Cold Lonely Courage Soren Paul Petrek 9780982582374 Books
Download As PDF : Cold Lonely Courage Soren Paul Petrek 9780982582374 Books
"Cold Lonely Courage is a compelling tale of bravery and daring. Petrek creates powerful characters. The combination of fine storytelling and people you care about will suck you in from page one and glue you to the book through to its climactic ending."- James Thompson
Midwest Book Review Reviewer's Choice June 2013 says - Five stars!
"Overall, this heroine belongs on the big screen." ~ The New York Journal of Books
"...a Detailed and Impressive Debut Novel" ~ The Book Review
ABOUT COLD LONELY COURAGE
Madeleine Toche races to the front only to find her brother mortally wounded during the German Blitzkrieg attack on France at the outset of World War II. His death and her rape at the hands of an SS Stormtrooper cast Madeleine down a path of death and violence as her desire for revenge reaches a crescendo.
ADDITIONAL REVIEWS
Award-Winning Novel, Best Fiction... Fade-In Magazine.
"Cold Lonely Courage is an absolutely gripping and brilliant recapture of the darkest realities of World War II. The strength of the human spirit shines forth in justice rendered." ~ Stephen Boehrer, Author The Purple Culture, National Best Books 2009 Award- Winner- Fiction & Literature Religious Fiction Category. National Indie Excellence Awards 2010 - Winner - Fiction.
Borough of Books "I couldn't put this book down."
Every Book Has a Soul "This was a brilliant historical novel."
Rundpinne Book Review "Cold Lonely Courage by Soren Paul Petrek is an exceptional work of fiction."
Examiner.com Best Fiction Award from The Writers Network's 15th Annual Screenplay and Fiction Competition.
Goodreads Review "Mon Dieu! This was the best book! I could not put it down. Thankfully the cold rain and warm fire made it possible for me to read through it in a day. The strength of the story lies in the main characters; Teach and Madeleine against the backdrop of WWII. Throughout the book, the author introduces a number of characters. At one point I longed for more character development of these bit players but Soren expertly weaves the players into the story bringing it to a most satisfying finish.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Soren Paul Petrek is a practicing trial attorney with a passion for studying World War II. He lived in France and England, listening to people's stories of sacrifice and struggle during the darkest periods of the war.
Cold Lonely Courage Soren Paul Petrek 9780982582374 Books
Madeleine Toche grew up in a village in Provence where little usually happened apart from the changing of the seasons and people coming to eat at Chez Toche, the family restaurant. In her case, though, something quite out of the ordinary happened: the Germans invaded France, her brother was killed and she herself was raped by an SS officer. Later, after days of careful planning with her father, she killed the rapist and escaped to England where she joined the SOE, the Special Operations Executive (the original "Special Ops", also known as "Churchill's Secret Army"), where she was trained as an assassin.Back in France, we follow her war as she kills and kills again and again, always picking the worst of the worst, Gestapo torturers and murderers, while at the same time spiriting Jewish children to safety.
By the end of the war she is known far and wide as L'Ange de la Mort, the Angel of Death.
This is a very exciting book, certainly one of the best and most memorable WWII novels I have ever read - and I have read dozens! Not one to miss if you are a WWII buff.
Product details
|
Tags : Cold Lonely Courage [Soren Paul Petrek] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b> Cold Lonely Courage is a compelling tale of bravery and daring. Petrek creates powerful characters. The combination of fine storytelling and people you care about will suck you in from page one and glue you to the book through to its climactic ending. </i></b>- James Thompson Midwest Book Review Reviewer's Choice June 2013 <b>says - Five stars!</b> <b> Overall,Soren Paul Petrek,Cold Lonely Courage,Black Rose Writing,0982582374,Fiction - Historical,Fiction Historical,Fiction : Thrillers,Historical - General,Thrillers
People also read other books :
- Peck Bad Boy Abroad George W Peck 9781492180906 Books
- Nosferatu van Helsing Diaries edition by Peter Cawdron Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
- Voyages of Samuel De Champlain 16041618 William Lawson Grant Samuel De Champlain 9781297648618 Books
- Landmarks in the History of Early Christianity Kirsopp Lake 9781141767885 Books
- Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects Classic Reprint Charles Valentine Riley 9781332540167 Books
Cold Lonely Courage Soren Paul Petrek 9780982582374 Books Reviews
This book reads like a second draft. I love WWII history, and I love novels set in that era, so I found the premise of this one compelling. However, several things kept the book itself from being compelling. The idea of a woman assassin working undercover in France during the war, targeting SS bad guys would be intriguing if her character had been developed into someone more realistic and three dimensional.
Early on, I thought the book had promise with the suspenseful time and place Provence in the early days of World War II, with Madeleine and her family facing life under Nazi rule. The overall sense of suspense and dread built as Madeleine was noticed and then pursued by a particularly scary Nazi officer. Eventually on the run for her life after killing the officer, she made her way to Gibraltar where she found refuge on a Spanish ship bound for England, after which the story seemed to lose its momentum.
