Books › Jackdaws
Jackdaws
First published 2001 · 771 pages
A ticking-clock espionage thriller where an unlikely sisterhood of operatives risks everything in the shadows of war.
What it feels like
This propulsive historical thriller plunges readers into the shadowy, high-stakes world of World War II espionage. Driven by a relentless ticking clock, the narrative feels urgent and fraught with danger at every turn. The mood is steeped in clandestine tension, where every shadow hides a potential betrayal and no one can be fully trusted. It explores the heavy burden of leadership and the raw courage of ordinary women thrust into extraordinary, perilous circumstances. The prose is sharp and suspenseful, keeping the focus tightly on the desperate race against time and the psychological weight of hidden secrets. It is a gripping experience for anyone drawn to gritty, female-led war stories where resilience and daring are the only weapons against impossible odds.
- Mood
- tense
- high-stakes
- clandestine
- shadowy
- Tone
- urgent
- suspenseful
- gritty
- determined
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- women in wartime · the weight of leadership · hidden secrets and betrayals · courage under fire · overcoming impossible odds
- The writing
- Action-oriented and suspenseful, focusing on the ticking clock and the intricate details of espionage.
- The arc
- Moves from devastating failure and shaken confidence to desperate, high-stakes determination as the clock ticks down.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love gripping, high-stakes historical thrillers centered on unsung female operatives and ticking-clock espionage.
Content notes
- war violence
- loss of a spouse
- peril and sabotage
About the book
D-Day is approaching. They don’t know where or when, but the Germans know it’ll be soon, and for Felicity “Flick” Clariet, the stakes have never been higher. A senior agent in the ranks of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) responsible for sabotage, Flick has survived to become one of Britain’s most effective operatives in Northern France. She knows that the Germans’ ability to thwart the Allied attack depends upon their lines of communications, and in the days before the invasion no target is of greater strategic importance than the largest telephone exchange in Europe.
But when Flick and her Resistance-leader husband try a direct, head-on assault that goes horribly wrong, her world turns upside down. Her group destroyed, her husband missing, her superiors unsure of her, her own confidence badly shaken, she has one last chance at the target, but the challenge, once daunting, is now near impossible. The new plan requires an all-woman team, none of them professionals, to be assembled and trained within days. Code-named the Jackdaws, they will attempt to infiltrate the exchange under the noses of the Germans—but the Germans are waiting for them now and have plans of their own. There are secrets Flick does not know—secrets within the German ranks, secrets among her hastily recruited team, secrets among those she trusts the most. And as the hours tick down to the point of no return, most daunting of all, there are secrets within herself...
Description from Open Library.
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