Howard Linskey http://www.howardlinskey.co.uk/ is the author of more than a dozen novels. Ungentlemanly Warfare was published in 2020. This was the 103rd book I completed in 2022.

I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com with the expectation of delivering a fair and honest review. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to scenes of violence and mature situations, I categorize this novel as R.

It is 1943, and the war is definitely taking a turn against the Nazis. One of their Wunderwaffe or ‘wonder weapons’ is the rocket-propelled Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet interceptor. It is nearly ready for production, but stability issues still plague it.

German scientist Professor Gaerte has been assigned to quickly correct the flaw. If the plane is made functional and put into production, the impact on Allied bombers will be dire. This could even endanger the Normandy invasion. Fortunately, British Intelligence has discovered Gaerte’s mission.

An SOE Jedburg team is sent into France to assassinate Gaerte and put Me 163 completion behind schedule. The British put one of their best men on the team, Captain Harry Walsh. He can be ruthless and unorthodox at times, but he completes his missions.

Once in France, the team meets with another SOE agent, Emma Stirling. She is experienced, having worked in France before. Her presence complicates things as she was once Walsh’s lover. Plans go awry when the Maquis group they are working with is raided by the Germans after being betrayed.

Will they be able to evade the Germans? Can their mission still be completed?

I enjoyed the 8+ hours I spent reading this 228-page WWII-era thriller. The plot takes a few turns and is full of action and intrigue. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

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Howard Linskey's Ungentlemanly Warfare was a fabulous read. I am going to this story five plus stars.

This book was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It was fast paced. Thrilling. Exciting. Everything you look for in a book. A gripping war story for any fan

“Ungentlemanly War” by Howard Linskey was a delightful book and one that struck me as a precursor to some of the James Bond books. The main character, Harry Walsh, is a British “spy” turned into a jack-of-all-trades concerning infiltration behind German lines in France. He has a daring-do that leads people to follow him. It also creates some problems with those who are in the “right” circles of English gentlemen; Harry is definitely not. As such he is considered expendable and is often sent on what might be termed suicide missions. So far he has survived and proven himself up to the challenge.

The man storyline of this book is one that is way beyond all others and leads to lots of adventures, scrapes, loss of lives, and using others to accomplish his tasks. The book reveals a great deal about the German occupation of France and how the collaborators and the partisans see this and each other. Lots of clandestine work on all sides. The task of Harry and his team is to take out the scientist working on the German rocket plane before it actually flies and creates havoc among the Allied airplanes. It is necessary to do this before the Invasion.

Ups and down and ins and outs, double agents and death follow the story as it probably did in real lie. The book’s ending does tell some of the “facts” behind this fictional story. All in all it was an easy read that kept the reader’s attention. Throw in a bit of a love story, dedication, and danger on every corner and this adventure plays out in a very enjoyable read. Definitely is recommended read.

This war was not a time for a gentle - man. It was kill or be killed. Good over evil. When the battle was over each man had to live with the choices he had to make. Thank you to these heroes is not enough

Well done story of all out war and how it really affects the people involved in it. Captain Harry Walsh is a member of the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) His experiences include several cover up visits to Vichy France during the Nazi occupation of that country during World War II. He takes the waging of war as something very serious with no quarter asked nor given. In his mind there can be no gallantry nor any rules other than to win. He is married to a beautiful woman who stays at home in England during Harry's visits overseas and is only concerned with acting as she thinks a woman should act. Harry realized shortly after the wedding that it was a mistake but stays on because that is just the thing to do. He is comforted by an affair with Emma Stirling who is also an SOE operator and has clandestine visits to occupied France under her belt.
The story takes place in 1943 during a period when it appears that Germany was beginning to lose the war and Hitler was searching for a way to forestall that taking place. One of the most promising ideas is the development of a jet propelled plane which if placed into mass production would make the German air force almost invincible. It's use against aircraft capable of speeds only half of what the Jet can do would negate all enemy planes making them useless as weapons. Fortunately for the allies the German Jet has design problems which must be corrected before any mass production can take place. But Germany has an engineer who would probably be able to find the problems, fix them and get the new airplane ready for mass production and use against allied aircraft.
The SOE believes that the only solution in this instance is to kill the engineer with that action pushing mass production back several months or longer. Harry Walsh is assigned to go into France where the German engineer will be working and kill him. He will be aided by an American who is a member of the OSS (the precursor of the CIA) and a Frenchman who had worked with the French underground and knows their systems and placements. In addition Emma Stirling insinuates herself into the group and is included in the event that a woman could be useful in arranging the murder planned.
Mr Linskey has done his research and the conditions described are certainly those that prevailed during the period covered. The Nazis are depicted as cruel conquerors freely executing people in order to prove their points and maintaining complete fear based control over the conquered population. In addition he brings up two individuals that were active during the war. The first is Ian Fleming the later author of the James Bond novels whom Linskey indicates probably got his inspiration for the weapons used by Bond from an actual department that served agents of the SOE. The other is Kim Philby later in his life an infamous undercover agent for the Soviet
Union.
The Members of the French underground are drawn realistically. They are fearful for both themselves and their families all subject to execution if caught in activities against the conquerors There is no trace of false bravado only the fear that must be conquered if they are to win their country back. The novel ends with the war still on and the invasion of Europe on the horizon. It is also a certainty that further novels are planned around the participation of Harry Walsh and his fellow members of the SOE doing their part in the winning of the war in Europe. And that is definitely not a bad thing.

Exciting, well plotted, historically accurate and full of derring-do. This is a well written thriller that takes you to the heart of the SOE and its missions to devastate the Nazi war effort.

The hero, Harry Walsh is fighting on all fronts, against the Germans and his own hidebound senior officer.

I read this in one sitting and it grabbed me almost from the first page.

An excellent read.