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The Hungry Blade: A Roy Hawkins Thriller
The new, fast-paced, WWII-era spy thriller from the author of New York Station
Forty modern masterpieces are found concealed on a neutral ship in international waters sixteen months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Their provenance is sketchy and their final destination unknown. The Royal Navy suspects the works are "degenerate art" seized by the Nazis and shipped across the Atlantic to create cash for their covert operations. But how to prove it?
There's only one man for the job--Roy Hawkins. The British Secret Intelligence Service has put their half-American star agent in tough spots before and he's always come out on top. But this time Hawkins is headed to Mexico, where the vibrant art scene and tight-knit German expatriate community obscure the paintings' ultimate purpose. As he tracks the art from Veracruz to Mexico City, Hawkins struggles to see the Nazis' endgame. For the first time, he doesn't speak the language and he doesn't know the players--but he does know how to fight Fascists. Problem is, in the "get along and go along" culture of wartime profiteering, distinguishing between the true believers and the opportunists is no easy task.
Can Hawkins untangle the false leads and double crosses before the Nazis realize their sinister plan?
Forty modern masterpieces are found concealed on a neutral ship in international waters sixteen months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Their provenance is sketchy and their final destination unknown. The Royal Navy suspects the works are "degenerate art" seized by the Nazis and shipped across the Atlantic to create cash for their covert operations. But how to prove it?
There's only one man for the job--Roy Hawkins. The British Secret Intelligence Service has put their half-American star agent in tough spots before and he's always come out on top. But this time Hawkins is headed to Mexico, where the vibrant art scene and tight-knit German expatriate community obscure the paintings' ultimate purpose. As he tracks the art from Veracruz to Mexico City, Hawkins struggles to see the Nazis' endgame. For the first time, he doesn't speak the language and he doesn't know the players--but he does know how to fight Fascists. Problem is, in the "get along and go along" culture of wartime profiteering, distinguishing between the true believers and the opportunists is no easy task.
Can Hawkins untangle the false leads and double crosses before the Nazis realize their sinister plan?
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 21, 2020
29 people are currently reading
1265 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Dudley
2 books22 followersPaperback edition of The Hungry Blade coming July 6th!
I am a graduate of the Washington Square College of Arts and Sciences of New York University. As a writer I’ve had the great good luck of having a variety of careers—a blessing for any author. I’ve been the assistant curator of a museum, worked for a radio telescope observatory and for several years I was the lead reviewer and feature writer for the Saratogian newspaper, covering the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and its resident companies, the New York City Ballet, the New York City Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, including special events and the National Shakespeare Festival, as well as covering other regional arts venues such as the Lake George Opera Festival and the Luzerne Music Festival. I also wrote a wide variety of features including supplements on weddings, home improvement, job seeking and many others— great experience for any writing career.
I’ve been a media and advertising consultant and I was in the web design and Internet consulting business, specializing in Flash animation. An early Flash adopter, I was the only upstate New York developer invited to the first Flash Forward Conference in San Francisco in 2000.
I’ve also been professional political campaign manager including races for the New York State Legislature, including field operations, web, social media and the complete end-to-end writing, directing, videography, editing and placement of television commercials. I was also a regional coordinator for the Dean For America presidential campaign. I am a member of the Warren County Democratic Committee and Secretary of the City of Glens Falls Democratic Committee.
My first installment in the Roy Hawkins series, New York Station, was published world-wide in 2018 by Blackstone Publishing, the book division of Blackstone Audio, the largest publisher of audiobooks in North America. New York Station was honored with first place on the Barnes & Noble Independent publishers list of favorite books of 2018. B
Booklist called New York Station “a thrilling WWII spy adventure with a classic love-versus-duty story, robust characters and a nice sense of time and place ... A good, solid thriller.”
According to Publishers Weekly, New York Station featured “A multifaceted protagonist who’s a refreshing change from formulaic genre leads lifts this gritty spy thriller ... Fans of Alan Furst and Joseph Kanon will find familiar pleasures.”
Forward Reviews wrote that New York Station was “a fast-paced and thrilling read ...evokes clear similarities between the Nazi era and today’s divisive political climate … New York Station never lets up ... A classic thriller full of twists and turns, New York Station is relevant and thought provoking.”
Blackstone released the sequel, The Hungry Blade, in 2020.
