A gripping, well researched, and interesting historical spy thriller. Well plotted and well written, a great FMC, and a solid plot
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

À good historical thriller mixing fact and fiction and a well crafted story that I really enjoyed, very well written

An extremely well-crafted mix of fact, fiction and plausibility makes this an engaging and Very Readable book and so I strongly suggest you do so!

This book is a historical spy novel with a bit of love interest thrown in. It is mainly set in Spain at the end of the Spanish Civil war and the beginning of the Second World War. The plot is driven by two protagonists: Annie Wrenne, a nurse and translator who becomes a spy for MI6 and Admiral Canaris, the Head of the German Abwehr who detests the Nazi regime but works for it at the same time. Both of them are deeply involved in the intelligence war underpinning the Germans’ desire to capture Gibraltar to force Britain to capitulate. Franco who both the British and the Germans are trying to influence to their own advantage, finds himself in the midst of it.

The main characters are operating in intersecting circles where a tangle of motifs and opportunities, loyalties and betrayals draws the reader into a Bond-like plot with the added benefit that in this book fiction and historical facts are masterfully blended, encouraging speculation and awakening curiosity.

It certainly captured my interest and expanded my knowledge about the machinations of what was going on behind the plain facts of invasion and warfare. I do however think that this came at the cost of character development and I felt it was a shame that we learn so little about what drives the characters and motivates their actions. If this doesn’t bother you, you are in for a captivating read.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Head of Zeus/Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book quite hard going, because there is so much content; facts, figures, historical detail, technical detail, politics of the time during the Spanish Civil War, and the run- up to WW2, that it felt a bit overwhelming at times.
My husband however, thoroughly enjoyed it, it’s just his sort of book.
Cleverly written, with so much research clearly having gone into it.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

Prolific author Graham Hurley has been exploring various points and events of World War II in his Spoils of War series. In his lates volume Dead Ground, he takes readers to the Spanish Civil War, that preceded WWII, and events afterwards involving Gibraltar. His main character is an art expert turned nurse turned... spy (?) Annie Wren but the narrative also focusses on the head of German military intelligence and his various plots to assassinate Hitler. Which is all ot say, Dad Ground is a bit of a mess. It is interestingly historically but feels unfocussed. Wren for all of her supposed agency is a bit og a passive character, going where the plot needs her to go and doing what the plot needs her to do but with little consistency (at one point she becomes a broker possibly stolen art?). The book is marketed as a bit of a spy thriller but there is not alot of spying and it is not particularly thrilling. Making this one purely for WWII buffs only.

An espionage thriller that takes you deep into the Spanish Civil War . Anna, a nurse signs up to join front line activities and through a romantic liaison that turns sour ends up deeply embroiled in espionage

A thoroughly enjoyable tale of love, civil war and espionage set around the Spanish Civil War to begin with and ending with German attempts to inveigle the Spanish into WW2 with an attack on Gibraltar. A young nurse initially helping in the operating theatre with casualties from the International Brigade falls for one of the patients and then a chance meeting with a charismatic Spaniard with horrific injuries leads her into a convoluted tale with MI5 involvement. It all rolls splendidly along,at times very violent,at others tender. Excellent stuff!

The reader certainly learns a lot about the early years of the Spanish Civil War in Graham Hurley's latest book, A tad visceral in parts, Hurley does weave a page turning plot.

One thing that irks, and is true of a number of back covers, is that the plot summary/hook given on the back of the book doesn't happen fully until a quarter of the way into the book. With a political thriller like this one, the less the reader knows beforehand the more enjoyable and surprising the book becomes.

Although his earlier crime novels were good reads, he really has found his niche and talent in these historical based thrillers.

The latest of Graham Hurley’s spoils of war series is for me the best of the three I have read. Each one seems to be easily read as a standalone but there are links and characters which make it a series. The central; character in this story is Annie Werner a French /British linguist and art student who is caught up in the Spanish civil war and later in the throes of WWII working for the British in Franco’s Spain. As usual with this author it is well researched and is built round real people an d events of the time. As well as being a good story it does paint a good picture of events in those dangerous times and I enjoyed reading it. Having read books 7 8 and 9 of the series I now need to read the first six. Highly recommended to lovers of 20th century historical fiction and and also to anyone who likes a good story from those times.

The latest entry in the Spoils of War series is a sort of prequel to The Blood of Others, focusing on Annie Wrenne, here a nurse on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. The reader learns much more of her background story and how she is recruited by Tam Moncrieff to Britain's secret service.

