New Releases by Michael Dobbs

When Harry Jones discovers that former friend Zac Kravitz''s life is in danger, a debt of honour sends him on a perilous rescue mission to Kargistan, a mountainous and landlocked former Soviet republic bordering Russia, China and Afghanistan. Muscling his way onto a delegation of MPs who happen to be paying the state a visit, Harry finds an unlikely ally in the stubbornly independent Martha and together they devise a plan to break Zac out of the grim prison Bodima. But when the attempt backfires and he finds himself stuck in prison in Zac''s place, little by little Harry realises that all is not as it seemed and that he has been lured into a web of international conspiracy.

The combination of Michael Dobbs’ excellent writing skills and historical passion, and the legendary character of Winston Churchill, have provided two triumphantly successful books in WINSTON’S WAR and NEVER SURRENDER.

From Michael Dobbs, author of the book that inspired the smash hit Netflix series House of Cards, comes Winston''s War, a thrilling novel about the dawn of WWII and Winston Churchill''s rise to power. At the beginning of WWII, Neville Chamberlain believes he has bought "peace for our time" from Adolph Hitler, who has just seized Czechoslovakia''s Sudetenland. The English are alarmed by the huge German army, while the soldiers that would defend London don''t even have steel helmets. For many, compromise and appeasement seem to be England''s best defense. But there are a few leaders who don''t agree. Among them is Winston Churchill, who understands that the relentless march of fascism will be democracy''s death knell. In October 1938, Churchill pleads his case in the press to the BBC''s Guy Burgess. One of these two will become the most revered man of his time, and the other will be known as the greatest of traitors. This stunning novel brings to life the surprising political intrigues that set the stage for World War II, and brings alive the passionate, grumpy, whiskey-drinking Winston Churchill, as he inspires his fellow countrymen to take on the world''s mightiest army. Includes bonus reading group guide Praise for Michael Dobbs, bestselling author of House of Cards, the book that inspired the Netflix series: "An intriguing tale of espionage and treason... this is a work to enthrall."—Daily Mail "An author who can bring historical happenings so vitally back to life and made all the more impressive by being historically accurate in every respect."—Times of London "A fascinating tale of conspiracy, blackmail, and treachery."—Irish Independent "Dobbs takes us so far inside the mind of Winston Churchill that we feel as though we actually are him."—Booklist "Dobbs infuses dramatic tension, inventive plots, and heady pacing in the narration of a British icon''s noblest hours."—Publishers Weekly "Dobbs has done a brilliant job in evoking the drama and despair of Britain hovering on the edge of the abyss."—Sunday Express

Cyber-warfare: the kind that brings nations to their knees, switching off energy lifelines, crippling the financial markets, starving leaders of authority. An old Russian nuclear reactor goes into Chernobyl-style meltdown while, on the other side of the world, the US Eastern Seaboard is plunged into darkness. No one knows - yet - who is responsible for the chaos. Hidden from view of the rest of the world, an extraordinary meeting of the US President, the Russian President and the British Prime Minister is about to take place. They have the weekend to save the world - and they must do it alone. Something serious is going on in Beijing. Military manoeuvres. Troops on the streets. It''s as though the Chinese are preparing for the final thrust against their old enemies, bringing them to their knees in a war that will see not a single shot being fired.

From Michael Dobbs, author of the book that inspired the smash hit Netflix series House of Cards, Churchill''s Hour is a stunning novel that brings Prime Minister Winston Churchill to life during the midst of WWII. It is 1941, a year of desperation for England as it is battered by the war. Churchill has only one hope, that the U.S. will come to his country''s aid, but Roosevelt is unwilling to do so because America is wedded to isolationism. The political difficulties Churchill faces are compounded by a very personal dilemma. Pamela, the wife of his dissolute son, Randolph, has fallen in love with FDR''s special envoy to England, Averill Harriman. With England threatened by a German invasion and a desperate Russia devastated by the advancing Nazi onslaught, Churchill must convince America that his cause is theirs. The secret of how he does so is so damning he will take the knowledge to his grave. Following his acclaimed Churchill novels Never Surrender and Churchill''s Triumph, Dobbs'' powerful reimagining makes England''s feisty prime minister jump off the page. Includes bonus reading group guide. Praise for Michael Dobbs, bestselling author of House of Cards, the book that inspired the Netflix series: "Churchill as nature intended: Dobbs captures his famous subject with artistry. With every stroke of his brush, he etches the character deeper into the memory. It is beautifully done."—Sunday Telegraph "Riveting and controversial... Dobbs has the gift of taking you inside his subject''s head."—Glasgow Evening Times "Michael Dobbs has always had an uncanny feel for current affairs... This is a typically masterful page-turner."—Hampstead and Highgate Express "Intriguing political drama from a master of the genre."—Irish Independent "An insightful look back in time - Four Stars."—Sunday Express

In October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear conflict over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. In this hour-by-hour chronicle of those tense days, veteran Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs reveals just how close we came to Armageddon. Here, for the first time, are gripping accounts of Khrushchev''s plan to destroy the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo; the handling of Soviet nuclear warheads on Cuba; and the extraordinary story of a U-2 spy plane that got lost over Russia at the peak of the crisis. Written like a thriller, One Minute to Midnight is an exhaustively researched account of what Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. called “the most dangerous moment in human history,” and the definitive book on the Cuban missile crisis.

