I started this book but didn’t get far. It didn’t grab me. Sorry. I have too many books in the queue to read.

“Katastrophe” is a gripping story of WW II taking a deeper look into both Germany and the Soviet Union. The story at times seemed a bit ponderous but overall it was enjoyable and opened new windows into my better understanding those times that i know from personal experience. Propaganda and twisting the story as well as out right lies were evident.

There was lots of intrigue and ups and downs in the story, which is born out by history of the period. I would definitely recommend a read of this novel

I just couldn't get thru this book. It was just another book about the war, and I've read more interesting stories. It was just not my cup of tea.

Katastrophe Graham Hurley

4 stars

An absorbing account of the end of World War 2

I have read a couple of Graham Hurley’s books and enjoyed his writing style. The subject matter appealed to me as I have an interest in history and in particular the end of the 2nd World War. I had no idea that this was the latest book in a series so all the fictitious characters were totally new to me but I found the way the author combines truth with fiction fascinating.

Everyone knows the war is ending and that Germany has lost but how are the spoils of war going to be divided up? Even in those days the Russians, the British, the Americans and many high-ranking Germans are desperate to gain the best advantage they can from the situation.

The two main characters, Werner Nehmann, a Georgian German who was a journalist at the Minister of Propaganda and a close confidant of Joseph Goebbels and Willi Schulz, an officer with the German military intelligence have both been imprisoned by the Russians and suffered excruciating torture.

However Stalin now wants to use both these men to use their German connections, Nehman with Goebbels and Schulz with Himmler to discover what the German plans are and try to ensure that he becomes the dominant leader in Berlin.

Meanwhile an MI5 officer, Tam Moncrieff is despatched to Switzerland where one of the German commanders General Karl Wolff is trying to surrender to the Americans.

This book is full of so many characters that sometimes it is difficult to follow exactly what is happening where but I found the whole subject matter so interesting as we learn more about the real life people such as Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt and how they are intriguing and plotting to gain the most advantage. Obviously I was aware of a lot of the characters involved but the fictitious ones are so cleverly interwoven into the story that it brought home to me very clearly how things were for not only the main protagonists but for the ordinary people caught up in this terrible time.

The only slight criticism that I have is that sometimes there were just so many characters involved that I lost track of what was actually happening from time to time but I suspect that may be because I have not read any of the other books in this series.

If you are at all interested in the way World War 2 ended I would heartily recommend this book.



Karen Deborah

I found it difficult to get into this book. I am sure that it will appeal to a wide audience of readers that are avidly into WW2 drama as the author has very good reviews from those who have read his work.

Katastrophe, a German word that tries but cannot contain the misery, death, horror, destruction, and depravity of WWII that echos and haunts the pages of this book and the world itself more than seven decades later. Hurley weaves tales of an interesting group of competing intelligence operatives caught in the web and tug of war of world power from London to Kolyma to give us a view of the struggle to tear away global power from the dying corpse of WWII.

Graham Hurley is new author to me but he is, I find, a prolific acclaimed writer. His latest novel Katastrophe about the last months of war in Europe, and the advance of Russian forces on Germany resonates with the current situation in Ukraine on Europe’s borders.

German forces are on the retreat on all fronts, Hitler is a broken but still dangerous man, and the Allies are vying for territory. It is not surprising that many German politicians, senior Army officials and even Hitler’s closest colleagues are negotiating with the Allies to save their bacon (or their bratwurst!). Stalin is determined to reap the spoils of war with a land grab well into Europe. However, he is suspicious that his so-called Allies are looking to deny him his major prize. Even Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda guru, is finding it difficult to spread more lies. However, Goebbels still exerts a huge influence on Hitler – a fact well recognised by Stalin.

