Freefall

by Robert Radcliffe

. Dreadfully injured in the Arnhem landings, paratrooper Theo Trickey was never expected to survive . Medical Officer Captain Daniel Garland pulled Trickey's comatose body from a pile of corpses, keeping him alive as they were shipped to a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany. As Garland discovers, Trickey has had a remarkable war. Boy soldier, commando, paratrooper, intelligence officer – fighting from northern France to the African desert. But that's not all. What was Trickey's connection with Germany's greatest general, the recently deceased Erwin Rommel? Why have the Desert Fox's loyalest officers tracked him down and just what is it that they want Garland to do? Freefall is the second part of Radcliffe's Airborne trilogy which tells the extraordinary story of a young soldier, a new regiment and how, together, they changed the course of a war . 'A deft, vivid, painfully well-observed' Graham Hurley, author of Finisterre .

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

282 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 8, 2018

About the author

This is a pseudonym for Robert Mawson.

Reviews

[John McDermott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant sequel to Airborne. The horror and futility of war are painfully depicted in Freefall and both main characters - Trickey and Garland - suffer the very worst that conflict can bring. Highly recommended ; a must read.

[John Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

As good as the first book in the trilogy. Can't wait for it to be published and if it's as good as the first two.

[Dolf Patijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freefall is the second book in a trilogy and is, like the first book, a great read. It is essential to read the books in order and it also makes it easier if you have some knowledge about WW II and its campaigns. Part of this book is set in Northern Africa and deals with the desert campaigns. For those not familiar, Google can be a great help for background information. I'm looking forward to the third installment which I'm going to start right away. :)

[David Slater · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cracking read.

[Huw Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a war book with a bit of a different take.

Whilst a lot of the action really happened, our superhero/ bit of a bozo main character is highly unlikely to have taken part in more than a coupe of the dozen or so events touched upon in the book.

I appreciate this is the second of a trilogy, but I didn't feel I'd missed out that much from not having read the first.

There's plenty of action in the book for those that like their war books action packed - and plenty of smiles, intrigue and sub plots as we follow our hero, Theo Trickey, around the various theatres of the Second World War.

If I happen to come across the other two books in the trilogy, probably in a second hand bookstore, I'll probably read them as this one was entertaining enough - but I won't be going out of the way to find them. A fair to middling sort of book, really.

[Julian Blatchley · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the first book, Airborne, this was a worthy sequel. Great storytelling. I will forgive the main character for managing to get into almost every single British airborne action of WW2 (and I suspect that he'll manage a few more in the 3rd volume!) and also the fact that the title has nothing to do with anything in the story, because this is a good story, well written and engaging. If the writer brings the 3rd book to a similar level, this will be a notable achievement.

[Fi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since I read the first book in this trilogy I've been looking forward to reading the next one, but sadly, it didn't quite measure up - or perhaps it was simply that the outstanding 'Airborne' is a hard act to follow, & that if I'd read this one in isolation I'd have thought more of it?

[Rory Hannan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this second instalment of the Airborne trilogy. Theo’s war experience becomes increasingly exciting and Garlands more emotive. Love the African and Italian theatres detail, which is in as good historical accuracy as the first book. Looking forward to reading the third.

[Mark Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good action scenes but has two main characters and both in different years of the war but both connected so can be trickey to tell what's happening when it's happening and to whom it's happening

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still enjoyed this story, had the right stuff in it, but I did not think it was as good as the first one. Still looking forward to the last book in the series.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what I expected, picked it up at the Library, having read this book first perhaps I missed something. Found the writing a bit disjointed. The main character Trickey was a boy wonder.

[Geoff Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly woven story. Impossible to put down.

[Nicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book in this trilogy follows Private Theo Trickey through his time with the Paras in Africa and his stints as an SOE operative and a partisan leader through the middle years of the war. The boy certainly gets about a bit. Intercut with that, we get the story of Dr Daniel Garland, the military medical officer looking after Trickey in a camp in Germany during the final months of the war.

This book has the same action-packed sequences as the first one, with soldiers in the thick of battle and in dire straits. Trickey also uncovers some information about his father and has time to find a bit of romance. And along the way, we get more detail about his connection with Rommel and, by extension, Garland's dealings with the Rommel family in Germany.

The first book in the series was better, but that might be because I'm more familiar with the campaigns in Europe than those in North Africa. Once again, the battle scenes are well handled, crackling off the page. And both Theo and Daniel are good characters to take you through the story.

Some of Trickey's adventures in particular stretch credulity somewhat - he goes everywhere and does a bit of everything - but he isn't your average squaddie, with his South Tyrolean background, fluency in multiple languages and his Para training. Even with a slight suspension of disbelief, I care enough about these characters to want to know what happens to them next.