The love affair between Madeleine and Teach did not ring true. There was no unfolding of events leading up to their sudden tearing off of each others' clothes. And Madeleine's sexually aggressive behavior in the barn with Teach did not ring true for a recent rape victim with no other experience with men. Not at all believeable. And who the heck was Teach? No character-building that made me care about him or their "relationship." Then for two or three years after, Madeleine continues to carry the torch for Teach when we hardly know who he is, couldn't care less, and we're supposed to believe they continue to be committed to one another with so little development of their relationship in the book?
There was also a problem with pacing and continuity in the storyline. I thought a chapter had gotten left out between Madeleine's saving the French pilot from the Gestapo guys on the Spanish boat and her induction into the British SOE recruitment program. I actually turned back pages to see if I had missed a whole section of the book. Nope. And whatever happened to the French pilot (on the ship at Gibraltar) whose life she saved? He just disappeared from one page to the next with never another word, and this after his character had been developed somewhat, certainly more completely than Teach's.
Other issues I had Madeleine had no real angst over who she was becoming. There was virtually no inner struggle, fear, vulnerability, or realistic sense of deprivation to make her interesting or likeable. And it was hard to suspend disbelief that she could kill hundreds of German officers in individual hits over a two year period. There was too much telling us about her circumstances and not enough showing us her circumstances. How did she get her radio (to communicate with SOE) from one location to another if she was constantly traveling from one part of France to another? I was told that she traveled by train or bicycle, but I couldn't visualize it, as I was never there with her in the book while she was doing it. I was just told after the fact that such and such had challenges. Too much telling. Not enough showing. The result of this was that I just didn't care very much about her. Also, I had a hard time keeping other characters straight with all of the subplots going on. Confusing. I liked the Horsty and Willi characters. Their humor made them seem more realistically human than some of the other characters came across. Lammerding was fleshed out rather well as one of the bad guys.
I think the book definitely has promise. But it is not a polished work of fiction in its present form as it lacks important elements that make a novel a suspenseful page-turner. Finally, there were a few syntax errors that were a bit distracting. All in all, I hope the author takes a fiction writing workshop or two and then tackles this book again, because the premise is intriguing, he writes really well, knows his subject, and could produce a real page-turner with some tweaking.
If you're interested in WW2 history but hate to slog through endless battle details, this book might be for you. I loved that the author gave us rounded out descriptions of the civilian life that continued as best it could during the long years of war on the Continent. I gloried in the tale of a young woman who could perform so well and make such a meaningful contribution in a typically male role. Madeleine Toche is actually based on an amalgam of recently declassified reports of the SOE, the British special ops organization created for the war and dissolved soon afterward. There was so much heroism enmeshed in the overt fighting we hear mostly about. If it weren't for the Resistance and organizations like the SOE (the U. S. had its version and probably other Allies did, too) the war might have turned out very differently. At the very least, more lives would have been lost. It's quite inspiring to me to read about those often thankless deeds done by regular people, making me wonder if I would have had the courage and gumption to do likewise. I'd like to think so, but singing the praises of these heroes by reading about them - fictionalized or not - and carrying their memory is also a good deed in my opinion. I thank the author for bringing the story to life.
One drawback made this book a 4-star instead of a 5 for me. The editing is terrible. I've never seen so many gratuitous commas in my life! It catches the reader off guard by making it look like the sentence is heading one direction only to have to regroup and reread when you realize that comma shouldn't have been there. There were a few logistical inconsistencies as well, and sometimes it took a second look to see who was saying what. Any editor worth their salt could have fixed all this and created a much more satisfying reading experience.
All in all, I enjoyed the book enough to strongly consider reading the others in the series.
Madeleine Toche grew up in a village in Provence where little usually happened apart from the changing of the seasons and people coming to eat at Chez Toche, the family restaurant. In her case, though, something quite out of the ordinary happened the Germans invaded France, her brother was killed and she herself was raped by an SS officer. Later, after days of careful planning with her father, she killed the rapist and escaped to England where she joined the SOE, the Special Operations Executive (the original "Special Ops", also known as "Churchill's Secret Army"), where she was trained as an assassin.
Back in France, we follow her war as she kills and kills again and again, always picking the worst of the worst, Gestapo torturers and murderers, while at the same time spiriting Jewish children to safety.
By the end of the war she is known far and wide as L'Ange de la Mort, the Angel of Death.
This is a very exciting book, certainly one of the best and most memorable WWII novels I have ever read - and I have read dozens! Not one to miss if you are a WWII buff.
0 Response to "⋙ Read Free Cold Lonely Courage Soren Paul Petrek 9780982582374 Books"
Post a Comment