Along with this, there is a wider plot involving a German attempt to capture Gibraltar from the British and a second plot to assassinate Heinrich Himmler. As history teaches us that neither of these objectives were met, the tension of the tale is dissipated somewhat. However, it must be said that this story is as well written as ever, and the episodes involving Annie and her apparently untrustworthy ally, the Spanish assassin Ortega, remain exciting and involving throughout.

1936. Anglo-Breton translator Annie Wrenne is working in Madrid when the Spanish Civil War breaks out. Annie becomes a nurse on the front line, but after falling in love with a patient, she ends up pregnant – and abandoned – by a man she thought she knew.


Well written and paced with a great story woven around the intrigue of the Spanish Civil War and the connection of Hitler’s war machine. There are spies, romance and deaths aplenty. I enjoyed the read.

Dead Ground is the ninth book in Graham Hurley's reliably excellent Spoils of War series. Although some characters may occasionally recur, each novel is a stand-alone and with the series being non-chronological, they can be read in any order. This time the action takes place in Spain but while the early part of the book portrays a country undergoing dramatic changes thanks to the Spanish Civil War, it's really its proximity to Gibraltar, a key Nazi target which is often the focus here.
The novel is separated into three parts; Book One opens in Germany in 1936 but the setting quickly moves to Spain. The war between Franco's Nationalists and the Republicans is ongoing but Franco has the upper hand and after some key victories, is the official Head of State. However, to finally seize Madrid and bring the war to an end, Franco will need help and Admiral Canaris, head of the Abwehr, the Reich's biggest intelligence organisation is in Spain to negotiate a deal which will benefit both countries. One of the highlights of this series is the inclusion of real-life figures and Canaris is somebody who has long interested me. Knowing his ultimate fate adds a fascinating angle to proceedings here and as the novel progresses, this complex man who loved Germany but hated Hitler plays an important role in proceedings.
Book One also introduces Annie Wrenne, a young nurse who fell in love with Spanish painters, and Goya in particular while studying for her modern languages degree. She has been in the country for a couple of years, working as a translator but is now working as a nurse. She arrives at the Villa Paz, south of Madrid in February 1937 and is immediately set to work as the surgeon operates on the victims of a city under bombardment. Annie is a practical, efficient woman who gamely accepts the grim tasks assigned to her, However, there's also a more romantic side to her and she quickly develops feelings for one of her patients. She is her own harshest critic when she discovers he isn't the man she believed him to be but in spite of her naivety, her compassion ensures readers become invested in her story. It's perhaps ironic, then, that her kindness to a terribly disfigured beggar should eventually lead her away from nursing and into a new, even more dangerous life.
Book Two sees her rescued from near certain death by the beggar – nicknamed El Diablo by the local kids but in truth, Carlos Ortega, a Republican fighter and a deadly sniper who works for the highest bidder. The relationship which develops between the two isn't romantic but it is intriguing, particularly after Ortega introduces her to Tam Moncrieff, who immediately recruits her to MI5. Readers are also reminded about both the diminishing standards of life in Spain and the strategic and symbolic importance of Gibraltar. The sense of time and place is superb throughout, from the descriptions of the Rock with its defensive advantages and drawbacks to the poignant desperation of a hungry young man who risks a vicious beating for a meagre haul.
The longest part of Dead Ground, Book Three, examines the complex, strangely connected world of spies on both sides. Their interconnected aims draw Canaris, his trusted officer, Zimmerman, Moncrieff, Annie and Ortega together. However, these are dangerous times and despite their plotting, they remain enemies, with Ortega's loyalties never obvious. Trust is a key theme explored throughout the novel and it's Annie who is perhaps tested the most. She experiences some terrifying encounters but in spite of this, retains her principles and her anger at times is especially impressive. Having already met her as a more experienced, confident woman in The Blood of Others, I enjoyed seeing her develop here.
I was engrossed throughout Dead Ground and highly recommend this gripping, intricately plotted historical thriller.

This was my first of the spoils of war series to read, and I’m awfully glad there is another 8 books in the series I can delve into.
Prior to reading I checked and found that this does not have to be read in chronological order, and that each book instead concentrates on a specific event or period before or during WWII.
The synopsis gives you enough information to draw you into this tense historical thriller, with strong bold characters and the ongoing threat of war this was an A1 read.

An engrossing story of spies and secret plots written by an accomplished author.

Graham Hurley has written nearly 50 books during the last two decades. This is the ninth book in his ‘Spoils of War’ series focussing on events during WW2 and merging facts with fiction exceptionally well, making the read absolutely plausible.