Stalin is anxious to contact Goebbels so that he can influence the outcome of the Soviets’ progress into Germany and beyond. But how to contact Goebbels? Werner Nehmann was Goebbel’s righthand man in Berlin as a prolific copywriter and advisor but finds himself on the front line in Stalingrad. The Germans surrender to the Soviets and Nehmann is captured. There follows a gritty account of his time in various Gulags. So when Stalin decides to send Nehmann back to Goebbels as an envoy., he jumps at the opportunity. The path back to Berlin is littered with problems and sacrifices.

Meanwhile, Churchill is trying to manipulate the outcome but his influence is failing and the Americans are dominating the strategy. Of course, Churchill is a master tactician and his spies led by Ursula Barton are sent to Switzerland to observe secret peace talks. Can they somehow manipulate the outcome of the talks? Unfortunately, there is in-fighting in the British Spy services (seemingly led by one Kim Philby) with a widespread belief that there is a mole. Guess who?

All these strands are brought together in this gripping novel. The characters are rich and the locations are hauntingly described. The horrors of war are in your face, and unforgettable. Although we know the outcome of the war, it is intriguing to discover the negotiations and tactics employed by the Allies. Back home Barton is intrigued by Philby’s role.

In the novel, after the war has ended Barton is discovered dead in her digs. Suicide is the verdict but police will not investigate a neighbour’s report that she heard voices in Barton’s room around the time of her death! Intriguing!!

The last throws of WW2 .The ruined chaos of the grandiose idea of The Third Reich, a broken people by their own hand. Graham Hurley crafts a tale of four interlocking persons two, Ursula Barton and Tam Moncrieff from M.I.5 and Werner Nehman and Willi Shultz plying their various trade in Germany.

Message arrives at M.I.5 that Wolff in Italy wants to meet to discuss a surrender behind the back of Hitler and his cronies. Nehman and Shultz meet in Stalingrad where they are both taken prisoner by the Red Army and they are split up only to meet again as war ends.

Moncrieff travels to Switzerland to explore the possibilities of the message received but is followed with every step. Someone wants to sabotage his endeavour . Real danger exists with a trail of murder from unknown assassins . Moncrieff meets with Shultz having meet him previously before the war and realises his Russian connection.

Great story that has pace and intrigue with an insight into the war ending and the struggle for the spoils of war .
Read many of Graham Hurley novels and enjoy his writing ,this certainly didn't disappoint.

As an avid reader of this genre, I would place Mr. Hurley in the same category as Alan Furst. Mr. Hurley has well-developed characters, a strong sense of time and place, and interesting plotlines. Many WW II novels are trite and have commonplace plotlines with a high body count. Mr. Hurley attracts with excellent writing and a very interesting story that, though fiction, is probably very close to the truth. Highly Recommended.......

Perhaps the final volume in The Spoils of War series sees almost all the cast of the previous novels assembled in the race to capture Berlin and end WW2. Present on the allied side are old friends, Tam Moncrieff and Ursala Barton, while on the German side there are Werner Nehmann and Willi Schultz, resurrected from the carnage of Stalingrad and made offers they cannot refuse by their new Russian masters. There is a supporting cast of characters also from previous novels in the series, as well as cameos from real life participants, a tired Churchill, scheming Stalin, sinister Kim Philby and Nehmann’s old nemesis, Joseph Goebbels.

What is at stake is not the end of the war, Germany has clearly lost, but the advantage each side can carve out for themselves in a post-war world. After Yalta, Stalin does not trust his American and British allies. Defeated Germans plot for survival, and in the meantime, the brutal violence of war continues.

This is not the best of the novels in the series, but it is still very good. It is perhaps disappointing that the fall of Berlin is almost an afterthought following the big build up throughout the narrative. And there are times when there appear to be almost too many references to events and characters in the previous novels. However, I did enjoy it a lot, especially as a conclusion to the series, and at times with its parallels to current events in Ukraine and wider Europe.

Enough of the cast too, survive war’s end to carve out new roles for themselves in the new world order.

Full of historical events, energy, and action.

