This is a somewhat complicated thriller that has fast scenes with a lot of background that does slow the pace of the story at times.

We begin the mystery with the murder of Sister Agnes, a kindly middle aged nun working on an orphanage. And lets be honest, is there any better way of starting a mystery than with the death of a good nun? Then we are introduced to Luke Hamilton, working for the UK embassy in Paris despite his not having 'typical' English looks. Luke was adopted by his parents from Sister Agnes' orphanage and was very close to her, making her death quite the blow. Then we are introduced to Bernard Fautrier, one of the main characters in the book who apparently saves Luke's life from not one but two assassination attempts. It is then revealed that Luke isn't who he thought he was, yet nor is it possible to be sure of who he might be and finding the truth might take all the courage he has. This leads to a story that takes place in several cities across central Europe. New characters are introduced and dispatched at high speed. There is a romance storyline but it is subtle and not the central theme of the novel.

Set in the turbulent times of 1937, there is some historical knowledge in the book to underscore the story. Luke becomes involved with a group smuggling Jewish families out of Nazi Germany, the war in Spain and the rise of Stalin in Russia are all touched upon, but not a great deal of detail is given apart from the basics.

If you can suspend belief that an amateur can outwit professional assassins and the like, this is a very entertaining read.

I read Savage Garden some time ago so it took me a little while to adjust back into Mark's narrative, and getting to know the characters, but after 30 or 40 pages I was in and the pace was fast and furious which allowed me to devour the book quickly.
The adventure sees a RAF intelligence officer based in Paris get mixed up in a supposed mistaken identity situation, the pace picks up and doesn't really let off from the moment of the meeting in a restaurant and doesn't end until some days (and dead bodies) later in Italy.
A really good insight into life across Europe in the 1930s in the build up to World War 2. You warm to the characters quickly and I found myself quickly thinking of who could play Luke and Pippi on the big screen or TV drama of this.
I really enjoyed Where Dead Men Meet it is a little different to my usual reads, but after how much I was surprised by how much I liked Savage Garden, I knew that this wouldn't disappoint.

Thanks to the publishers for my free copy in exchange for my review.

The year is 1937 and Luke finds out Agnes, the nun who cared for him when he was a foundling, has been brutally murdered. In Paris at the time, he is forced to flee for his life, without any idea as to why. Borodin, a contract killer hired to kill Luke, changes his mind inexplicably and warns Luke to run to Germany, where he meets Pippi, the woman who will eventually change life as he knows it.
The novel gives you a marvellous sense of Europe before WWII, lots of adventures and a delicious mystery: who is Luke, where did he come from?
A welcome respite from serial killers and technology, this novel really satisfied my nostalgia for old world Europe.
Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and Mark Mills for the eARC.

(Lengthened review to come shortly... Stay tuned...)

Someone is trying to kill Luke Hamilton. Why would anyone think Luke, a minor diplomatic attaché in the British Embassy in Paris, 1937, worth the effort to kill? He is a very nice, well-educated young man who does his job efficiently, but he holds no state secrets, has no lurid love affairs worthy of murder. Still, someone very professional is trying to kill him. Could it have something to do with the tragic event in England where Sister Agnes, his mentor and guardian at the orphanage where he was raised until he was adopted by the Hamiltons, was brutally murdered? Who would want Sister Agnes dead? Who would want him dead?

If Luke wants to stay alive, he needs help and it comes from a very unexpected source, his would-be assassin. Because of a casual remark Luke made about the horrors depicted in Picasso’s Guernica, his life is spared and instead of being a victim he becomes the ally of Borodin a notorious contract killer. Why did Borodin spare him and warn him of future dangers? It was a serendipitous fact that Borodin was moved by the vile acts depicted by Picasso in his masterpiece and something that may have been dead in his soul stirred to life. When the young man he was stalking expressed the same sentiment he was feeling, Borodin let him live. It was a whim.

And so Luke finds himself on a wild run from Paris to Venice where Borodin assures him that the truth behind his birth will be revealed along with the enemies out to destroy him. Along the way he is joined by a beautiful young woman, part of a network already secretly fighting the fascists in Europe. They have to kill in order not to be killed and Luke must face a heart-breaking betrayal before he finds safety again with his adopted parents.

This is a very entertaining and cinematic chase novel with enough danger, intrigue, romance and exotic settings to satisfy the most discriminating fan of the genre.

This is set up for a sequel and I will certainly read it.