Having only read and thoroughly enjoyed the book before this one, The Blood of Others, I jumped at the chance to read Dead Ground for the blog tour.

Again, Graham has come up with the goods in writing an intense wartime spy novel, blending real events and real people with fiction to really bring the book to life.

We follow a few threads which come together later in the book. My favourite thread was Annie Wrenn; a selfless lady who begins volunteering in a hospital during the Spanish Civil War. After helping a beggar she comes across in the street with a disfigured face, who turns out to be a talented sniper with connections to British Intelligence, she finds herself working for the British Government as a spy. She gets involved in an art theft and spends a few nights in prison, all taken quite in her stride.

I also enjoyed getting to know Carlos Ortega, the beggar whose face had been badly disfigured when a church fell on him.

There are plenty of well known historical figures who appear in the book as Hitler plans his assault on Gibraltar and Annie tries to help stop it with her spying skills. I have learned a lot from this very interesting history lesson. I did not know about Admiral Canaris, head of Abwehr, and his role in the resistance of military officers to Hitler which lead to him being hanged for treason.

An enjoyable read from a master storyteller.

Dead Ground is the ninth book in the ‘Spoils of War’ collection. The books do not run chronologically, instead each one focuses on a key event in the run-up to or during WW2, spanning the period from 1936 to the last days of the war. This non-sequential structure means books can be read in any order or as standalones. Having said that, some characters feature in multiple books, including Tam Moncrieff and Annie Wrenne who have key roles in Dead Ground. There’s also a walk-on part for a character from Last Flight to Stalingrad that neatly foreshadows his role in that book.

Annie has developed a deep love of Spain and its culture, especially the work of Goya. She is dismayed by the Spain she finds now that Franco has gained power, a Spain she almost doesn’t recognize. And in Madrid the scars of the vicious civil war are all too obvious. ‘When she’d first arrived… it had been full of promise. Now, years later, it was a grotesque shadow of its former self, an assortment of ruined buildings, feral dogs, starving kids and hospitals bursting with unfinished business.’

In a way, Admiral Canaris shares Annie’s sense of disillusionment. He has grown disgusted by what Germany has become under Adolf Hitler and appalled by the unnecessary savagery being inflicted on the population of countries overrun by the Nazis. He is concerned too at the growing influence of Himmler’s SS which threatens his own Abwehr, Germany’s military intelligence organisation. Therefore he has an interest in attempting to restrain Hitler’s wilder schemes. One such is the capture of Gibraltar, the success of which depends on the support of Franco, a notoriously difficult man to pin down. Canaris’s actions place him in a risky situation – fatally risky, as history will bear out.

Naturally the British objective is also to prevent the capture of Gibraltar, a place of great strategic value. It starts a cat-and-mouse game in which each sides seeks to influence events using all the assets at their disposal. Key to this is intelligence which is where Tam Moncrieff and Annie Wrenne come in. Tam recruits Annie, a fluent Spanish speaker, to gather information from foreign journalists based in Madrid. She comes up trumps with one particular piece of information that could change the tide of events – but will it, and does everyone actually want it to?

The author has a brilliant knack for taking real historical events, crafting a tautly plotted thriller around them and peopling it with an interesting mix of real and fictional characters. A history ‘lesson’, if you like, but in an easily digestible form. The standout character for me was the enigmatic Carlos Ortega, a skilled sniper severely facially disfigured in the civil war. Annie’s first encounter with Ortega comes just at the point where she has been cruelly betrayed by someone she thought she knew and could trust. Yet her kindness towards Ortega shows she retains an innate sense of empathy for others. Theirs becomes a partnership that you suspect might have become something more under different circumstances.

Dead Ground is a gripping historical thriller with twists and turns aplenty. I can’t wait to see where and when Graham Hurley takes us next.

Another in the ‘Spoils of War’ collection from Graham Hurley, ‘Dead Ground’ takes us back to the Spanish civil war were we meet Annie Wrenne a translator when the war breaks out who volunteers as a nurse. As the war comes to an end and Franco comes to power she finds herself back in Madrid where she is drawn into the world of espionage. She simply has to report interesting gossip back to the British Embassy but soon finds herself drawn in deeper and ends up as cover for an assassination attempt.
A great plot and beautifully written, this was a very enjoyable read.

Madrid, 1936. Translator Annie Wrenne is pulled into a bloody conflict when the Spanish Civil War breaks out. Being Anglo-Breton, Annie is used to divided loyalties, however nothing has prepared her for what she sees when she takes a job as a nurse on the front line. The last thing on her mind is falling in love, but when she meets a charming Englishman recuperating from his wounds, the stolen moments they share develop into a passionate romance.

