Reading V2 by Robert Harris was a first for me. Why? Because it's the first book I have read which was written during lockdown. Robert Harris did a brilliant job in bringing that period of the war to life. I found it so fascinating, especially the leap in technology from the V1 flying bomb, never realising how much further the V2 rocket went in to the atmosphere, touching space itself. The ladies recruited to calculate the location of the launch pad had an interesting first lesson. It would have been more suited to plot a submarine's dive and subsequent resurfacing. (Maybe the equation has since been modified) I can quite see why the launch pads weren't successfully bombed if the intention was to calculate the parabolic path of the rocket. The V2 had to stand on its engine until it reached sufficient speed to deviate course. The RADAR (radio detection and ranging) units were able to see the launch a few seconds after take-off. They would have been best placed using trigonometry to calculate the launch point. Using calibrated indicators such as radar reflective tethered balloons within the radar's field of interest, a high degree of accuracy could be assured. Shocking to realise how much greater fatalities there were amongst the slave labourers who built the V2 factory than was ever delivered by the rockets themselves. The only real winner in the history of the V2 was von Braun and the other cohorts of Operation Paperclip and of course the Americans in using his knowledge in building the Saturn V rocket.

This book is so well researched the authenticity shines through. The story is told from both sides of the channel. For the British, it is Kay Caton-Walsh, a WAAF officer with a top secret job, who has first hand experience of the effects of the V2. For the Germans, Graf, an engineer, who with his friend Von Braun, were in at the beginning of the race to develop the rockets. This is so well written, it sets a great pace, and also makes you think. The consequences of the rockets development to both sides was immense, particularly the enslaved workforce. Atmospheric, each thread of the story beautifully woven into an authentic account of a tiny part of WWII that barely registered in any history lesson. Excellent read. Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

It’s winter 1944 and Adolf Hitler can see defeat on the horizon, but he has one last desperate shot at changing defeat in to an unlikely victory. The V2 missile, a rocket that can reek devastating carnage, and the German hierarchy hope it will be enough to turn the tide. This is a novel seen though the lives of two people. Rudi Graf a brilliant scientist who’s dream is to send a rocket to the moon, but instead he is in charge of the V2 program in a miserable Dutch town. Kay Caton-Walsh has just been on the receiving end of the carnage caused by the missiles and wants to help put a stop to it. She joins WAFF in Belgium. Armed with her math skills and a slide rule, the hope is that she can locate the launch site the enemy is using and destroy it. Destiny will draw them together with the most epic of endings at the most desperate of times. The author creates a poignant atmosphere with the most vivid scenes and powerful characters. His writing is just sublime and he truly is a master of his craft. Robert Harris’ storytelling is in a league of its own and ‘V2’ is written with such aplomb you will not be able to put it down. A novel that can only be described as breathtakingly brilliant.

What a story! I really enjoyed this book. Yet while it is fictional, and the characters are fictional, it is based on fact and incredibly well researched fact at that. For me, I actually found the acknowledgements at the back of the book the most poignant out of everything I read because it is these acknowledgements that made me realise how close this story was to what really happened during the war. This wouldn’t normally be my choice of reading, however when it came up on Netgalley I thought it sounded too good to resist. I’m not normally that keen on books that are set in a backdrop to WW2 but this was a thriller and sounded a little different. I read a book last year that surrounded the women who were in the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) but that was a more romanticised version of events. Very different to this book, but obviously I didn’t realise that until I was well into the pages of this book. Would I have chosen it had I known it was going to be so technical? Probably not, and yet I found the whole story absolutely fascinating. There is a lot of technical detail in relation to the V2, how it worked, how it was developed, then there was the maths….. but even for a non science person I did find it very interesting. The author has obviously done a lot of research and found it equally interesting to be able to explain it and put it into reasonably understandable layman terms. The story is told from two different view points. A lot of the book is spent with Graf who, having developed the science behind the V2 is heavily involved in the launches of the bomb attacks, overseeing the last minute checks before they’re deployed. However he becomes ever more disillusioned with it all as his interest originally lay in space travel. It was his friend von Braun who sold the idea to Germany that they could develop a bomb capable of huge destruction but only with an ultimate dream of fulfilling his ambition to develop a space rocket. The other part of the story involves the British side and the involvement of Kay-Caton Walsh an Officer in the WAAF who was originally tasked with studying photographic reconnaissance to try to locate where the bombs were being launched from, which after proving fruitless hit on the idea of retracing the bombs trajectory path back to where it came from using maths. Like I said before it is quite a technical story but don’t let that put you off, it’s well worth getting your head around because it’s so interesting. I could go on and on about this book, it’s just so good. It kept me engrossed and the end just makes you think about everything. Not just about World War II but about more recent times, those at the top, so far removed from reality that they still act with stupidity and give no thought to the consequences of their actions for the wider good. Man just never learns! I will definitely be trying another of this author's books and there are many to choose from.

Fantastic book! I have always enjoyed Mr Harris’s books but this book really stands out as it grabbed me from the first paragraph and held me captive until the last. The story line was fresh, Mr Harris clearly researched the history very throughly which added many small details that makes the book so interesting. The characters are fully developed, for me a real mark of a master author. The locations are brilliantly drawn for you, the whole of the book is so well crafted that the story stays will you long after you finish the book. For me this is a very special read giving you an insight to a time of terror. This is a must read.