I really enjoyed this book, I’m always on the look out for a WWII story. I find the bravery on both sides of the conflict fascinating and the lengths people go to achieve their goals. This story is about an attemp to take the port of Dieppe by Allied forces in 1942 and the story revolves around 3 main characters and their roles in this particular conflict. Each plays a major part in the story and are all capable and believable characters. I’m not a reviewer that gives the story away but if you like world war 2 stories this is a very enjoyable read.

Whilst I had enjoyed other books by Graham Hurley, I found this one self-indulgent, dreary and pointless and I stopped reading it after about 30% of the book.
The story seemed aimless, and I could not envision where the story might lead.

This novel is set during World War Two, primarily across France, with parts in England, Germany and Canada. It focuses on a small number of characters, a Canadian journalist working for Lord Beaverbrook, two Canadian soldiers, a German Abwehr officer and his lover.

Lord Mountbatten is a catalyst to the story and does not fair well, portrayed as a somewhat callous man, seeking glory with little care for the wellbeing or lives of his troops. I don’t know if that is historically accurate but its portrayal felt authentic.

The characters were developed well and as the story unfolds from their various viewpoints, you understand their motivations. These range from the manipulative and limelight seeking Mountbatten, to Canadian soldiers with a genuine desire to avoid needless loss of life, and Germans awaiting the opportunity to slaughter their enemy.

The narrative moves at an enjoyable pace, and whilst the story is neither overly complicated nor challenging, I found it enjoyable, with locations and emotions that felt genuine and realistic.

Sadly, I found the ending somewhat abrupt and disappointing, as though the author ran out of steam.

Another excellent book from Graham Hurley set in WWII it is based round a failed attack on Dieppe by Canadian Forces but planned by British Combined Ops.And excellent plot is written around two main characters one a German Abwher officer and the other a young Canadian reporter withe The Daily Express. The background of life in wartime Britain is cleverly evoked as is that of Paris. This is a story of love of war and of futility. All In All an Excellent read.

'A penetrating, compelling, and skilfully vivid slice of historical fiction. Fascinating yet thrilling, stimulating yet shattering, this riveting read opens a path into the very nature of humankind

A fascinating account, partly fact and partly fiction, of the disastrous Dieppe raid in the Second World War seen from the perspectives of different characters. Really intriguing and compelling reading. An interesting analysis of the political reasons why the raid went ahead, ignoring the facts.

This late entry into the Spoils of War sequence came as a bit of a surprise to me. I had thought the series complete with Katastrophe, the last novel. If anything, I thought perhaps Willi Schultz' postwar career as a spy might be explored. But here we have 'The blood of others'.

The title says it all: the narrative focuses on the background, preparations and events of the British military disaster which was the raid of Dieppe in August 1942. The central characters include Schultz, the Abwehr officer, who cannot initially believe that the British plan to raid Dieppe, but then makes plans accordingly, planting the seed in British intelligence that the port is almost completely undefended. On the allied side, the Canadian journalist, George Hogan, is to report on the raid and so accompanies the invasion force. Surviving the ultimate massacre, he finds he cannot report or publish the truth of what actually happened.

The tale is a testament to futility and arrogant pride. The blame is laid fairly at the feet of Earl Louis Mountbatten whose brainchild the raid was. The title is blissfully accurate. So often in war blood is lightly spent, through the arrogant foolishness of others.

A stunning brilliant war novel detailing events around the Dieppe raid using a Canadian journalist with the Daily Express as the central character. Cleverly using real characters such as Mountbatten and Lord Beaverbrook in the narrative the story never flags as the tragedy draws near. Beautifully atmospheric it acts as a lesson in history as well as a thoroughly entertaining read. Marvellous.

It's been a long time since I've read anything like this and when browsing Netgalley I encountered this book. The cover looked good and so did the information on the back cover. The was published on the 6th of July.

We follow three people during the Second World War. We follow the Abwehr intelligence officer William Schultz, the Canadian journalist George Hogan and Jackie Wrenne who works for Lord Mountbatten. And it is all connected with one date during the Second World War which is the 19th of August 1942. The place that matches this date is Dieppe. That's the place where over 6,000 men stormed French beaches and less than half made it out alive.

On Netgalley you get, once downloaded, 54 days to finish reading a book. And to be honest it almost took me 54 days to finish this book. I just couldn't get into this book whatsoever. I did not like the storyline, how it was written, the changes between chapters and characters. It was sometimes more descriptive language than really telling a narrative. I didn't like the characters as well. Not likeable whatsoever and also just plain annoying. Even if you're into books about World War 2, I will not recommend this one because of the poor writing and execution of it.

1,5/5⭐

I haven’t read anything by Graham Hurley but based on this fictional account of the raid on Dieppe during the Second World War, I’ll happily seek out other titles.

