly injured, Stefan is washed ashore at a small fishing village on the coast of Spain and subsequently discovers that he is the only survivor. He is cared for by Eva, an activist during the Spanish Civil War, and soon falls in love with her. Disillusioned about continuing to fight for a cause which is both flawed and doomed, whilst he is recovering from his injuries he realises that he must make a decision about his future. However, when is betrayed to the Germans he discovers that achieving what he wants, a future with Eva, will depend on his cooperation with German intelligence agents in their plan to feed false information to the Allied Forces.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Hector Gómez, an ex-FBI agent, now a counter-intelligence officer with the US Army and based at the American atomic bomb complex at Los Alamos, is investigating the apparent suicide of one of the scientists, a German Jew who had escaped to America before the war. Unconvinced by the evidence presented, his investigations finally lead Hector across the border into Mexico where, uncovering a complex espionage plot, he finds himself in grave danger. Along the way he meets Yolanda, a Spanish American woman who is fighting for civil rights in the USA, and, like Stefan, he too falls in love.
The narrative switches every few pages as it tells the parallel stories of the two main characters. Initially I found theses frequent switches rather frustrating but, once I had adapted to the style, I found that this device helped to increase the dramatic tension in a very effective way. There is, of course, an assumption that the apparently disparate scenarios will eventually merge to make a coherent whole, but there were enough mysteries along the way to make it an interesting, and not too predictable, journey. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of life on a U-boat and thought that the author captured the atmosphere of camaraderie, trust and loyalty which develops between men forced to live in such an isolated, claustrophobic world – comparisons between the highly evocative descriptions in Das Boot and this book are well-deserved.
Although much of the historical background was very familiar to me, I thought that the author used his research in a very effective way, blending fact and fiction in a way which felt convincing. I thought that the rivalry and power-games between the respective governments’ agencies, as well as between the countries involved, were very well-portrayed, adding an extra layer of confusion to the intricate negotiations needed in order to broker a face-saving peace treaty for the Germans.
I found this an entertaining and engaging read but do have a couple of niggling criticisms. I thought that the romantic relationships were portrayed rather less successfully than other character-development, and that there were times when they distracted from the developing tension. I also found the ending to be rather rushed after the slow, but engagingly reflective build-up. This is the first book I have read by this author and, based on the overall quality of his writing, and his convincing plotting, I feel encouraged to try another of his novels.

[Christine Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complex, well constructed thriller based on a bluff by German Intelligence to enable Hitler to deny an unconditional surrender the allies were close to demanding. The author presents two individuals in different contexts who unwittingly at first become involved in this deception; one a German U boat commander and the other an American working as an army security detective as well as an undercover FBI agent. The two sides to the story are not brought together until near the end of the book and full understanding then dawns on the reader. A difficult task for an author but the inter weaving tales are coherently and cleverly aligned at the end.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good WWII thriller, with parallel stories merging plausibly at the end. Gomez is an ex-FBI agent working as a detective at Los Alamos in 1944, U-boat Captain Portisch is the only survivor of a storm off the Spanish coast. Gomez investigates the apparent suicide of a scientist which leads to spying, murder and Mexico whilst Portisch tires of war, falls in love with a Spanish woman but is then inveigled into an SS plot. There’s some dumping of research and the American story is the more convincing but it is all involving

[Richard Hakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unquestionably a good and interesting read. It is a feel good book it makes you feel good that in a bad world there is some good in it. For a book set in the war there is little killing and violence. I didn't feel that the story line while had a good premise hung together too well. I am still not sure about some of the whys.

There has been a few books I have read recently set in WW2 where the Germans were good but we were just that bit better. I just think the Americans won the war by brute force.

[J S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wasn't too sure about this but once into the book, really enjoyed it. Nicely drawn characters and good gradual build up in suspense. The dual track narrative of the two main characters worked really well. Much better handled than other thriller authors whose "crisis" at the end of each chapter just makes you jump forward to find out what happened. Even when I had deduced the answer (towards the end) still wanted to read on to find out what happened to the characters. Will certainly buy more graham Hurley's books.

[Jim Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book and fun to read while the Oppenheimer movie was released. The book follows the path of two protagonists - both finding themselves in challenging situations arising from the American nuclear weapon program in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

While there were parts of the book that I thought were unnecessary to the flow of the story (Mexican jail cell scenes I am looking at you) the basic story is interesting and the last 100 pages are riveting.

Based on this book I plan to read the rest of the series.

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written World War 2 thriller

Hurley’s book is set in the last months of 1944, with a dual narrative featuring a U-boat captain who is wrecked on the Spanish coast and a security officer on the Manhattan Project.

I found that despite the lack of any combat scenes, Hurley’s writing kept my attention throughout. There are credible and interesting characters throughout and the book appeared well researched.

Not a bad read, but I did feel the ending somewhat unfulfilling.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was sort of like All the Light We Cannot See but not as lyrical. A German submarine captain runs aground on the Spanish coast and an American FBI agent posted to Los Alamos investigates an apparent suicide of a scientist working on the atomic bomb. These two stories are told alternately until eventually they converge. Part American murder mystery, part World War II drama.

[David Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book - my only gripe is that my Kindle decided to close it before I could read the afterword.
I do agree with one other reviewer that the Spanish/UK bits of the book were better than the American/Mexican, but the latter did get better as the book went on. I felt they were quite heavy going at the start.

[Alistair Beattie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intelligent and interesting

Good mix of factual and fictional storylines. Very convincing and refreshingly objective view of real life events.

Looking forward to reading more by this author.

[Notty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Very, very convoluted........didn't realize it was a true story.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb

[Peter Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad read…

Well written.
Interesting plot that was not obvious even till the last two chapters.
Will I read the rest of the series? Probably (not)!

Regards,
Peter

[John Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story. I loved how the different plots came together.

[Andy Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable with a mix of fictional and real characters and the action split between 2 different continents and 2 main characters. Very good.

[Peter Timson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it. Library book. Lockdown material. Heavily promoted via FB.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this, very well written, fast paced and interesting.

[Judie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent WWII thriller. Will definitely read the next in this series.

[Tony Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, but a weak ending