Peter Berresford Ellis (born 10 March 1943) is a historian, literary biographer, and novelist who has published over 90 books to date either under his own name or his pseudonyms Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan. He has also published 95 short stories. His non-fiction books, articles and academic papers have made him acknowledged as an authority on Celtic history and culture. Under Peter Tremayne, he is the author of the international bestselling Sister Fidelma mystery series. His work has appeared in 25 languages.
I enjoyed The Windsor Protocol and found the story interesting, particularly the way Peter MacAlan blended actual history with fiction. He takes real historical people and events surrounding the Duke of Windsor, Britain, and Nazi Germany and adds fictional twists and events that did not actually happen but fit well within the story. I especially enjoyed seeing how he used known history as the foundation and then created an alternative explanation for some of the events surrounding Britain during World War II.
My biggest problem with the book was the author's tendency to switch abruptly from one scene, location, or group of characters to another. Often there was no section break or other indication that the scene had changed. I sometimes found myself several sentences into a paragraph before realizing that I was now reading about completely different characters in another location. This happened often enough that it made the book less enjoyable and harder to follow than it needed to be.
Despite that frustration, the underlying story kept my interest, and I enjoyed separating the actual history from the fictional additions MacAlan created around it. The combination of espionage and history worked well, and the fictional twists made me curious about what would happen next.
Overall, The Windsor Protocol was an interesting and enjoyable read, but the abrupt and sometimes confusing scene changes kept it from being a better one for me.
I read Mr. MacLean's first in the series and loved it, but this one was more difficult, I struggled through the passages about all the inlets and geographic descriptions of the Caribbean. I understand that this was a book of fiction but I was distressed to see Winston Churchill portrayed in such a brutal manner. However, I liked his writing style and plan to continue on in the series
I have read several novels concerning the events which followed The Duke of Windsor's abdication and which related to the rumoured German plot to reinstate him as King. Most have focused on the events in Spain prior to the Duke taking up his post in the Bahamas, but this one supposes that there was a plot to coerce/persuade him to leave from there to go to Germany to await a successful invasion of Britain by the German forces gathered in the Channel ports. A very good plotline and good characters made this a very enjoyable read and certainly give a plausible reason, for why the German army put off their invasion and eventually cancelled it. Well worth reading.
This is a good old fashioned thriller. Some if not all of the twists you can spot. Pace moves along at a cracking pace and it's an easy read. If you want something quick and easy to read and enjoyable this fits the bill.
Non stop action. Pages filled with great characters, with flaws and qualities. The plot is great and the characters are believable. Went too fast.Conrad SAMAYOA.