In Britain’s darkest hour of the war a veteran left behind from the fighting discovers evacuee children haven’t been arriving at their destinations.
May 1940.
With Nazi forces sweeping across France, invasion seems imminent. The English Channel has never felt so narrow.
In rural Sussex, war veteran John Cook has been tasked with preparing the resistance effort, should the worst happen.
But even as the foreign threat looms, it’s rumours of a missing child that are troubling Cook. A twelve-year-old girl was evacuated from London and never seen again, and she’s just the tip of the iceberg – countless evacuees haven’t made it to their host families.
As Cook investigates, he uncovers a dark conspiracy that reaches to the highest ranks of society. He will do whatever it takes to make the culprits pay. There are some lines you just don’t cross.
THE LAST LINE is a blistering action thriller combined with a smart noir mystery, played out expertly against the taut backdrop of the British home front.
(P) 2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
May 1940.
With Nazi forces sweeping across France, invasion seems imminent. The English Channel has never felt so narrow.
In rural Sussex, war veteran John Cook has been tasked with preparing the resistance effort, should the worst happen.
But even as the foreign threat looms, it’s rumours of a missing child that are troubling Cook. A twelve-year-old girl was evacuated from London and never seen again, and she’s just the tip of the iceberg – countless evacuees haven’t made it to their host families.
As Cook investigates, he uncovers a dark conspiracy that reaches to the highest ranks of society. He will do whatever it takes to make the culprits pay. There are some lines you just don’t cross.
THE LAST LINE is a blistering action thriller combined with a smart noir mystery, played out expertly against the taut backdrop of the British home front.
(P) 2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
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Reviews
A brilliant noir thriller set in the darkest days of the Second World War
Ronson delivers a cracking yarn, convincingly told. John Cook is the Jack Reacher of 1940s Britain
A vivid sense of place with tension on every level, The Last Line dripped with historical detail and authenticity. I absolutely loved it
A tough, taut wartime thriller that reads like a cross between Alastair MacLean and Lee Child and atmospherically conjures up the spectre of war, the threat of Nazi invasion and other evils uncomfortably close to home. Dad's Army, it ain't!
Thrilling and intriguing in equal measure. Like Jack Reacher on the Home Front in WWII
The pace is quick and the action keeps coming. With well-chosen prose, the author gives the reader a snapshot of English countryside during wartime, with victory gardens, makeshift landing strips in farmers' fields and railway platforms full of evacuated children. It was a page-turner and I couldn't get enough
Addictively readable