Book Review: A Kill in the Morning by Graeme Shimmin

Here is a spectacular, speculative thriller worth  every page. Graeme Shimmin’s A Kill in the Morning is a wild ride of alternate history, hard-edged British spy homage, and Nazi super villainy.

Throughout, Shimmin’s tight prose delivers and plot twists abound. The author’s love of thriller fiction from the post-war period soak into each chapter. Here are fond echoes of Flemming, MacLean, Higgins, and more.

But, the novel is no mere homage. Shimmin constructs an alternate history of 1955 that if not exactly plausible, pulses with excitement and rich detail.  The Nazis control much of Europe in a double-front cold war with the British and Soviets — the Yanks are largely absent from the situation.

The book’s unnamed protagonist is a veteran special agent with a knack for killing, and a license to go with it. He’s hyper-competent and hard-edged. Shimmin peels back his unnamed history. The poor bastard does all for queen and country without feeling like a robotic superman. His exploits are exciting, but tempered in the face of incredible opposition.

Along side him are two women that shape and soften his determined suicide missions. Molly is a fellow agent with a hard, lonely heart that softens for the hero. Kitty is a German revolutionary who suffers at the Nazi’s base cruelty. Both are likable and headstrong, if perhaps a little too defined by their sexual charms and suffering.

The book is filled historical figures, especially Nazi leaders like Heydrich, Hess, and Canaris. Heydrich is the aggravating villain of the book, and the target of the protagonist’s main mission. He’s over the top and a wonderfully aggravating character, even for his rival Nazis.

Shimmin makes no bones about his speculative thrill ride that boils ever higher into crazed Nazi super-science fiction. There are parts and pieces of the book that feel obligatory for sub-genre fans. Wewelsburg castle and the Black Sun occult appear, as does Nazi ramblings about Aryans, Hyberboreans and Ultima Thule. And, there is some wry humor and cheek, but it remains a serious and violently real book, to its credit.

The reader can keep both feet on the ground through the grit of the British agent and his compatriots. They meet Nazi absurdity and cruelty to the end with fortitude and blood-and-guts action.

In short, this is an extraordinary engaging read I highly recommend. A gorgeous cover certain doesn’t hurt its appeal!

A Kill in the Morning by Graeme Shimmin: ★★★★★

Note: The recently published book is available in the UK, but not widely available in the US. You can order on Amazon UK or get a hard copy on BookDepository.com.

 

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