Archives de catégorie : Frankfurt 2021 Adult Fiction

BRIMSTONE de Russel Hutchings

How far would you go to protect your country?
“Think: Jason Bourne meets Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy meets Sicario.” – Graeme Coleman, executive producer

BRIMSTONE: A Mantra 6 Thriller
by Russel Hutchings
Big Sky (Australia), December 2021
(via Randle Editorial)

John Devereaux, an SAS Warrant Officer, is seconded to the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and handed a mission that will test him to his very core – both professionally and personally. The operationally deniable mission: infiltrate into Cambodia via parachute in the dead of night and assassinate two high-value targets, alone, and with two dozen enemy soldiers in his way. From the relentless jungles of Cambodia to the chaotic civilian-filled streets of Sydney and Bangkok, to the secretive dens of Moscow and the extravagant French Riviera, explosive SAS and ASIS action uncovers a shadowy and powerful organisation that brings us face to face with the Russian Mafia, and an assassin getting intimate. Unbeknown to Devereaux, the Director-General of the Secret Intelligence Service, Magnus Webb, is testing him for a far more important role – to head an off-the-books clandestine cell buried deep inside this secret organisation and known only as MANTRA-6. Devereaux’s mission has only just begun …
The writing is direct, engrossing and thundering along at breakneck speed, much like its lead protagonist, for fans of Chris Ryan, Andy McNab, Robert Ludlum and classic James Bond style espionage.
Despite the book not being released yet, there is already a feature film in development, with director Storm Ashwood and producers Brenden Hill (former Dreamworks – Instinct) and David Perkins (Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift) already attached.

Born in Perth, Russel Hutchings is a former SAS Warrant Officer with over 20 years of service in the Regiment. He has operated in many of the world’s troubled areas and most recently performed a role as a military advisor to a US based company operating in Afghanistan. He draws on decades of experience in the world’s most terrifying war zones, and uses his experience of collecting intelligence for national security to write an authentic and high octane trilogy, Mantra 6.

THE MADNESS LOCKER d’Eddie Russell

A brilliant dual narrative, historical crime fiction title inspired by a true unsolved murder case, asking questions about integrity, identity and if there is such a thing as ‘the right side’ in the fog of war.This novel has all the rich detail needed for enthralling historical fiction, with a fascinating mystery at its heart, culminating in a heartracing twist.

THE MADNESS LOCKER
by Eddie Russell
Big Sky (Australia), October 2021
(via Randle Editorial)

In the early hours of Christmas morning in 1986, the body of an older woman was discovered inside a wheelie bin in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. There were no clues and no suspects. After an extensive investigation, the police admitted defeat and filed it as a cold case. It is a case that taunts them still. Eddie Russell’s debut conjures a plausible motive to this strange crime in this artfully wrought, page-turning story which takes the reader from Utrecht to Berlin, to Auschwitz, and finally, to a sleepy neighbourhood in Sydney, Australia.
Autumn, 1986. Ruth, a Jewish woman in her later years, is grieving the death of her husband. His old friend, a widowed neighbour called Sam, offers her comfort. But Ruth feels there is something off about Sam. Whatever story he’s peddling, she doesn’t buy it. She’s determined to uncover the truth about how he came to find himself in Sydney and where his real loyalties lie.
Winter 1941. Two young girls living under the tyranny of a brutal and dictatorial Nazi regime experience a fateful twist, leading one to escape to freedom and the other to be subjected to incarceration in a concentration camp, and how she got there is buried in the depths of her memory. But remembering is key. Somebody is responsible for her ending up in the depths of hell. And, if she survives, she will make that person pay if it’s the last thing she does…
In an extraordinary story of hidden identity, revenge and deception, THE MADNESS LOCKER is a chilling reminder that the truth will always catch up with you someday.

Eddie Russell has a degree in English literature and Masters in Creative writing. Born and raised in the then English colony of East Africa to English parents, he immigrated to Australia to complete his schooling before moving to San Diego to work in technology. He is now settled back in Australia with his life partner and following his passion to write. THE MADNESS LOCKER is his first novel. You can watch Eddie introduce the novel here.