Had a hard time keeping up with character transition in the beginning, but once I got involved in the story it was easier.

Enjoyable read

Recommend

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an advance copy in return for my honest opinion.

I’m pretty up to speed on the events of 1945 and the Russian advance into Berlin. Two years ago, I read the brilliant Berlin: The Downfall by Antony Beevor. Then, more recently, Giles Milton’s Checkmate in Berlin, which is very good on how the allied powers divided Berlin, the Russian attempt to blockade it completely and the remarkable organisation of the Berlin Air Lift. It’s a great account of how the Cold War began. Probably most chilling was Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore, which deals with Stalin’s actual family and the ‘family’ of ministers he gathered round him. Plenty of suspicion and fear, then The Terror of 1937 and again after the war. The slaughter of the innocent.

So, I was interested to read Katastrophe, a work of historical fiction about this same period. Sadly, I found nothing new in it and it failed to grip. Anyone who’s read Solzhenitsyn knows about life in the Gulag, so nothing there to shock. It was a fluid time, with people changing sides rapidly, some Germans wanting peace and plotting for it, others fanatically fighting a battle already lost. The Russians keen to nab German nuclear secrets. With spies and informers everywhere, who do you trust? What to make of one of the main characters, a Georgian who worked for Goebbels until he upset him and was sent East? Now he’s on his way back to Berlin but who knows what awaits him. Most characters expect to die at any moment.

London is suffering from the V2s and the weary Londoners want nothing but peace. The clever chaps at MI5 and MI6 already know that the peace will be one which Russia will dominate. Our man Moncrieff is sent to Switzerland on a very secret mission which is sabotaged in a way that suggests a tip-off. His colleague, Ursula, is convinced that the traitor is one whom we now know as one of the most successful British spies and traitors ever, but no one will listen to her. That is the most interesting thing in this muddled book. Not a page turner, nor a book to increase the heart rate. It’s a thriller which doesn’t thrill. A good example of how truth can be stranger than fiction and that a non-fiction book, well written, can be more exciting than a novel.

I read this thanks to NetGalley. It’s published by Head of Zeus and is out on 7th July.

At the end of World War II with the espionage services of UK, USA, Russia and Germany maneuvering for the best advantage when peace arrives, each one featuring a complex, well-crafted and believable character. The detail of events and the history is fascinating. Interesting to the very end.

One minor criticism is the abrupt switching of characters, making it somewhat difficult to follow at times. puzzling to follow at times. This might be due to the ePub format of the review copy received

Highly recommended.

This is a tough read because the author describes in vivid detail a Soviet POW camp where Nehmann is kept and is forced to work incessantly. I had to stop reading to calm my stomach. I began again and the story went to London with Churchill and a plan to win the war, but to keep an eye on Stalin. The description of Stalin (character, not physical) was also vivid and for my own sanity, I had to stop reading.
I'm a pacifist and this was a tough read. I would still recommend it for anyone with less sensitivity.

The dying phases of WW2 isn't very often explored in novels and if they are, very few show the desperate state of the people caught up and the grubby divvying up by the victors. Whilst engaged in the process of war the allies had a focus, namely to overcome through cooperation, what becomes evident is the mistrust of each other when it comes peace. Katastrophe is a gripping novel which shows the various perspectives of those tasked with trying to secure a peace and if that's not possible, then just staying alive. With the current war in Ukraine, novels such as this cannot help but draw parallels between now and back in WW2. The carving up of the spoils of war, both WW1 and WW2 have been the very seed of many wars since.
Gritty, tough and captivating is how I would describe Katastrophe, to that I would add political intrigue as well.

This story revolves around two friends Willi Schultz an Abwehr spycatcher and Werner Nehmann, a propagandist and journalist in the closing year of World War Two.

After escaping from the gulags, they both reach war torn Berlin and fall back into the influence of Himmler and Goebbels respectively.
It is a tale of jockeying for survival in the last months of the Nazi régime.


