Puffin

Frank & Hildy #1

by T.K. Louis

BEST THRILLER at the 2020 Entrada Publishing Incipere Awards

Fast paced, intelligent. The Faroe Islands, Russian ambition, an explosive cocktail. All is not as it seems when ex-intelligence analyst Frank Llewellyn and his wife Hildy travel to the tranquil Faroes to visit their daughter. Something is ominously amiss, and Frank is dead set on getting to the bottom of it, come what may.

385 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 15, 2019

About the author

After four decades of working in the financial and renewables sector, finding new and innovative ways of financing projects, I decided to start writing novels.

My life has always been full of books. My grandmother started me on Rex Stout/Nero Wolfe when I was twelve and in bed with the flu. Since then I've always had a book with me, preferably 5-6 when going on vacation (much to my wife's annoyance).

Alistair McClean, A.A Affair/Earl Stanly Gardner, Tolkien, Ian Flemming, Agatha Christy, Bernard Cornwell, Terence Strong, Stephen Leather, Kathy Reichs, Michael Connelly, Simon Scarrow, Lee Child, just to name a few.

Now it's my turn.

I want to write exciting, interesting, intelligent fiction with believable characters where conflicts are abundant and brains and guile take precedent over brawn.
And the occasional paranormal or historic novel.
I feel I'm off to a good start.

You can visit me at the link below.


If you visit me on FB - PLEASE DO NOT LIKE ME!
if you do, you will not be able to post your reviews on Amazon.

I look forward to entertaining you.

Reviews

[William Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess that when I started reading Puffin: a Frank & Hildy thriller, I wasn't sure if the author was intending it to be a cozy mystery or a full-throttle thriller. The setting in the Faroe Islands is wonderful. With obvious first-hand knowledge, the author provides a superb context for the story--the weather, the landscape, the customs and language. But initially, Frank, an intelligence analyst recently fired by MI6, doesn't seem smart enough. There seems to be something too cutesy about his relationship with his wife, and the two seem to be amateur sleuths at best. I began to mistrust Frank's decisions--not to tell the police, not to tell his wife about a traumatic event.

But then something happens. As the pieces of a potentially world-threatening conspiracy begin to fall into place, the novel shifts into "full-speed-ahead-damn-the-torpedoes" mode. The couple becomes exponentially smarter, and Frank develops brilliant alternatives to avert a cataclysmic disaster. The story becomes so thrilling that I read the entire second half in one sitting, delaying my lunch and holding all calls. What a ride!

There are some editing issues, but they may not detract from your enjoyment of the story at all. Puffin is part travelogue, part geopolitical thriller, and altogether satisfying. And Frank and Hildy become quite the proficient couple by the end! Give yourself a good block of time when you start reading it and hold on tight!

[William Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess that when I started reading Puffin: a Frank & Hildy thriller, I wasn't sure if the author was intending it to be a cozy mystery or a full-throttle thriller. The setting in the Faroe Islands is wonderful. With obvious first-hand knowledge, the author provides a superb context for the story--the weather, the landscape, the customs and language. But initially, Frank, an intelligence analyst recently fired by MI6, doesn't seem smart enough. There seems to be something too cutesy about his relationship with his wife, and the two seem to be amateur sleuths at best. I began to mistrust Frank's decisions--not to tell the police, not to tell his wife about a traumatic event.

But then something happens. As the pieces of a potentially world-threatening conspiracy begin to fall into place, the novel shifts into "full-speed-ahead-damn-the-torpedoes" mode. The couple becomes exponentially smarter, and Frank develops brilliant alternatives to avert a cataclysmic disaster. The story becomes so thrilling that I read the entire second half in one sitting, delaying my lunch and holding all calls. What a ride!

There are some editing issues, but they may not detract from your enjoyment of the story at all. Puffin is part travelogue, part geopolitical thriller, and altogether satisfying. And Frank and Hildy become quite the proficient couple by the end! Give yourself a good block of time when you start reading it and hold on tight!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was only read beginning to end because of the setting of the Faroe Islands. It was 2.5 stars for me due to the interesting history of the peoples and the landscape, etc. I did skip over a good many passages to be able to see if the world would end.
It is a strange tale involving Russian ambitions vs the major world military forces and the narrator is not credible as former MI6. Hard to read.


Kindle Unlimited

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great debut novel! Hildy and Frank are on a trip to the Faroe Islands to visit family. They become embroiled in thwarting a Russian military scheme to establish a naval base in the islands. Fast moving and very interesting.

[C. Stuchl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding thriller

My first but not the my last. Loved the characters. They were a perfect pair. The story was very believable and fit in with today's technology and politics. Fast paced and exciting. Keep it up. More is better with exciting scenarios. Write faster.

