Alan

Jones

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STURMTAUCHER TRILOGY


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REVIEWS

5* The Gathering Storm couldn’t have been a more perfect title for this book. You can feel the war brewing and it is a story that will have a deep impact on its reader.

Sarah Hardy, ByTheLetterBookReviews   Review


5* Once in a while you read a book that is truly exceptional

Donna Jones, Second World War Club FB group   Review


5* I have to congratulate the author on the sheer time, work and research that has gone into this book, it is no exaggeration to say it is truly outstanding, the detail is amazing and the referencing superb

Mark Fearn, BookMark FB group   Review


5* The perfection of the research is obvious. Absolutely incredible character development, where one feels as if they were living it along with them.

Mary Yamaguchi, Second World War Club FB group   Review


5* This book blew me away. The right blend of military detail with the creeping horror of what was coming slowly for Germany.

Fiona Grant, Second World War Club FB group   Review


5* Would thoroughly recommend this trilogy that seamlessly blends fact with believable characters and a storyline that keeps you engaged to the end.

Teresa Murphy, Beta Reader   Review


5* The writing of this author is unbelievably good, the characters come alive on the page and in fact I still think about them all these months later.

Sally Stackhouse,  Beta Reader   Review


5* Overall I can not recommend this book too strongly, especially given the times we are living through.

Rory Stewart, Gaff rigged boats worldwide   Review


5* Sadly, I don't think my review can do The Gathering Storm the justice it deserves. Thank you Alan Jones for having the bravery to write such a book.

Melanie Preston Lewis, The Book Club on FaceBook   Review


5* This historical fiction novel is completely out of my comfort zone of reading. Yet, I devoured it.

Susan Hunter, Crime Fiction Addict  Review


5* This is a very long book but don’t be put off by that. I found myself to quickly become invested in the characters.

Dee Groocock, Books on the Positive Side   Review


5* This book was such an incredible, outstanding read, the characters, the attention to detail, a powerful storyline, it’s definitely a book that will stay with me for a long time to come. The Gathering Storm has to be one of my top reads this year, and I can’t wait to read the next two books in the series.

Lorraine Rugmann, The Book Review Café   Review


5* The attention to detail, the painstaking research, the descriptive writing draw you in from the very first page and keep you enthralled throughout and even though it is a long book I just did not want it to end.

Greta Halliday, The Book Club on Facebook   Review


5* The time, work, research and effort the author put into this book is astonishing!!! It's a masterpiece.

Audrey Gibson, Books on the Positive Side   Review


5* This incredibly well written book shows us the gradual influence of Hitler and his party in Germany and its people. It is both heart rending and thought provoking.  

Julie Young, The Book Club on Facebook RR  Review


5* I was hooked from the first page and although it’s a long read at

no point did I wonder if it would ever end.  In fact when I reached the last page I was disappointed.

Valerie Sheffield, Second World War Club FB group  Review


5* Despite being an extremely long book, it grips you from start to finish.

An extremely powerful piece of writing that cleverly combines fact with fiction.

Gail Atkins, The Book Club on Facebook   Review


5* This is the first book in a trilogy and unlike most trilogies it’s an absolutely beast of a read -700 pages but do not be put off; every single page adds value to the story.

Beccy thompson, The Book Club on Facebook RR  Review


5* The Gathering Storm is a spectacular book – so impressive and immersive. I actually forgot where I was at times I was so absorbed in the story.

Elena Sharp, Jerasjamboree blog  Review


5* This is a stunning book that I cannot recommend highly enough. If you have an interest in history, WWII, The Holocaust, and persecution then you really need to pick this one up.

Yvonne Bastian Yvonnne, Me and My Books  Review


5* Very reminiscent of this author's characters in "The Cabinetmaker." Real and raw. I just loved this story.

Tammy Dewhirst, TBC RR group  Review


5* This book is staggeringly brilliant, the work, the research, the emotions it invokes and the horror. There were times when I gasped at what was perpetrated against not just the Jews, but also the Roma, disabled people, homosexuals and anyone who did not make up the perfect Aryan race.

Veronika Jordan, BookChatter@Cookiebiscuit  Review


5* The amount of research and care that has gone into this book is truly breathtaking. It could read more like a textbook and that wouldn't be as engaging but it doesn't. The characters are magnificently written, they are rounded, nuanced and memorable. I can feel the care with which the author has written about this part of history across every single page. It just comes to life and was moving and raw.

