Blitz: A Novel (The Rook Files, 3) Paperback – October 24, 2023

The story is split between WWII and the present day. Chapters go back and forth with great characters, action, and tension. The reveal of how they tie together is a bit anti-climactic. I still really enjoyed this book.

First, all those 5s are BS. 5s should be for world class masterpieces.It's a four for a good read, continuing the series. The two parallel stories are interesting. The cracks in the Chequey's social rules are showing in both stories and that's interesting. In a way, it's like the Potter series where the normals are just tolerated by the supers. The moral dilemma of supporting an occupying Nazi regime didn't ring true. I think more of the agents would abandon their loyalty to the organization. After all the American and Irish branches told the UK branch to shove it to follow their own countries interests. I also don't buy that there aren't other national organizations in modern times. That the Israelis, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, etc. haven't figured this out and tooled up their own agencies isn't realistic. Same problem in Potter. I would have expected a wave of American, European and Asian equally competent magicians to take down Voldy.However, the book is fun and worth the read. I recommend it.

I loved the Rook, thought Stilleto was okay but the author had added this third installment and thought it as good as the Rook. The alternating time periods was very interesting and merged well in the end. Highly recommend if you loved the Rook.

The first two books were excellent. I skipped ENTIRE chapters of this one.The WW2 section is disjointed and extremely slow. Based around three characters whose very existence is boring. The modern storyline is interesting and engaging.

I really loved this series and was so happy that the author continued the story so to speak. I really enjoyed all the characters and actually was upset and sad when something really bad happened to them. You do need to just go with the "flow" of the story and characters which are unlike any that you have met in other stories. I wish the author would continue the story well beyond the three that are in this series! I really hated finishing each book until I heard there was another book following the story.

There are two stories to this book. First one, takes place during the Blitz, and concerns a team of three young women - all of whom have magical talents. Second one, is set in current times, and concerns a youngish (35) woman struggling to come to terms with her late-developing magical talent that can send bolts of killing electricity into anything metal. There is a connection between the two stories, but it comes quite late (at 85%) in the story and doesn't suddenly make everything clear.As another reviewer says "hang in there". I almost didn't - the first 1/3 or so was a bit boring. I kept putting the book down, and going and doing much-loathed chores and was seriously considering a 2-3 star review for an author I loved. Why boring? - well, there was a prolonged lead-in to the 'meat' of the stories, plus tedious info dumps and the author kept wandering off piste and telling side-tales which allowed him to expand on the magical/monstrous creatures his fertile imagination came up with, but which didn't actually advance the two stories. Could have done with a stricter editor here.It's not all female characters - male characters have parts to play as well, but their roles are subordinate to the women. The author's facility with the English language is on show (I had to look up a couple of his words) as is his sly humour - e.g. whilst examining a person with known magical powers that could rot any natural cloth, the doctors were wearing polyester, except for one doctor who had skipped the briefing memo and had to "abruptly excuse himself".Then, the stories take off - lots of action, fighting, mayhem. The book became un-put-downable and so much more like its two predecessors. From then on, I really enjoyed the book and was sorry when it ended.

Fast delivery and very well packaged book. It looked brand new! The dust cover was in prestine condition. I'm so pleased with my purchase. I'm waiting for the 1st book so I can begin the trilogy. Happy reading.

Started reading directly after work on Thursday and couldn’t stop until a really embarrassing late/early hour. This is really two separate books with interweaving themes. It is beautifully put together and has great action but the key is the beautifully wrought and congruent personalities of the protagonists. As Usha reminds us “people are people”, and the author nails that.Don’t expect a lot of Myfanwy or Odette - the pop up but that’s about all. You won’t miss them though, there are plenty of characters to keep you entertained. And the sly humour is still subtle - you read a sentence then stop reread and realise just how ridiculous it actually was.Great work, really hope there are further planned - I feel like there’s enough material to go on for ages. And I want to know what happened with Bridget and Gerald, and Tilly, and Georgina and Pawn Seager…