The story is based on fact and I found it interesting because the narrative examines events from both sides; the Germans and the Allied forces, predominantly Canadian. Mountbatten and his ego feature as a key part of this disastrous event and there’s real substance to each and every character. After a slowish start, it builds inexorably and the actual raid scenes leap off the page. The brutality and horror is well depicted and a sensitive subject is handled well. Excellent account really well told.

Wow what a page-turner! I was glued from the beginning to the last page as the tension builds and builds!

A particularly unlikeable couple, Kirsten and Nick, are on a romantic break when they cause an accident killing a man and taking his wife’s happy life away from her. And more. With so much to lose, they decide to cover up the accident.

As the victim is being dealt with by the local police as a missing person, his wife becomes increasingly convinced something very bad has happened to him and vows to find who is responsible and make them pay.

This is one of those books that you just want to read in one sitting! I managed to do it in three, but only because life and responsibilities got in the way!

I was hoping Amy, the victim’s wife, would find the couple and make them pay. Every step closer she got to them I was silently urging her on further!

I loved the way the book was written in alternating chapters from Amy and Kirsten, and I enjoyed how Kirsten was spiralling downwards, just waiting for that knock on the door.

Will be reading more from this author.

Had to start this review before finishing the book in order to say that I am but one third of the way through and The Blood of Others already deserves 5 stars!

Having now completed the book, the other two thirds were just as good; in truth even better.

The reasons for all this praise is that the book tells a fascinating and true story about the lead up to and the raid on Dieppe by Canadian Forces under the "command" of the UK leadership. The reality that this ended up as an unmitigated disaster for the Canadians as they were trapped in a killing zone due to a disastrous lack of proper planning.

The story is told from both the Allied and German points of view and makes compulsive reading. I therefore suggest that you discover it for yourself as it reads like such great fiction that you are going to find it hard to believe The Blood of Others is actually mostly the truth.

Young Canadian journalist, George Hogan finds himself on shaky ground when he becomes involved with Annie Wrenne, an intriguing older woman working closely with Lord Mountbatten on secretive Combined Operations aimed at provoking German operations in occupied France.


Through Annie's often cryptic hints, Hogan discovers that Mountbatten plans an ambitious mission using Canadian forces to attack Dieppe. It is a plan fraught with risk, and Hogan is conflicted about how much he should write in his articles, especially when he has become close to some of the men who will be tied up in the operation.


Meanwhile, on the other side of the English Channel, Abwehr officer Wilhelm Schultz is playing the long game, enticing the Allies into believing that Dieppe is a weak spot in the German defences - a trap that Mountbatten falls for in spectacular style, leadng more than half of his 6000 men to their doom.


The Blood of Others is the eighth spectacular instalment in the Spoils of War series. This time Graham Hurley turns his attention to a tragic episode in the history of World War II, Operation Jubilee, which saw a foolhardy attack on Dieppe in 1942 come to a disastrous end that scarred military relations between Britain and Canada.


This book has a different feel to the other Spoils of War novels I have read, and it has an intense slow-burn atmosphere that makes its direction mysterious for a good portion of the story. Told through the eyes of new character to the series, Canadian journalist George Hogan, and a very familiar face to fans of the books, German intelligence operative Wilhelm Schultz, at first it is difficult to see quite how the threads of their individual stories will come together... but have no fear, Hurley knows what he is about. As the twists and turns of Hogan and Schultz's plotlines play out, Hurley allows a picture to develop of exactly how the circumstances came together on the Allied side to give Mountbatten such freedom to allow Operation Jubilee to happen, and he brilliantly speculates about the way in which German intelligence kept the real situation in Dieppe not only secret, but managed to create a honey trap into which Mountbatten would fall.


As in all of Hurley's books, he shines a light on episodes in World War II that might be unfamiliar to his readers, particularly those which with hindsight are very different to the way in which they were portrayed the time. He is skilled at delving into the nitty gritty to help you understand the chain of events that helped them come about, blending fact and fiction together to create a compelling story that keeps you glued to the page. 


The non-chronological nature of this series is fascinating, as each book takes you into an era of World War II that shows a different side of his recurring characters. Here you get to see another facet of the complexities that make up Wilhelm Schultz, adding a new piece to the puzzle of the man whose future you have already glimpsed in the other books, which I thoroughly enjoyed. There is a pleasing appearance of another person who will be familiar to fans of this series in this book too, with a clever double twist, but I will leave you to discover who that is for yourselves. 


Hurley brings in many of the themes he explores throughout the series around power, deception, the secretive world of the intelligence services, and the effectiveness of propaganda, and he has some really interesting things to say about changing views on Soviet Russia and the motivation of the Allies to undertake a Second Front in Western Europe. I found the recurring references to the Spanish Civil War and its legacy really insightful too. Lots of rabbit holes to go down!