I found this book a little slow and overdescriptive but I realised very late in the book that this was the fifth in a series. I may not have requested it I had known.


Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus Publishing for the chance to review this book

I’d never before read anything by English author Graham Hurley. But, based on his newest novel, “Katastrophe,” I’m certain I soon will be reading his other works.

“Katastrophe” is a very well-written tale of espionage and suspense set in Russia, Germany, and England during the closing months of WWII. It features three well-drawn characters: an English intelligence officer (MI5), a German military intelligence officer (Abwehr), and a Soviet Georgian who once served as a writer of propaganda for Joseph Goebbels. Through the eyes of these three agents—each sent on a mission of high importance by Churchill, Stalin, and Goebbels—we experience Germany’s defeat and what it was like to be in Berlin, London, and even Joseph Stalin’s dacha outside Moscow as the Allied powers--not to mention various Nazi leaders-- jockeyed for position in the coming post-war world. In other words, “Katastrophe” is as much a story of the beginnings of the Cold War as it is of the end of WWII.

Mr. Hurley is a popular and prolific English novelist. His prose is a pleasure, well-constructed, and often dryly humorous, or at least subtle, reminding me a little of works by John Le Carre and/or Graham Greene. I especially enjoyed the scenes involving Churchill, Stalin, and Goebbels and thought Mr. Hurley was quite successful at giving readers a good idea of who these men were. His settings are brilliantly drawn and highly varied, invoking the sights, sounds, and smells of, among other places, a Soviet gulag, Berlin’s bomb shelters and ruined streets and ministries, and even a rather odd celebration amongst intelligence officers inside the Tower of London. And he injects a goodly amount of history into his story, including explanations as to how and why the Nazis came to power and of the Allied pre-war failures that enabled WWII.

There were times when I found “Katastrophe” somewhat long and attenuated—even convoluted—and myself struggling to remember who’s who and how their stories fit together. Part of the problem, for me, may have been that this is the fifth book in Mr. Hurley’s “Spoils of War” series and that I had not read any of the previous works. Nevertheless, by the end of the novel, all was made clear and I had a good understanding of all that had happened.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an electronic ARC. The foregoing is my independent opinion.

I have not read any previous spoils of war books so I don’t know if there are recurring characters but as a stand alone book I had no problem investing in the story and it’s plethora of characters both real and fictional, it’s a really good tale of Machiavellian machinations during the latter part of WW2, I would heartily recommend

In the final months of World War II, plans are being made by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union to negotiate Nazi Germany's surrender.
Werner Nehmann, a journalist at the Promi - the Ministry of Propaganda - and a close confidant of Joseph Goebbels has spent 2 years in Soviet Gulag camps after his capture at the battle of Stalingrad. Now he is on his way back to Berlin with a message for Goebbels as Josef Stalin endeavours to discover if his Western Allies are conspiring against him to deny a Soviet victory in Berlin.

Also headed back to Germany is Willi Schultz, an officer with the Abwehr - the German military-intelligence service - who was also captured at Stalingrad. Shcultz spent two years in Moscow and was tortured by the NKVD, Russia's secret police. Now he has been brought before Stalin who gives him a letter which he is to take to Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. Stalin wants to know if there can be a return to the non aggression pact between Russia and Germany which occurred prior to the German invasion of Poland in 1939 which directly led to outbreak of the Second World War. The Soviet leader believes that the USA and Britain may be planning to do a deal with the Nazis which would lead to German surrender to the Western Allies with Germany able to free up armies to fight the Red Army on the Eastern Front.

Meanwhile, Tam Moncrieff is working for M15 and is sent to Switzerland where American and British generals have a secret meeting with a German general to broker the surrender of German forces in Italy.

This is the seventh book in the Spoils of War series and the author Graham Hurley has produced a masterful blend of thrilling fiction and historical fact as the World War II draws to an end.