THE ATLAS SIX de Olivie Blake

A hugely popular self-published dark academic debut fantasy with an established cult following that reads like The Secret History meets The Umbrella Academy, or Ninth House but with magic.

THE ATLAS SIX: Book 1 in a trilogy
by Olivie Blake
Tor/SMP, March 2022

In a dangerous post-grad world of magic, a society of chosen magicians study the secrets of the lost library of Alexandria whose books can unlock a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians in the world are selected to compete for initiation. This year, the competition is fiercer than ever before.
A mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched. The son of a crime kingpen who can see the secrets of the universe. Two Americans whose powers to change elemental matter are unequivocally tied despite their hatred for one another. A bastard daughter who holds the power of life within her. And an insanely rich pretty boy whose charisma is so unmatched he could bring about the end of the world just by asking. Six of the best magicians enter a gauntlet for the opportunity of a lifetime. Only five will walk out.
Magic, romance, action, and intrigue all come together in a story of six characters that unfolds from rotating points of view. The ever-hungry fans of dark academia novels (The Magicians, The Ninth House, A Lesson in Vengenance) will devour this gripping and original take on the post-grad study experience, and fans of new magics, awesome queer characters, and diverse voices will all find something to love as well.

Alexene Farol Follmuth, also known under the pen name Olivie Blake, is a lover and writer of stories, many of which involve the fantastic, the paranormal, or the supernatural, but not always. More often, her works revolve around the collective experience, what it means to be human (or not), and the endlessly interesting complexities of life and love. Alexene tripped and fell into writing after abandoning her long-premeditated track for Optimum Life Achievement while attending law school, and now focuses primarily on the craft and occasional headache of creating fiction. Alexene lives and works in Los Angeles, where she is generally tolerated by her rescue pit bull. She can be loosely defined as the sort of person who picked up sparring as a means to improve writing fight scenes.

SHE WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING de Sarah Adlakha

Sliding Doors meets Life After Life in Sarah Adlakha’s story about a wife and mother who is given the chance to start over at the risk of losing everything she loves.

SHE WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING
by Sarah Adlakha
Forge/Macmillan, August 2021
(via Levine Greenberg Rostan)

A second chance is the last thing she wants. When thirty-nine year old Maria Forssmann wakes up in her seventeen-year-old body, she doesn’t know how she got there. All she does know is she has to get back: to her home in Bienville, Mississippi, to her job as a successful psychiatrist and, most importantly, to her husband, daughters, and unborn son. But she also knows that, in only a few weeks, a devastating tragedy will strike her husband, a tragedy that will lead to their meeting each other. Can she change time and still keep what it’s given her?
Exploring the responsibilities love lays on us, the complicated burdens of motherhood, and the rippling impact of our choices, SHE WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING is a dazzling debut from a bright new voice.

Sarah Adlakha is a native of Chicago and a practicing psychiatrist who now lives along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi with her husband and their three daughters. SHE WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING is her first novel.

MADAME EXUPÉRY UND DIE STERNE DES HIMMELS de Sophie Villard

With him, her dreams learned to fly. But they came too close to the stars.

MADAME EXUPÉRY UND DIE STERNE DES HIMMELS
(Madame Exupéry and the Starry Skies)
by Sophie Villard
Penguin Germany, September 2021

Paris, 1930. When the young artist Consuelo meets Antoine de Saint-Exupéry at a party, it’s love at first sight. The temperamental Salvadorean becomes the muse of the enigmatic pilot, who would much rather be writing and drawing than flying planes.
His deep love for her inspired « The Little Prince »: Consuelo is the beloved rose that the prince protects with a glass globe, and which is always in his thoughts no matter where his travels take him.
The book made Antoine world-famous, but life by his side was not easy. Consuelo had to deal with his unfaithfulness, and fought hard to establish herself as an artist in her own right – until 1944, when Antoine took off on his fateful flight across the Mediterranean …

Sophie Villard is the pen name of a successful German author. She studied journalism and political science, and lives near Dresden with her family. Her novel about the famous art collector Peggy Guggenheim was a Spiegel bestseller, and her new book as well is about another inspiring and important female figure: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s wife and muse Consuelo, to whom we owe the story of the Little Prince.