Reviewed by Desere
Spring, 1919, James 'Max' Maxted, is a former Great War flying ace, he returns to the trail of murder, treachery and half - buried secrets he set out on in the first book of this series The Ways of the World. He has left Paris after avenging the murder of his father, Sir Henry Maxted, a senior member of the British delegation to the post-war peace conference. But he is convinced there is more , so much more to it all and in order for it to be discovered he has to fight harder than ever before.
As he suspected all along , the elusive German spymaster Fritz Lemmer knew the truth of it all, and now enlisted under false colors in Lemmer's service but with his loyalty pledged to the British Secret Service, Max sets out on his first and quite possibly last mission for Lemmer.
It 's a mission that will take him to the far corners of the world and one were the discovery of a single document that holds a message so powerful but also forces our hero to break cover and embark on an entire different mission, one could destroy Lemmer all together, that is if Max makes it to London alive.
Corners of the Globe is a very complicated novel, yes there are some glimpse into the first novel which is where the this second book picks right up from, but if you have not read the first book you will just as myself feel a little out of the loop and like you are not able to really pick up on what is happening. Fortunately the deeper one gets into the book the more it does start to make sense., and believe me once you're there , there is no turning back.
The author created such a brilliant world of spies, lies, thrills and mystery it is guaranteed to get any type of reader interested, well with the exception of a hard core romance all the way reader.
The backdrop settings were simply superb! It was all so brilliantly brought to life, it was truly as if I was right there in Paris, London, Scotland you name it I could envisage it all with stunning clarity from the authors descriptions.
To sum up this book is a fully blown action paced thriller, with enough thrills and spills to keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end. Knowing that this is a trilogy I knew the ending would most likely be one that would leave me feeling frustrated simply because it is not brought to a full conclusion, and believe it did, I will be pulling out my hair till the next one hits the shelves. But what did feel very out of place was the particular type of cliffhanger ending, it felt so out of place for this author and this type of read and I was expecting an entirely different ending.
However I believe it is in this very type of ending that the author's r brilliance lies, for no one likes a too predictable ending and believe you me the author has certainly set the scene for a out of this world next part!
5 star review
" This world or the next, he will find the hidden truth"
** Complimentary copy provided by Random House Struik South Africa
