The Constant Soldier [Paperback] William Ryan (author) - Softcover

William Ryan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1447255097 ISBN 13: 9781447255093

Publisher: PAN MACMILLAN, 2016

Synopsis

NA

About this title

About the Author

William Ryan was called to the English bar after university in Dublin, then worked as a lawyer in the City. His crime novels The Holy Thief, The Bloody Meadow and The Twelfth Department, set in 1930s Stalinist Russia, have been shortlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year Award, the CWA New Blood Dagger, the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, the Irish Fiction Award, and twice for the Ireland AM Irish Crime Novel of the Year Award. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages. William is married and lives in west London. The Constant Soldier is a standalone novel.

Review

The Constant Soldier is a nuanced, complex and gripping tale of guilt and love that captures the chaos at the end of WWII. (A.L. Kennedy,author of Costa Award Winning novel, Day)

Elegaic, haunting,passionate William Ryan's CONSTANT SOLDIER is a subtle WW2 thriller of horror and love with an utterly gripping countdown to Gotterdamerung.  One of my favourites of the year.(Simon Sebag Montefiore)

The Constant Soldier is an extraordinary novel,with the intensity and pace of a thriller, and a wisdom and subtlety all of its own. I was gripped to the very last page. (Antonia Hodgson)

Gripping . . . Ryan's elegant, powerful prose does justice to his difficult subject matter. The Constant Soldier has the pace of a thriller with characters and themes that are nuanced and subtle. (The Times)

This is a terrific novel: a tough-minded,morally probing thriller that only gains in pace, depth and authority as it goes along. (Daily Telegraph)

Subtle, suspenseful and superb. (Daily Mail)

A modern classic from a master storyteller.(Lancashire Evening Post)

The Constant Soldier is a beguiling blend, a spynovel-cum-historical thriller that offers a gripping but nuanced narrative set against the horrors of the absolute abuse of absolute power. It's a bleak but rewarding novel about guilt, personal and shared, and taking responsibility foryour actions, even if doing so offers no possibility of reward. (Irish Times)

Ryan has produced a literary work, which,through complex yet realistic characters makes sense of the unthinkable. His portrait of the ending of the war, when the retreating camp officers realiset hey will be judged by their enemies, is skilfully evoked. And the ending --showing a glimpse of hope, is beautifully judged. (Irish Examiner)

Powerful, engaging and peopled with believable characters, this atmospheric thriller grips from start to finish. (Choice)

Superlative talent ... may be his most accomplished book yet. (Financial Times)

An intense, gripping, emotionally charged read. (Irish Sunday Independent)

It's already winning critical acclaim and has the hallmark of a prize-winning good read. (Simon Booker, Irish Independent)

Anyone interested in morality tales and looking also for a damn good story should read the novel, surely one of the year's best. Highly recommended.(Writing.ie)

Ryan has written a tour de force ...  I couldn't put it down. And as for the final scene...well, I defy you not to shed a tear. A bloody great read! (Ben Kane)

Ryan has created a dark world of moral ambiguity that is both shocking and fascinating. The Constant Soldier is a richly vivid,gripping and sophisticated WW2 thriller. (Elizabeth Fremantle, author of Queen's Gambit)

William Ryan has always been good but this is areal step up. Set amid the worst horrors of World War Two, The Constant Soldier is as nuanced a study of hope versus evil as I've read. Stunningly impressive (Jon Courtenay Grimwood)

The Constant Soldier is a thrilling and meticulously researched novel that viscerally evokes the social and moral chaos of the last days of Hitler's Germany. (Ben Fergusson, author of The Spring of Kasper Meier)

William Ryan writes with a simple, elegant and utterly poetic style that just immerses you totally into the reading experience of it  . . .  The story itself is emotive, thought provoking and completely engaging first page to last . . . The plot is taut and authentic, the descriptive prose practically flawless (Liz Loves Books)

A superbly tense thriller - Ryan captures the terror and chaos of the collapsing Nazi regime in prose that is both spare and powerful (Ruth Downie)

This has the feel of a modern classic - it's up there with Birdsong and Alone in Berlin as the very best of its kind. ...  Ryan has created a believable and engaging central character for this fabulous literary thriller(David Young, author of Stasi Child)

Edition details

• Publisher: PAN MACMILLAN
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1447255097
• ISBN 13: 9781447255093
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 400