A former Customs and Police Officer, Andrew Hill’s first book in a crime series set in the New Forest, where he lived for 30 years, will be published in Spring 2022. An avid reader across the crime genre and regular at crime writing festivals, he now lives in West Sussex and works in property.
This novel opens with an Israeli software designer disappearing from Charles de Gaulle Airport. This astonishing literary thriller links France and Israel as backdrops.
At first the authorities think that it’s youthful indiscretion when the software designer is whisked away by an attractive woman in red. But Colonel Zeev Abadi, the new head of Israel’s Unit 8200’s Special Section happens to have travelled on the same flight; just as Israel is on a state of high alert. He decides to look into the matter with Commissaire Leger of the Paris Police.
When a second young Israeli from the same flight is kidnapped, both men’s suspicions are confirmed.
Back in Israel, Abadi’s deputy, Oriana Talmor is doing her best to uncover the connection between the victims and most critically, why they were targeted.
More bodies mount up in the rivers and arrondissements of Paris, as a covert Chinese operation monitors the investigation, attempting to exploit the situation for their own purposes.
The narrative whistles along at speed and whilst there are echoes of Le Carre, there’s also elements of Tom Clancy. The viewpoint is mainly Israeli, bringing a fresh perspective to this spy thriller, though not in a dissimilar vein to Daniel Silva’s, Gabriel Allon series. The author himself is a former member of Unit 8200, so he brings insight to the internecine feuding between Israel’s Intelligence and its Military operations.
The world-weary Commissaire Leger, although a somewhat unwilling partner is affronted by what’s unfolding in his beloved city. The protagonists are nuanced and well-fleshed out. Their opponents, in and out of their own camps are nefarious, well-organised and utterly ruthless.
Pacey, original and an exciting read. It comes as little surprise that the TV rights have already been optioned by the producers of ‘Homeland’.
