Grom

by Rennie Petersen

There have long been rumors about a mysterious “Nazi gold train” from the closing days of World War II, containing unimaginable quantities of gold bars plundered by the Nazis in Hungary and Russia. But despite the persistent rumors, “the gold train” has never been found.

Now, for the first time, Grom tells the story of what happened back in 1951, when Helmut Brzeziński and his son Piotr attempted to recover the gold. The result: the violent death of Helmut, and disfigurement for life of Piotr. Piotr swore an oath that he would never reveal the location of “the gold train”, and he kept that oath.

Fast forward to 2017: Henriette Spolansky, a Danish journalist, becomes interested in the story, and Piotr Brzeziński, now 88 years old, finally reveals what happened when he and his father tried to get the gold. But he keeps his oath, and still does not divulge the location.

That doesn’t stop Henriette, nor does another tragic death. She recruits Mariusz Hański, a former Polish special forces soldier, and together they begin to retrieve the gold. And then, just when things look like they’ve settled down, the Russian mafia learns of what’s going on …

310 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 16, 2019

About the author

I’m from Canada, but have lived most of my life in Denmark, where I’ve had a career as a programmer and businessman. Now I’m retired (that’s “tired” twice) and, somewhat to my own surprise, have become an author.

I’ve written a series of thrillers featuring Henriette Spolansky, a middle-aged Danish journalist who becomes a badass warrior, and her supporting cast of nerdish heroes. So far the series consists of these books, each of which features a story primarily located in a specific country:
- “Grom” - Poland
- “Spider” - Montenegro
- “Wasp” - Morocco
- “Twist” - Ukraine
- “Vlad” - Lithuania
- “Kirill” - Slovakia
- “Darth” - France
- "Noire" - Bulgaria ? (2025?)

I’m hoping there are people who will find my books entertaining and/or informative, despite the stories being slow-moving and a bit nerdish.

Reviews

[Catsbooksandcoffee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard to put a specific genre on Grom. You have your thriller elements, crime aspects and some science fiction all in one. It is written with a generally good flow in the language, althought some times I stumbles across nuances that didn't really sound right.

Clearly a lot of research went a head of the writing, and you will meet a very interesting period in history, The book takes the reader to a lot of different places, and I really liked the idea with the Google Maps, where you can follow the characters.

The characters where well defined and people that you wanted to know better. At times their interactions where a bit over the top for my taste, but a author has the right to unleash his creativity in his books. The book contains a row of political opinions, that did not bother me. Pauls thoughts on Hillary Clinton was refreshing and made me think. You will also find some very explicit sexual scenes, but both subjects is clearly marked in the beginning of the relevant chapters.

All in all Grom is a very interesting debut, even if not all the parts were to my taste. I do however respect the authors work, and having read his next book I know he gets better.

[Hans Kiesow · Rating 4 out of 5]

GROM is a very interesting debut for this new author. It is not easy to characterize as a genre; it is certainly a thriller and it involves crime. But that is not all: it has a strong science fiction like flair. It is very well researched both historically and geographically. The characters are likeable and intelligent. All in all it is a quick paced, exciting adventure. There are, as the author freely admits, a few tirades of a political and sexual nature, but they are just minor annoyances in an otherwise enjoyable book.