Adam LeBor

District VIII is the first in a new mystery series by Adam Lebor featuring Detective Balthazar Kovacs, a man caught between his Gypsy heritage and his crime family on the one hand, and his law enforcement career and American ex-wife and their son on the other.

Talk about a novel ripped from the headlines!

District VIII is set in the hot Hungarian summer of 2015 when refugees who had fled Aleppo are held up by the Hungarian government at the train station in Budapest and not allowed travel on to Germany.

Lebor explores corruption in the Hungarian government, the criminal underbelly of Budapest, and how communism and even nazism still resonate in this East European country that is now such a draw to tourists from around the globe.

Read my full review over on Criminal Element -- https://www.criminalelement.com/review-district-viii-by-adam-lebor/… (meer)

Journalist Adam Lebor's remarkable debut novel, The Geneva Option, is a fast-paced, intelligent thriller that takes readers deep into a conspiracy by a business conglomerate to take control of profitable African resources, a conspiracy that involves some of those in the top echelons of power within the United Nations.

Yael Azoulay is one of the UN Secretary General's most trusted aides. Charged with arranging deals with some of the world's most notorious political and military figures, Yael undertakes dangerous missions that are known to only a select few. But when the results of Yael's most recent mission, negotiating a plea bargain with one of the chief architects of the Rwandan genocide, are leaked to the press, Yael is forced from her job and her life is placed in grave danger. She immediately sets out to uncover the source of the leak, and in the process learns of a top secret conspiracy involving Africa that has the support of some of the UN's most powerful people. Yael is in a race against time to both unravel the full extent of the conspiracy and to put a stop to it before it claims countless lives.

The Geneva Option has all the of elements I think a good political thriller should have. It has: a fast-moving and highly entertaining narrative that makes the novel difficult to put down; it centres around a plausible conspiracy involving shady businessmen and powerful political figures; it has a highly intelligent, capable and determined heroine who is easy to root for; the secondary characters are unique and memorable; and it is extremely well-written. Yael's strong and well-developed character is one of the this novel's greatest strengths, and this strength is complemented by a diverse group of equaling intriguing supporting characters, who include a NY Times reporter, a Rwandan warlord, the Secretary General of the UN, Yael's personal bodyguard, a Serbian small business owner, and a young Rwandan boy. One of the components of this novel that I most enjoyed was the insights it gave into the backroom dealings of the UN, the power struggles within the organization, and the constant jockeying for prestige and influence amongst its various personnel and departments. Although this novel is fictional, it is not difficult to imagine that such backrooms dealings and power struggles are a reality within the world's most well-known organization.

I highly recommend The Geneva Option to all readers who enjoys thrillers, as well as to those who like to read novels with strong female leads. I cannot wait to read more from Adam Lebor and to see where he takes Yael next.

Note: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.… (meer)