Two Storm Wood: Uncover an unsettling mystery of World War One in the The Times Thriller of the Year

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Three months after the end of the Great War, a young woman sets out across the wastelands of the Western Front to learn the fate of the man she loved. Looking at all the hard work and effort that goes into the maintenance of war graves today, makes you feel that they were honoured in death, whilst being treated so harshly in war. Gray has co-authored thrillers under the name Patrick Lynch, and has published previous novels, including The Einstein Girl and The Valley of Unknowing, as Philip Sington. Traumatic and gruesome and heartbreaking, but beautifully written and I plan to lend it to anyone and everyone. Each week, the panel will also be discussing a title from The Big Jubilee Read; a celebration of great books from across the Commonwealth.

Disquieting and yet compulsively readable, Two Storm Wood builds to an ending that is both thrilling and emotionally riveting.I often felt I was there, in the abandoned trenches, not just because of the tactile and sensorial impressions but also for the atmosphere. But as I said, I read an ARC, and it’s possible that the end of the story in the published novel will be different. Having read many novels based on WWI, I had never read any dealing with the subjects raised in this title. Thank you Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage for the opportunity to read and provide my fair and honest review for this masterpiece.

Two Storm Wood knows how to bombard you with tingles and thrilling twists that will left your jaw hanging. It is a book that communicates even more on a re-read as the knowledge of the conclusion gives more weight to seemingly throwaway sentences. As the dark truth leaches out, both he and Amy are drawn into the hunt for a psychopath, one for whom the atrocity at Two Storm Wood is not an end, but a beginning. Amy Vanneck's fiancé is one soldier lost amongst many, but she cannot accept that his body may never be found. It is that most wonderful of creations-a novel that informs while keeping you on the edge of your seat.Class and gender are measured against the conflict, and the impetus to change a divided, unequal society. This is an unusual war story, set in the aftermath of WW1 in France where teams of soldiers work through the abandoned battlefields trying to find and identify the dead. Amy is an independent, spirited female, desperately grieving her fiancé and wanting to recover his body, even though this egregious act causes consternation within the army in France tasked with combing through the battlefields to recover and identify Allied corpses.

It was satisfying in this case because the ‘truth’ the main plot uncovered changed many times, and the vision into the past gradually allowed me to make up my own mind about what happened. The unravelling of the mystery is not a sudden reveal, but a gradual discovery like the identification of a decayed body. A thriller and romance set amidst the post-Armistice battlefields and the damaged people trying to do right by the dead. The mood is dark; the tone and motivation of characters are even darker yet the depiction of opportunity for people to shift beliefs and hold on to their never-ending faith and determination at the face of hurdle are one of the strong points in this book.

There are many, many fictional books about the Second World War which are as sad and as beautiful, and I have read some real belters, and I am in no way shrugging off the important of those books.