Complex novel mainly set in 2018 France and also 1942-44. A murder in 2018 indicates it links back to WW2 and the SOE operatives fighting alongside the Maquisards. Best read in a few sessions to keep track of all the characters and complex dual period plots. ( )

The judges of the 2019 McIlvanney prize have made an excellent call. ( )

This was a demanding read, and I'm still not entirely sure of every aspect of the plot...

The sections set in France in 1944 were far more interesting than the modern day chapters, and I found the depiction of the Resistance fascinating. This would be worth a re-read. ( )

A tense and complex story which had me gripped from the beginning to the last page. This is the first book by Manda Scott and would highly recommend it. Will check out other books by her ( )

This is a follow up book to Scott’s ‘Into The Fire’ and again features police inspector Ines Picaut and her team based in Orleans. Investigating a murder Picaut finds that identifying the murderer and understanding their motive leads her back to the Resistance movement in the 1940s.

The book has two narrative threads. One in the present as Picaut and her team investigate and one in the past as we follow the events in the 1940s Nazi-occupied Jura region. As the novel reaches its climax these two threads start to overlap and finally converge.

The action components are well-handled and there are plenty of twists to the tale. The problem for me is that the historic storyline completely overwhelms the present-day murder investigation where very little seems to happen. In the end I found the modern day episodes intrusive. Perhaps a better approach would have been to use the modern day investigation to top and tail the book and present the historical tale as a single story. ( )