Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Swiss Courier, by Goyer & Yorkey - And A Giveaway

Book description:

She's risking her life to save a man she doesn't know. But who can she trust along the way?

It is August 1944, and the Gestapo is mercilessly rounding up suspected enemies of the Third Reich following the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler's life. Gabi Mueller is a young woman working for the newly formed American Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) in Basel, Switzerland. When she is asked to put herself in harm's way to safely "courier" a German scientist working on the atomic bomb project into Allied hands, the fate of the the world hangs in the balance. This fast-paced, suspenseful novel will whisk you along the treacherous twists and turns of a fascinating- and deadly- time in history.

My thoughts:

The Swiss Courier, by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey is an awesome book, and is the best historical novel that I have read in a long time. Not only was the story entertaining, I learned a lot throughout the story. The authors focus on the role of Switzerland during World War II, and among other things, I learned that any Jews who escaped into Switzerland and were caught by the Swiss, were turned back over to the Germans.

The book is full of intriguing individuals who worked to save Jews from death at Hitler's hand. American agents, Swiss, German, and double agents for both sides. I am honest in my reviews, and I highly recommend this book. It is not just a pleasureable read, it is fascinating and educational. The book was clean, with no bad language. I hope these two authors collaborate on another book in the future.

About the authors:

Tricia Goyer is the author of twenty books, including Night of Song and Dawn of a Thousand Nights, both winners of the American Christian Fiction Writer's Book of the Year Award for Long Historical Romance.

Mike Yorkey is the author or coauthor of dozens of books, including the Every Man's Battle series. Married to a Swiss native, Yorkey previously lived in Switzerland.

The giveaway:

Courtesy of Tricia Goyer, I am hosting a giveaway for this book. The winner's mailing address will be mailed to her, and she will mail the book out.

The rules:
One comment to enter, US entries only. To make it a little more interesting, when you comment, tell what you like to read about/what time period when reading a historical novel. I am going to do this drawing for ten days instead of the usual two weeks, so ten days from today, on November 18, I will draw one winner.

If you are interested in reading more about the book, there is an interesting interview with the authors here: http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/2009/10/swiss-courier-tricia-goyer-mike-yorkey.html

Thanks to Donna from Baker for sending me a copy of The Swiss Courier to review, and thanks also to Tricia Goyer for providing a giveaway copy. Check out her books - her series on the Spanish Civil War looks really good.

And if you are a guy, check out Mike Yorkey's books for men.

The Swiss Courier is available October 2009 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.


This book was provided for review by Baker Books.

9 comments:

Annette W. said... 1

You make this book sound like a real gem!

I'm not sure what my favorite historical fiction is yet. I really enjoyed Lynn Austin's Refiner's Fire series. I think I appreciate war-time (19th and 20th century wars that I'm more familiar with).

Mark said... 2

email comment, Karen K

Steve-n-Deb said... 3

To be honest, historical fiction isn't my favorite. However, I do enjoy WWII books in general, including fiction. I've read some cold war spy type books as well.

Cherie J said... 4

I tend to love the Regency England time period and the Roman era time period best but I also enjoy reading other time periods.

cherierj(at)yahoo(dot)com

Winning Readings said... 5

You do make it sound good! I've finished the first couple of chapters - looking forward to the rest - and have to get a review up this week, too...

We've posted about this at Winning Readings: http://winningreadings.blogspot.com/2009/11/swiss-courier.html

wmmahaney said... 6

I like reading historical fiction based during the settling of our country, such as the Oregon Trail. I also love reading about the Gold Rush days of Alaska.
wmmahaney(at)att(dot)net

Ticia said... 7

I can't even think of my favorite time period, I think the period I've read the most books is from the 1800s, a lot of them in the latter half of the century.

Mike Yorkey said... 8

Mark, as the co-author of "The Swiss Courier," it's great to see your interest in our World War II-era thriller. There are a lot of plot twists, and readers have been telling us that we've been keeping them up late to finish the last 50 pages. Thanks for the positive review. I spent three years, off and on, working on the novel, so there's a ton of research, but it's all woven in the plotline. No one has been able to figure out how "The Swiss Courier" ends yet, so there are some great surprises. Thanks again, Mike Yorkey

teacherprincess said... 9

Sounds great...

I like so many different time periods that it is hard to narrow it down to one... Historical fiction is actually my favorite reading. You can learn so much and it is so enjoyable...