The Blameless Dead by Gary Haynes | @EndeavourQuill

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Blameless Dead by Gary Haynes! My thanks to Hannah at Endeavour for the invitation to join and the review copy.

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

In the dying days of World War Two, Pavel Romasko and his Red Army colleagues pick their way through the carnage and detritus of a dying Berlin. Stumbling upon the smoking remains of a Nazi bunker, they find something inside that eclipses the horror of even the worst excesses in the city above them…

As the war ends, retribution begins. But some revenge cannot be taken at once. Some revenge takes years.

And so it is, as post-war Europe tries desperately to drag itself back onto its feet, and soldiers attempt a return to normality, that retribution continues to ferment in the Gulags of the Soviet Union and beneath the surface of apparently ordinary lives.

Which is how, seventy years later, FBI agent Carla Romero and New York lawyer Gabriel Hall are enlisted to investigate a series of blood-chilling crimes that seem to have their roots in the distant past — even though the suffering they cause is all too present. And for one of them, the disappearance of young women is a particularly personal matter.

| MY THOUGHTS |

The Blameless Dead begins with what looks like a home invasion, when a husband and wife are found murdered in their apartment in New York. The FBI quite quickly zero in on a suspect but while this person may not be talking, it soon becomes obvious there is something far more sinister going on. Something which has its roots firmly planted at the end of the second World War.

Thus begins a journey through the ages. This is quite a complex storyline that requires a fair bit of concentration. There are a number of characters to keep track of, spread out over various countries and decades. There’s also a rather high body count with plenty of murders along the way, none of which are pleasant.

The Blameless Dead brings to light the horrors of war and how someone is after revenge, even after seventy years. Because some things just can’t be forgotten and events from the past have, shall we say, “inspired” a serial killer throughout the years. And this character is going to great lengths to make sure his secrets remain hidden.

What we have here is an incredibly dark and disturbing topic with a few pretty graphic scenes thrown in, which may not appeal to everyone. I found it quite unsettling at times. The plot is well executed though and is full of historical details. It took me quite a while to figure out how the pieces of the puzzle fit together and I felt rather smug when I put two and two together, only to have Gary Haynes throw in a delicious sting in the tale.

Part murder mystery and part historical fiction, Gary Haynes takes us from the ashes of late war Berlin to the modern setting of New York, showing the impact the atrocities of war can have on a person and while the war may have been over a long time ago, its legacy lasts forever.

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Other retailers : Amazon US | Amazon UK | Wordery

| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |

Gary Haynes studied law at university before becoming a commercial litigator. He is interested in history, philosophy and international relations. When he’s not writing or reading, he enjoys watching European films, travelling, hillwalking and spending time with his family. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers Organization.