This is a powerful book, and I have found myself pondering many aspects of the story since I finished it, as I have with all of Hurley's books. The Spoils of War is one of my favourite wartime series and as ever, this one will make you think about exactly what 'spoils' means in the context of war.

Great WW2 book. Graham Hurley is a master of this genre, and this is another winner. My interest has faded from WW 2 books, but this kept me interested.

The Blood of Others is the latest book in the author’s ‘Spoils of War’ series. It’s a non-chronological series, meaning books can be read in any order or as standalones, although some characters appear in more than one book. I’ve read quite a few of the books in the series – Finisterre, Last Flight to Stalingrad, Kyiv and Katastrophe – and they all involve a skilfully-crafted blend of fact and fiction, focussing on key events during World War 2. Like previous books in the series, events unfold from the point of view of two main characters.

Wilhelm Schultz, an officer in the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, is a man you don’t want to cross. He has been, and still is, prone to acts of violence, although it has gained him some deadly enemies, allowing the author to incorporate a thriller element into the story and some dramatic scenes. Schultz is ruthless in his determination to ensure a Nazi victory and to make sure that any raid across the Channel by the Allies will end in failure. So whispers of a raid on what he knows to be the well-fortified port of Dieppe is a gift. And such is the desire of some, like Lord Mountbatten, to strike a target in occupied France that they don’t even need Schultz’s misinformation campaign that Dieppe is poorly defended to spur them on. (By the way, If you’ve read Katastrophe, you’ll know how Schultz’s fortunes change towards the end of the war. Divine justice, you might say.)

Much my favourite character was George Hogan. We follow his career from aspiring young journalist to protegé of Lord Beaverbrook. Beaverbrook, publisher of the influential Daily Express newspaper, friend of Winston Churchill and Lord Mountbatten, was a mover and shaker behind the ‘Second Front Now’ campaign, aimed at drawing German resources away from the Eastern Front. George marvels at the presentation of military setbacks as successes in order to maintain (or should that be to manipulate?) public morale. He reflects that, ‘Two years back, the Germans had chased most of the British Army out of northern France, but by some strange magic the evacuation that followed had become a kind of victory’ yet the newspaper headlines were ‘Miracle at Dunkirk‘ or ‘We Live To Fight Another Day‘. The more George learns about plans for the raid from experienced soldiers and from witnessing the build-up for himself, the more his sense of foreboding increases, and ours with it. For him it’s especially poignant because the troops that will be involved are largely fellow Canadians.

I would have liked more of a role for the female characters other than providing male characters with sexual gratification. In particular, I would have welcomed more from Annie’s point of view given her part in the story.

The book includes some neat walk-on parts by real-life figures, such as Noel Coward whom George meets as Coward’s in the midst of filming – and directing – one of my favourite WW2 films, albeit a film which was so obviously intended to be a wartime morale booster. [Other examples are Went the Day Well? (1942) and Henry V (1944).]

As is only too clear from the blurb, Operation Jubilee was a disaster, and was always going to be. The author concentrates on the how and the why for much of the book, leaving the description of the actual raid to the final chapters. The latter makes for tough reading given the loss of life and the manner in which men died. To put it bluntly, it was a bloodbath.

The Blood of Others is a thrilling read. It’s also an unflinching picture of the chaos, confusion and horror of war, as well as the clearest possible evidence that Operation Jubilee was an act of supreme hubris for which others paid the price.

Summer 1942. Abwehr intelligence officer Wilhelm Schultz is baiting a trap to lure thousands of Allied troops to their deaths.

George Hogan is a devout young Canadian journalist who has caught the eye of press baron Lord Beaverbrook. Now he faces an assignment that will test both himself and his faith to breaking point.

Jackie Wrenne, meanwhile, is working in Lord Louis Mountbatten's cloak-and-dagger Combined Operations headquarters and is privy to the boldest cross-Channel raid yet conceived.

Three lives interlinked by a name and a date that no Canadian will ever forget: **Dieppe, 19 August 1942**. At dawn, over six thousand men storm ashore on heavily defended French beaches. Barely hours later, less than half will make it back alive...

Another great story from Graham Hurley who seems to have the knack of mixing fiction with fact in such a clever way. This is two stories which come together in an exciting climax but not as you would expect. Very well written and paced masterfully.

