OPERATION TULIP BY DEBORAH SWIFT

I picked up this book not realising it was the final instalment in a series, but it really didn’t matter as the story is perfectly self-contained. Not only that, it gripped me from the first moments, with a breathless assassination attempt in wartime Amsterdam which both sets the scene and from which everything else flows.

The depth of Deborah Swift’s research is incredible. I felt I was in the Netherlands in those last, desperate days of the German occupation, surrounded by starvation, cruelty, and the difficult choices the population had to make. In this febrile atmosphere SOE operative Nancy must take on her most dangerous – and chilling – assignment: befriend a senior SS officer, and if necessary bed him to achieve the resistance’s objectives.

This book is beautifully written, a fine balance between the detail needed to create the characters’ world and the action that propels the narrative forwards and makes it so hard to put down. I was completely immersed in Nancy’s world and it is an experience which will stay with me for a very long time.