I am a graduate of the Washington Square College of Arts and Sciences of New York University. As a writer I’ve had the great good luck of having a variety of careers—a blessing for any author. I’ve been the assistant curator of a museum, worked for a radio telescope observatory and for several years I was the lead reviewer and feature writer for the Saratogian newspaper, covering the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and its resident companies, the New York City Ballet, the New York City Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, including special events and the National Shakespeare Festival, as well as covering other regional arts venues such as the Lake George Opera Festival and the Luzerne Music Festival. I also wrote a wide variety of features including supplements on weddings, home improvement, job seeking and many others— great experience for any writing career.
I’ve been a media and advertising consultant and I was in the web design and Internet consulting business, specializing in Flash animation. An early Flash adopter, I was the only upstate New York developer invited to the first Flash Forward Conference in San Francisco in 2000.
I’ve also been professional political campaign manager including races for the New York State Legislature, including field operations, web, social media and the complete end-to-end writing, directing, videography, editing and placement of television commercials. I was also a regional coordinator for the Dean For America presidential campaign. I am a member of the Warren County Democratic Committee and Secretary of the City of Glens Falls Democratic Committee.
My first installment in the Roy Hawkins series, New York Station, was published world-wide in 2018 by Blackstone Publishing, the book division of Blackstone Audio, the largest publisher of audiobooks in North America. New York Station was honored with first place on the Barnes & Noble Independent publishers list of favorite books of 2018. B
Booklist called New York Station “a thrilling WWII spy adventure with a classic love-versus-duty story, robust characters and a nice sense of time and place ... A good, solid thriller.”
According to Publishers Weekly, New York Station featured “A multifaceted protagonist who’s a refreshing change from formulaic genre leads lifts this gritty spy thriller ... Fans of Alan Furst and Joseph Kanon will find familiar pleasures.”
Forward Reviews wrote that New York Station was “a fast-paced and thrilling read ...evokes clear similarities between the Nazi era and today’s divisive political climate … New York Station never lets up ... A classic thriller full of twists and turns, New York Station is relevant and thought provoking.”
Blackstone released the sequel, The Hungry Blade, in 2020.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 24, 2020
This is the best fiction book I have read so far this year. Well developed characters and relationships... and enough suspense and action to make it difficult to put down at midnight. Much of book takes place in Mexico during WW II and that adds great atmosphere.
Written in an intelligent, articulate manner. I hope there will be a third book in the series!
Written in an intelligent, articulate manner. I hope there will be a third book in the series!
March 10, 2020
It's got to be the hardest writing job ever, writing thrillers and/or mysteries. To be successful, they have to be formulaic, but if they are *too* predicable, they are no fun at all.
This one is lots of fun. The good guy triumphs, well, more or less, bad guys are satisfyingly nasty, and the historical fiction and art history on which the plot hangs are solid.
If you read New York Station, you'll like this one even better. The characters are better fleshed out and there are more of them--as if the author were becoming more comfortable with the world he put his hero, Roy Hawkins, in.
Very good treatment of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. An original character, Riley, has a Big Reveal of the sort that in most books would happen at the end and also invalidate anything else the character did--but the author doesn't fall into that trap, and Riley is a brilliant creation.
A bit of a trip up with the spoken language--Roy seems just a little too contemporary in his speech.
But all in all a solid book that will also be an enjoyable re-read.
This one is lots of fun. The good guy triumphs, well, more or less, bad guys are satisfyingly nasty, and the historical fiction and art history on which the plot hangs are solid.
If you read New York Station, you'll like this one even better. The characters are better fleshed out and there are more of them--as if the author were becoming more comfortable with the world he put his hero, Roy Hawkins, in.
Very good treatment of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. An original character, Riley, has a Big Reveal of the sort that in most books would happen at the end and also invalidate anything else the character did--but the author doesn't fall into that trap, and Riley is a brilliant creation.
A bit of a trip up with the spoken language--Roy seems just a little too contemporary in his speech.
But all in all a solid book that will also be an enjoyable re-read.
Want to read
October 8, 2020This WWII era thriller featuring Dudley’s hero Ray Hawkins is a cut above the above the run of the mill thriller of this type. Distinguished by good writing and characterization which bouy the somewhat formulaic plot, I recommend this book for a quick weekend read.
April 23, 2020
Wonderful Story
I like soy stories an stories that have good endings. This has a great and complicated plot and a sensational ending.
I like soy stories an stories that have good endings. This has a great and complicated plot and a sensational ending.
June 13, 2023
I so wanted it to be better but I found it slow moving and confusing.
January 13, 2020
It was a fast paced and entertaining read.
I liked the well crafted plot, the well researched historical background and the cast of characters.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
I liked the well crafted plot, the well researched historical background and the cast of characters.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews