As much an anti-war story as a war story I’ve given this story a German title because the story will mostly be seen through their eyes, although not exclusively so. The story opens with two British gentlemen watching the Winter Olympics in Germany in 1936 and observing military patrol, a combination of skiing and shooting. They are watching two men on the slopes competing for a medal, one a German and one a Finn. All four men will emerge as important characters later in the story. The story as a whole focusses on a part of the war that isn’t covered well and is partially based on fact when the Germans and the Finns launched an offensive - Operation Silver Fox - to capture the Russian port city of Murmansk and cut the Allied supply lines through the Arctic. They didn’t succeed and they don’t succeed in my story either. Their mission isn’t helped by a female spy operating in Norway who initially had German sympathies and helped them to take control over the Allied situation in Norway but when she learns of the German plans to invade her homeland of Russia her allegiances switch back to Russia. It’s rumoured that she has the ear of Stalin and it’s whispered that they were once lovers. Marina’s husband is a key member of the Norwegian Resistance but he also has strong Communist leanings. In London, Winston Churchill learns what the Germans are up to and he orders the remobilization of Force Four which has already seen action in Norway. Both Shire and Buckingham (two British gentlemen at start of story) are ordered to team up with Force Four and to work together to bring down Hauptmann Arik Wagner and his team of specialists that include Vertanen, the Finn tasked with working with Wagner and both competitors from the Olympics. They will eventually come to trust one another but things will not end well for Wagner and his men. One by one, his team will be whittled down and Operation Silver Fox will fall apart. The story is an ongoing WIP and not all elements have been ironed out as yet, but it is likely that the spy Marina will come unstuck in her efforts, Shire will emerge as a true leader and military man, and things won’t all go the one way for Force Four either. Everyone dies!

From the Irish writer of The Nationalists (Irish historical fiction), The Scribe (Biblical fiction), War (a collection of war stories), Sorting out Charlie (a YA), Orphans (a children’s book), Snownun (a story for young children), Pacific Deeps (a thriller set aboard a US nuclear sub), Mano (a Hawaiian cop thriller) and various other titles.