I have not read any books by Graham Hurley before but with the setting in a period of history I have often been fascinated about I was intrigued by its premise and decided that this was an author I may get to enjoy.
The book is told through two perspectives on two different sides of the war culminating in the events in Dieppe in August 1942. On the Allies side we learn about events through the eyes of Canadian newspaper reporter George Hogan working in London. In Germany we see things through Abwehr intelligence officer Wilhelm Schultz. This approach is quite different from what I have read in the past where all the action is told from one perspective only. At the start I did find this a little confusing but as I got into the flow of the story I found that it was interesting to see the different sides and perspectives of the mission with both sides determined to ensure that they did not fail.
George Hogan certainly manages to be at the right place at the right time in his quest for a story and has contacts that bring him to the attention of MI5 and not necessarily in a good way. His relationship with Annie Wrenne who works at Lord Mountbatten's Combined Operations headquarters has them a little twitchy and at times you can see why as although he is not the spy the believe he might be, he is definitely working their relationship to his advantage in the quest for a story.
Wilhelm Schultz is definitely not a character you can find any good qualities too as he seems to go from one plot to another to ensure that his missions are a success and at times you can see that he does not care who is caught up as collateral damage. That being said he did seem to have some sort of moral compass when he saw someone being attacked, resorting to a violence that put him in the cross-hairs of others.
This is a slow burn book but given the subject even when it is a fictional account of things in the run up to a real event I am not sure that I would want the pacing to be any faster. The reader is given time to digest the reasoning and things that happened prior to the assault on Dieppe where so many lost their lives. The final chapters highlight the horrors of the mission and the realization that despite all the planning the Germans had the upper hand.

As a fan of historical fiction, I couldn't resist picking up Graham Hurley's The Blood of Others from the SPOILS OF WAR Collection. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

The novel takes us to the shores of Northern France during World War Two and introduces us to three interlinked characters whose lives are forever changed by the catastrophic events of Dieppe. Hurley weaves fact and fiction seamlessly, creating a thrilling and suspenseful story that had me on the edge of my seat.

While some of the plot twists felt a bit predictable, the characters were well developed and their emotional journeys felt authentic. I especially appreciated the inclusion of Canadian perspectives, something not often explored in World War Two literature.

The only downside to the book was the non-chronological structure of the SPOILS OF WAR Collection. While it does allow for a unique reading experience, it made it a bit challenging to follow the timeline of events in The Blood of Others.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to fans of historical fiction and those looking for a gripping tale of survival and sacrifice during one of the darkest times in human history. 4 stars out of 5.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author Graham Hurley, and the publisher, Head of Zeus, for granting me wan electronic ARC in return for my honest opinions.

The book was gripping, full of the horrors of the war and left me pondering what could have been done different. Such a horrible war with so many senseless deaths. Let's pray nothing as grim as this will ever happen again.

Recommend.

Graham Hurley’s latest thriller, “The Blood of Others,” is a gripping and suspenseful novel set in Northern France during World War II. The novel is part of the “Spoils of War” collection and is a thrilling blend of fact and fiction. The story follows ordinary people who are caught up in the horrors of the war, and it explores the themes of courage, betrayal, and sacrifice.

The novel opens in the summer of 1942, as the Nazi occupation of France is tightening its grip. The novel is a blend of fact and fiction, and the author does an excellent job of creating a tense and suspenseful atmosphere throughout the story. The book follows Abwehr intelligence officer Wilhelm Schultz as he baits a trap to lure thousands of Allied troops to their deaths in the Summer of 1942. George Hogan, a devout young Canadian journalist who is covering the war in Europe, becomes involved in the story as he tries to uncover the truth behind Schultz’s plan. But perhaps the most important character is Louis Mountbatten – a friend of Royalty, Churchill, and foreign dignitaries. Mountbatten uses Combined Ops to mount incursions into enemy territory. Some are successful but others are catastrophic. His ego drives him to more daring missions, and the book revolves around a mission to attack Dieppe and its environs. Everybody but Mountbatten foresees the forthcoming disaster. However, nobody is prepared to tell him about the mission.

Schultz’s mission is to fortify Dieppe to repel the Allied Forces, and Schultz backstory is interesting with rival Reich departments vying for prominence. Hogan on the other hand is an aspiring journalist favoured by Lord Beaverbrook. He covers the build-up to the Dieppe raid and is aware of the forthcoming disaster. Most of the landing forces are Canadian, and he is terrified by the outcome. The raid is unsuccessful and the body count is terrible. He tries to report the incident accurately but British propaganda relays it as relatively successful Shades of Putin??

The plot is engaging, with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. The historical accuracy of the novel is also impressive, with the author providing a vivid and realistic portrayal of life during the war.

Hurley’s writing is taut and suspenseful, and he does an excellent job of bringing the characters to life. The novel is full of memorable scenes, and the reader is left feeling both horrified and inspired by the story. However, the novel loses momentum after the Dieppe raid, and although the ends are tied up the novel ends with a whimper after such drama.

“The Blood of Others” is a powerful and moving novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. It is a must-read for anyone who loves historical fiction or thrillers.