When Annie is betrayed by her lover, she drifts through the grisly haze of wartime in an exhausted trance, until another patient, Republican fighter, Carlos Ortega (known mysteriously as El Diablo) introduces her to the undercover world of espionage. With the Spanish Civil War over, and the country in tatters, Annie's language skills make her ideally placed to help with the conflict now waging in the rest of Europe. Recruited by M15 operative Tam Moncrief, she becomes part of a vital mission to prevent the Nazis getting a foothold in Gibraltar. But can she trust her partner El Diablo...?

Dead Ground is the ninth novel in the spectacular non-chronological Spoils of War series by Graham Hurley, which explores fascinating aspects of World War II and related conflicts. There are recurring characters in these books, who you meet at different stages in their murky careers, but these can be read as stand-alone novels.

This time, Hurley turns his considerable insight and writing talent towards the Spanish Civil War and the impact this had on the Second World War that followed in its wake - especially the time when the fate of Great Britain lay in the balance as the Nazis swept across Europe in a seemingly unstoppable tide. With his familiar style of seamlessly mixing fact and fiction, filling in the gaps of momentous moments in World War II history, Hurley begins by immersing you in the bloody mess of civil war. Hurley holds nothing back of the chaos and horror of the conflict that set Spaniard against Spaniard, by looking at events through the eyes of Anglo-Breton translator-turned-nurse Annie Wrenne (a character we got to know very well in the previous book The Blood of Others, which was set later in World War II). Annie's perspective is important, as it focuses the eye on the part played by non-Spaniards in the war, and how Spain later became a pivotal territorial asset. Her role as a broken-hearted go-between opens up an opportunity to become involved in so much more than putting broken bodies back together, when her intensely personal story blows wide open...

Meanwhile, plots are afoot in Europe to gain advantage in the war Hitler's ambitions have given birth to, and Hurley introduces more familiar fictional, and real life, characters from the series to weave multiple storylines, that eventually bring in Annie and her dubious comrade Ortega. Hitler wants access to Gibraltar (Operation Felix), MI5 agent Moncrief must lead the mission to prevent this, and within Germany itself the unhappy relationship between old school Admiral Wilhelm Canaris' Abwehr intelligence service and the upstarts of Heinrich Himmler's single-minded SS goons is causing internal strife. What follows is a rollicking blend of delicious espionage shenanigans, military machinations, a touch and go assassination affair, and a highly entertaining stolen art caper, that is as thrilling as it is enlightening.

Hurley really brings the past alive, bringing all the complex threads together in an orgy of twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat, and allow you to understand the kind of scheming that goes on in the shadows of the events history records. In this case, I am surprised by how little I did know about Operation Felix and its importance. And how he uses shades of meaning of the cracking title, Dead Ground (an area hidden from direct fire), in so many aspects of this gripping novel is truly impressive.

This is my absolute go-to series when it comes to understanding the history of World War II and its related conflicts. I am always in awe of the way he writes about these recurring characters so beautifully, to fit in with what you may (or may not) know about the events in the past and future in the other books. This is the fifth of the books I have read in the Spoils of War series so far, and I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one.

Set during the Spanish civil war and the early years of World war 2 this is an intriguing espionage story where MI5 attempts to keep Franco out of the axis to remain neutral.
Forces on the German side seek to curb the excesses of Heinrich Himmler and the SS, so an uneasy alliance emerges in which Annie a half English and half French nursing volunteer becomes embroiled.
An excellent read and I found it fascinating having visited a number of the Spanish cities described during the dialogue.
Looking forward to the next book

A thriller interwoven with historical fact makes Dead Ground by Graham Hurley a tour de force. Holidaymakers heading for the Spanish Costas or the Canary Islands for their annual spell of sunshine would do well to read the novel and then judge how far Spain has come since the Civil War (less than a century ago). The inter-war period has always fascinated me. What caused the rise of Hitler? Could Europe have become communist? Dead Ground fills in some of the detail, for they were troubled times indeed. The attack on the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kébir by the British was news to me and the loss of French life was significant, sufficient for them to launch aircraft to bomb Gibraltar. All of this fascinating history comes to light along with a well crafted story which couples many facets of how WW2 was prosecuted.
I am reluctant to give it five stars because I think it deserves more but that is not possible. If you want a gripping thriller, with great characters and pathos in abundance, set in a period spanning the Spanish Civil War to just when Operation Barbarossa ended the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact, then this is the book for you. If you are not fussed about the historical backdrop, it's still a great thriller.