Tony Schumacher (1)

Although this is receiving righter ratings than "The Darkest Hours", the first book in the series, I personally didn't enjoy this sequel as much. The main reason being that John Rossett was out of the picture quite often. When the novel focused on him, it was action aplenty, then the plot would switch to Koehler and King, Neumann and March or Anya and Jack, and that's when the story faltered.

Basically, "The British Lion" needed more of John Henry Rossett and less of everyone else. However, the last third of the book was very exciting and suspenseful, and I was hoping for a budding romance between Rosett and Ruth, the Jewish scientist, but alas!… (mer)

"The Darkest Hour," I discovered when I finished the book, was the author's debut novel, and it was thrilling. Schumacher has created an England which is occupied by the Germans and where Jews are still being persecuted and deported back to concentration camps in Europe. It was scary reading this, because the author made an unthinkable scenario so very believable.

"The Darkest Hour "was a dark, disturbing page-turner from start to finish. Filled with action, betrayal, adventure, murder, political unrest, car chases and gunfights, I found myself reading way past my bedtime. It was a roller-coaster ride that had me on the edge of my seat. I never knew what was coming next.

John Rossett was a fabulous protagonist - a decorated war hero and former police sergeant who finds himself working for the Reich, rounding up Jewish citizens. Having lost his wife and child in a bombing, he is jaded and struggling with what is right and wrong until he meets Jacob, an orphaned Jewish boy, whom he is determined to save, regardless of the cost involved. The relationship between the two of them was one of the highlights of this novel.

As for the ending . . . my goodness, what a cliffhanger! I have just borrowed the sequel so I can find out what happens next. With so much action, suspense and drama, I can "The Darkest Hour" being made into a movie in the not-so-distant future.… (mer)