Product Description

May 1940. Sergeant Jack Tanner has been posted to a training company on the south-east coast of England. But all is not well in the camp. The mysterious death of two Polish refugees leads Tanner to believe there has been foul play. When he and his corporal, Stan Sykes, are nearly killed, Tanner finds his suspicions directed at an old comrade from his early days in the army. As the Germans launch their Blitzkrieg in Europe, training is abandoned and the entire company are sent to join the battle to stop Hitler's drive across the Low Countries. Almost immediately, they are thrust into the thick of the action and cut off from the rest of the battalion. Trapped behind the enemy advance, Tanner must use all his ingenuity to get his men back to Allied lines. Soon enmeshed in the long withdrawal to the French coast, Tanner, Sykes and his new platoon commander, Lieutenant John Peploe, find themselves pitted against not only the die-hard Nazis of the SS 'Death's Head' Division but also the great panzer commander himself, General Rommel. Even then, in the chaos of retreat, Tanner must deal with the corrosive treachery bubbling within the company's ranks - and an enemy more deadly than the Germans - if he and his men are to have any hope of surviving the mayhem of Dunkirk.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #148701 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

About the Author
James Holland was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and studied history at Durham University. A member of the British Commission for Military History and the Guild of Battlefield Guides, he also regularly contributes reviews and articles in national newspapers and magazines. His many interviews with veterans of the Second World War are available at the Imperial War Museum and are also archived on www.secondworldwarforum.com.

Customer Reviews

Good but bad at the same time
I was a big fan of the first book, well written, fast paced and exciting. The same characters are there in this book, Tanner and his corporal, but we also meet a few new faces which is where my problem with this book lies. We meet a German special forces commander who looks like a good bad guy. The author, as the book progresses simply phases this character out. there is no ending as such, (but if you know how the campaign ended), then you know about Dunkirk, but the way the author seemed to either run out of ideas, or get bored and forget this character left me feeling annoyed at the time I have invested. Surely an ending could have been thought up that was better than this damp squid?

I would still recommend this to fans of the first book, and myself, I saw enough to make me just about buy the next book he releases, but it had better be up to scratch or that will be the last one I buy from Mr Holland. Maybe it is simply pressure they are under to get a book out these days, but such a poor ending does no one justice, especially not me reading it and feeling short changed!

Very good novel on Dunkirk.
I thought the Odin Mission was a 'cracking' book and Segeant Jack Tanner is our 20th century Richard Sharpe. The second book follows on and cover the BEF in France and the subsequent retreat to Dunkirk. I liked Hollands' view of the French and he explained the almost impossible situation Gort found himself in. We still know very little about Tanner and I think after Norway he would have had a DCM next to his Military Medal (but perhaps this will happen in book three, with a bar to his DCM for France and the evacuation?). Tanner is the right material for promotion, a field commission after Dunkirk certainly and as a junior officer he could certainly maintain his adventures with Sykes as his Sergeant? I've grown to like Tanner very much and with all heroes I want him to do well in his profession.
The beginning of the book dragged a bit, but the descriptions of the battles was especially good, the last twenty pages the best part of all. I very much look forward to the next book in the series.

Slowly getting there
I enjoyed the 'Odin Mission' for both its introduction of Jack Tanner and coverage of the little known Norway campaign. 'Darkest Hour' takes us to France and eventually to Dunkirk. However, other than some references to his 'dark secret' the development of Jack Tanner is limited. Tanner needs and deserves promotion. I am still grateful for this new saga but Holland must up the pace and make Tanner a more rounded character. In essence Tanner deserves more from both Holland the War Office.