Leah Moyse, Reflections of a reader  Review


5* I don’t think I have ever felt so tense when reading a novel. I was desperate to know what would happen to the characters...Well done Alan Jones, this novel is extraordinary.

Stephanie Rothwell, Stephs Book Blog  Review


5* It blows my mind just thinking about the sheer amount of research the author must have done to be able to write such a vivid, detailed and informative, but very readable story. From page one this book captured my attention and although it sometimes is very heartbreaking and difficult to read it’s also very beautiful in a way.

Stefanie Rls, The Magic of Wor(l)ds  Review


5* The characters although fictional, feel real and you want to shout out to them to leave because you know what they are about to face. Very gripping and compelling read.

Elizabeth Rodgers  Review


5* Embrace it, live it and feel every raw emotion in it. I have read quite a few books around the war years, and this has to rank at the top of them all.

Susan Hampson, Books from Dusk till Dawn  Review


5* Wow wow wow!  This book is seriously good.  Alan Jones has written an outstanding piece of historical fiction and better yet, it's the start of a trilogy so it's only the beginning of the story. Alan Jones' research is meticulous and it really adds depth to the sketchy history I already knew of this period.  I felt like I learned more reading The Gathering Storm than I ever learned in a whole year of history lessons.  History is brought to life in this exceptional novel.

Michelle Ryles, The Book Magnet  Review


5* A book that I feel everybody should read as almost an educational text. I found it an enthralling and most definitely an immersive story that broke my heart into a million pieces then stamped on it! Such an amazing book…can’t wait for the next one.

Sharon Rimmelzwaan, Beyond The Books  Review


5* Challenging and Rewarding. A fantastic read.

Gordon Smith  Review


5* I am very careful with my selection of historical novels set in WWII, both as a reader and as a reviewer, but The Gathering Storm, by the Scottish author Alan Jones  was an inspired choice.

Ilana D. Weissz Wild Writing Life  Review


5* This outstanding novel is an honest, comprehensive account of one of the worst periods of history and I have no doubt that the following books in the Sturmtaucher Trilogy, Flight of the Shearwater and The Turn of the Tide will be equally as magnificent. Please don't be put off by its length, The Gathering Storm is immersive historical fiction at its absolute finest.  

Karen Cole, Hair Past a Freckle  Review


5* I am a second generation of a holocaust survivor and to be honest, at times I found it very challenging to read as I could imagine my dad's family in very similar situations with their friends and neighbours slowly starting to turn against them with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi's. It is incredibly obvious that the author has poured his heart and soul into this book and has done so much meticulous research that I almost forget it was fiction and began to think I was reading about real people.

Madeleine Black, Unbroken podcast  Review


4* Now I have read books about this period before but never one so all encompassing as this one. And this is before we even get to the war proper...What stands out in this novel is the amount of research Alan has done in time, place and settings. He perfectly marries the mundane and everyday with descent into dictatorship and anarchy.

Alfred Nobile, Bertyboy123  Review


5* ...I had to put the book down for a moment as I took in all of the emotions that came upon reading of what was happening in the story, grasping the horror of thinking that it, indeed, happened in real life.

Karen Garcia, TBC RR group  Review


4* Great book

Sean Talbot  Review


5* "This incredible book shows us the gradual influence of Hitler and his party in Germany and its people.

A great book you should read it...."

Lynn McCarthy, TBC RR group  Review


5* This book is incredibly well researched. It will have a grip on you so strong you'll complain when it ends, despite it being 800 pages. Thank God this is a Trilogy. Can't wait for the next.

Fern Fleur, Patricia's Books  Review


5* The gathering storm - how do you write a review on a book that has left you speechless? An incredible book that once started you just can’t stop reading - but it is long - which is a good thing and even better yet - 2 more books to follow!  

Allie Samuel, TBC RR group  Review


5* I’m not lying when I say it is probably one of the most compelling novels I’ve read in a long time…The Gathering Storm is emotional, it is heart-breaking and it is a stark reminder of how easy it is for evil to take over when good people stand back and do nothing. This review will never do the justice this book deserves. I urge you, please go and read it. Now.

Sharon Bairden, ChapterInMyLife  Review


I absolutely gorged on 800 pages of some of the most compelling, tense and captivating writing I have come across.  

Mik Brown, Shots Mag  Review