[Ken Fredette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute read, a spy, family involvement, a vacation, and soldiers and policewomen. It starts out with Frank being let go from M16 and Hildy wanting to on vacation to the Faroe Islands where their daughter Jenny is interning for Faroe Oil, and other relatives are to be found. Knud was Hildy's cousin and took them fishing on the ocean, while there Frank saw a Russian ship off load barrels of oil onto a another ship. All this while Penny told her father that Hans, from Holland, was going over the data for drilling and it showed they were drilling in the wrong area. This led to Frank making assumptions which led to having Knud take a boat out of the harbor before it exploded and wiped out the old town and hundreds of people. Frank and Hildy tried to convince the local government that they were being duped by the Russians into losing their Faroe Oil Company to the Russians. This is what the book is about but T.K. Louis describes much more than this in resolving the issue of the Faroe Oil Company. There's so much more, killings, nuclear bombs, missles and much more in this ideal setting of the Faroe Islands.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to author T. K. Louis for this Kindle copy of Puffin. Also, thanks to Goodreads for hosting the opportunity.

I really like it. For a first book, I think this book was well done. A good story line and pace, some interesting characters, some humor, and colorful descriptions of surrounding scenes. A bit rough around the edges, but for a first book, and self published to boot, this blew away many other e-books I've read in the past several years. I don't recall there being any editing issues here, which shows that elusive 'pride of ownership' so lacking in many areas of our world today. Thank you Mr. Louis.

My only suggestions are that I thought perhaps the book was a little too long, and the conversations felt unnatural - in that the language is perfectly correct, but people don't generally talk that way.

This book was a pleasure to read, and I highly recommend picking up a copy. A good read.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read

Puffin: a Frank & Hildy thriller is an enjoyable read. It has a conversational, casual tone that I found refreshing. It also has a few "dad jokes" which I happen to like a lot. The characters are likeable (at least the good guys are), the scenario seems realistic, and the location is charming. I haven't read a lot of thrillers so I don't know if this book is typical of the genre, that is for others to say, but I did find it interesting. There was a time or two that the technical explanations of oil exploration , for example, was a little beyond me but it did not happen enough to be a bother. I recommend this book to newbies like me and to those who already are fans of this genre. A good summer read. I think this should prove to be a popular series.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this first book by T.K. Louis, It is set in the Faroe Islands which drew me to the book to begin with as I grew up In the Shetland Islands! In this story Frank and his wife Hildy go there to visit thier daughter and get embroiled in stopping the Russians from claiming the island for military purposes. Very well written and actually you could picture something like this happening in this day and age. Well written story line and very believable. Look forward to reading more from this author.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this as a Goodreads Giveaway from the author.

A great debut by an author I will be sure to read again! Frank and Hilday are on a vacation to visit family in the Faroe Islands.
Frank has been forced to retire and is at a loss of what to do with the rest of his life. While there they get involved in looking for their daughters boss, who has gone missing. This leads to a wild adventure that goes along with the present times.

Happy Reading 😊

[Thomas Lennek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A snappy thriller set in a hard to get-to locale

I loved this book. Good characters, the hero searching for "a reason to get up in the morning" after an unanticipated early retirement, supported by a partner who has always has it together and a passel of bad guys with various levels of evil. Smoothly paced plot with plenty of situations providing "how are they going to get out of this" situations. Set in the Faroes Islands it have me reasons to want to visit.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a neat book. Interesting plot/premise and I liked the setting—don’t think I’ve ever read something set in Iceland. I will agree with another reviewer who said the dialogue felt unnatural at times. Typically good, but some of it felt forced. I could overlook that, however, and would recommend this to anyone looking for a new thriller.

Thank you to the author for providing this copy and Goodreads for hosting the giveaway.

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puffin is a real page turner about a charming couple (Frank and Hildy), reminiscent of Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man books and movies. Things are not as they seem. The book gives us a wonderful sense of place of the Faroe Islands, a place with which few of us are familiar. As we readers enjoy the scenery and the culture, we discover geopolitical events few would ever have imagined. Louis is able to bring it all to life with thrills, humor and charm. I highly recommend it.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good first book. I guess the author will reveal more of the characters back story in later novels. I won this book in a GoodReads give-away. I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise and it a decent read.

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait for another from Louis. It keeps you in it's clutches wanting to know what happens - Hildy and Frank got more than a vacation when they went to visit their daughter. Smart and gripping.

[Brenda Keckeisen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Good Read!

Enjoy this book! Is Puffin aka Frank is he really retired! Frank and Hildy adventure, saving people they love. Great read!

[Lavender]

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I won this book via Goodreads Giveaways.