Derek Robinson - Free Library Land Online - Sequential Art

The Eldorado Network

Sat, 15 Nov 2014 07:04:14 +0200

'SPY THRILLERS USUALLY LEAVE ME COLD BUT THIS ONE IS PLAINLY OUTSTANDING IN IT'S CLASS' GUARDIAN. ELDORADO: MILLION DOLLAR SPY 1941. Hitler rampant. Spain neutral. Madrid the launching-pad for spies from each side. One of the most audacious of these spies was codenamed 'Eldorado'. He had no right to survive, let alone succeed - he was far too young, inexperienced, and impetuous. Nevertheless he prospered and set up a network of agents whose information proved so valuable that it altered the course of the war. In the process, Eldorado made a lot of money. He also made a lot of very dangerous enemies. Soon the big question was: Who would hit the target first? Would Eldorado turn himself into a millionaire before his enemies could turn him into a corpse? 'ELDORADO' REALLY EXISTED, UNDER A DIFFERENT CODENAME. THIS BOOK WAS INSPIRED BY THE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT HIS DARING AND OUTRAGEOUS CAREER.

Goshawk Squadron

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:04:13 +0200

Known for his black humor and expertise in military aviation, Derek Robinson is best renowned for his novels on the Royal Flying Corps. The Goshawk Squadron was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

World War One pilots were the knights of the sky, and the press and public idolised them as gallant young heroes.

At just twenty-three, Major Stanley Woolley is the old man and commanding officer of Goshawk Squadron. He abhors any notion of chivalry in the clouds and is determined to obliterate the decent, gentlemanly outlook of his young, public school-educated pilots--for their own good.

But as the war goes on he is forced to thrown greener and greener pilots into the meat grinder. Goshawk Squadron finds its gallows humor and black camaraderie no defense against a Spandau bullet to the back of the head.

Piece of Cake

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:04:16 +0200

From the Phoney War of 1939 to the Battle of Britain in 1940, the pilots of Hornet Squadron learn their lessons the hard way. Hi-jinks are all very well on the ground, but once in a Hurricane's cockpit, the best killers keep their wits close.

Newly promoted Commanding Officer Fanny Barton has a job on to whip the Hornets into shape before they face the Luftwaffe's seasoned pilots. And sometimes Fighter Command, with its obsolete tactics and stiff doctrines, is the real menace.

As with all Robinson's novels, the raw dialogue, rich black humour and brilliantly rendered, adrenalin-packed dogfights bring the Battle of Britain, and the brave few who fought it, to life.

Hullo Russia, Goodbye England

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:04:17 +0200

Damned Good Show

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 22:51:41 +0200

They joined an R.A.F. known as "the best flying club in the world", but when war pitches the young pilots of 409 Squadron into battle over Germany, their training, tactics and equipment are soon found wanting, their twin-engined bombers obsolete from the off. Chances of completing a 30-operation tour? One in three. At best.

Robinson's crooked salute to the dogged heroes of the R.A.F.'s early bombing campaign is a wickedly humourous portrait of men doing their duty in flying death traps, fully aware, in those dark days of war, there was nothing else to do but dig in and hang on.

Red Rag Blues

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:04:15 +0200

It's 1953, and Luis Cabrillo has burned through the small fortune he earned from both British and German Intelligence in WW2. Now he has only his wits, his confidence, and his dazzling skills at lying and cheating.

Teaming up again with Julie Conroy (a corker of a New Yorker), he follows his wartime instincts and goes where arrogance breeds wealth: to Washington D.C. and Senator Joe McCarthy, high priest of America's holy war on Red treachery.

Joe's problem is a sudden shortage of treachery. Luis can help him out, but for dollars. Big dollars. And when the C.I.A. gets into the act, followed by the K.G.B., F.B.I., M.I.6. and the Mafia, it makes for an explosive mixture ripe for a spark.

In Red Rag Blues Derek Robinson lends his signature wit to the hysteria and paranoia of the McCarthy years, toying with the notion that the world's most powerful nation is sometimes the world's most stupid.

A Good Clean Fight

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 22:51:42 +0200

North Africa, 1942. Dust, heat, thirst, flies. A good clean fight, for those who like that sort of thing, and some do. From an advanced landing field, striking hard and escaping fast, our old friends from Hornet Squadron (Piece of Cake) play Russian roulette, flying their clapped-out Tomahawks on ground-strafing forays. Meanwhile, on the ground, the men of Captain Lampard's S.A.S. patrol drive hundreds of miles behind enemy lines to plant bombs on German aircraft.

This is the story of a war of no glamour and few heroes, in a setting often more lethal than the enemy.

A Splendid Little War

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:04:16 +0200

Hornet’s Sting

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:04:13 +0200

Operation Bamboozle

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:04:15 +0200

From 1941 to 1943 it was the Germans. Then it was the turn of the British. Come the Cold War, he's conning McCarthy. Now he's going head to head with the L.A. mob.

For high stakes con artist Luis Cabrillo, once known as Eldorado, the million-dollar spy, trouble is never far away. And when he and his corker-of-a-New-Yorker squeeze, Julie Conroy, run into the cream of Los Angele's shady side, the result is a heady brew of disorganised crime, hot dollars, triple virgins and dead bodies in the begonias.

The fourth and final Luis Cabrillo novel is yet another fiendishly plotted rollercoaster ride of wit and wisecracking, as the Second World War's most daring and audacious spy finds that old habits die hard, even in peacetime.

War Story

Tue, 15 Nov 1988 07:04:17 +0300

Eldorado Network

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:04:14 +0200

1941. Hitler rampant. Spain neutral. Madrid, like Casablanca, the launching pad for spies from all sides. The most daring and audacious of all is codenamed "Eldorado".

Young, inexperienced, hotheaded, he had no right to survive, let alone succeed. Now his network is the most valuable in Europe, and the fates of armies lie in his hands.

But who does he work for? Or is he only in it for himself? One thing's for sure. War may be a dirty business, but it certainly brings home the bacon.

Based on a true story, The Eldorado Network is the first novel in Derek Robinson's acclaimed Luis Cabrillo Quartet. A tense and gripping espionage thriller from a master of action and suspense.

Artillery of Lies

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 22:51:42 +0200

1943. British Intelligence has finally got to grips with the Eldorado Network, Germany's most successful spy ring. It turns out to be one man in a small room in Lisbon, inventing phony (but convincing) reports. For two years he pulled the wool over German Intelligence's eyes, and made a killing..

The British soon find that Eldorado's a real handful. They bring him to England, so they can manage his dispatches, and discover that living with a genius can be a headache. Eldorado rapidly creates a team of top sub-agents around him. None of them exists. But power--even imaginary power--is intoxicating, and he begins to treat his fake sub-agents as if real. Big trouble ahead.

Artillery of Lies is the hair-raising sequel to The Eldorado Network, all the more funny for being soundly based on the true story of a real Second World War spy.