From Michael Dobbs, author of the book that inspired the smash hit Netflix series House of Cards, Churchill''s Triumph transports us to the end of WWII as the three most powerful men on earth—Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin—gather in what will later become known as the Yalta Conference to discuss the possibility of worldwide peace. Despite their shared goals, these supposed allies will lie, cheat, and deceive each other in order to secure their respective places in history. Dobbs takes you behind the scenes and brings you into the minds and hearts of the big three leaders: the dominating and seemingly all-powerful Joseph Stalin, with the largest army, and the mission of expanding the Soviet Empire; an ailing and fragile Roosevelt, willing to make whatever compromises he felt he had to in order to bring Stalin and Russia into the final campaign against Japan; and Churchill, the least powerful of the three, but the most far-sighted, who could not count on Roosevelt as his ally, and could not tame the avaricious Russian bear, determined to gobble up the nations around and beyond it. Like a fly on the wall of history, the reader becomes a hidden witness to these monumental negotiations, witnessing negotiations that would betray the heroic struggle of millions who died and fought in the Great War. Acclaimed author Michael Dobbs allows the reader to eavesdrop on the world''s most powerful men at a crucial point in modern history. Praise for Churchill''s Triumph by Michael Dobbs, bestselling author of House of Cards, the book that inspired the Netflix series: "His portrait of Churchill is as masterly as ever: a wonderful compound of bluster, sentimentality, grumpiness and indefatigable physical energy. There are the usual elegant metaphors... In the tragedy of Poland burning while statesmen fiddled, Dobbs has found a theme worthy of his powers."—Sunday Telegraph "How do you delight the profit-maximising big retailers while at the same time writing something dark and moving? Michael Dobbs knows how...Dobbs knows his sources, but the dialogue is his own: good, clean, moving briskly and underpinned by the record, it conveys historical truth. As for Poland, it suffered all the horrors. Dobbs writes about the country with tight passion, transferring to his fictional village, Piorun, the rape, murder and savage enforcement by Germans and Russians which, so far away and so little regarded, actually happened. The old women weeping, the houses burned down, the bodies left promiscuously on the street are history set out for the attention of novel-readers, memorable instruction in human grief... Furiously told and compelling, Churchill''s Triumph is a thinking man''s bestseller."—The Guardian "Dobbs astutely and dramatically portrays the real story of Yalta, the mighty tussle between the three men upon whose political skills and strength of character the rest of the world would depend... The novel is a triumph because of the author''s fine appreciation of history and his meticulous eye for detail."—The Times "Michael Dobbs brings the Second World War to a resounding close... Dobbs portrays Churchill as being all too human - oversensitive and easily hurt by friendship betrayed, and conjures up Roosevelt''s stricken response beautifully... Dobbs is a fine writer and neatly sums up the appeal of historical novels. Not only can they fill in the gaps left by an inaccurate, incomplete or contradictory factual record, but they can capture the spirit of the thing. Dobbs has certainly done that here."—Daily Telegraph "It''s all too easy to forget that you''re not reading an insider''s account of ht real events that shaped the modern world. Dobbs clearly has an instinctive feel for what makes powerful men tick."—The Mail on Sunday

Michael Dobbs returns to the subject that made him a household name - the high drama and scandal of the political world. This is HOUSE OF CARDS for the 21st century, an insider''s view of the dynamics of power by a writer who has had a privileged seat at the court of government for many, many years. This time the king maker is a woman, Virginia Edge, mid-thirties, attractive, self-sufficient, ambitious. This is the story of her transformation from dutiful political wife to masterful manipulator of the entire political process at Westminster. She is a woman who is driven by the failings of men and the greed of others to take over their system and undermine it, to repay them in kind. In this battle she has two great allies - the intuition and determination of a wronged wife, and the blind ineptitude of Westminster men.

Topics include ALS, neurobiological weapons, Gulf War syndrome, Wilderness and Recreational neurology and more.

In 1942, Hitler''s Nazi regime trained eight operatives for a mission to infiltrate America and do devastating damage to its infrastructure. It was a plot that proved historically remarkable for two reasons: the surprising extent of its success and the astounding nature of its failure. Soon after two U-Boats packed with explosives arrived on America''s shores–one on Long Island, one in Florida–it became clear that the incompetence of the eight saboteurs was matched only by that of American authorities. In fact, had one of the saboteurs not tipped them off, the FBI might never have caught the plot''s perpetrators–though a dozen witnesses saw a submarine moored on Long Island. As told by Michael Dobbs, the story of the botched mission and a subsequent trial by military tribunal, resulting in the swift execution of six saboteurs, offers great insight into the tenor of the country--and the state of American intelligence--during World War II and becomes what is perhaps a cautionary tale for our times.

She was born Maria Jana Korbelova in Prague just before the outbreak of World War II, the first child of Czech Jewish parents. Almost sixty years later Madeleine Korbel Albright was sworn in as the United States secretary of state, the first woman to hold the position. Her dramatic life and rise to power are the focus of this meticulously documented biography, which expands on the ground-breaking research by Michael Dobbs, the Washington Post reporter who, in 1997, first disclosed the incredible and, until then, lost history of Madeleine Albright''s early life.

"One of the great stories of our time . . . a wonderful anecdotal history of a great drama." --San Francisco Chronicle Book Review As Washington Post correspondent in Moscow, Warsaw, and Yugoslavia in the final decade of the Soviet empire, Michael Dobbs had a ringside seat to the extraordinary events that led to the unraveling of the Bolshevik Revolution. From Tito''s funeral to the birth of Solidarity in the Gda´ nsk shipyard, from the tragedy of Tiananmen Square to Boris Yeltsin standing on a tank in the center of Moscow, Dobbs saw it all. The fall of communism was one of the great human dramas of our century, as great a drama as the original Bolshevik revolution. Dobbs met almost all of the principal actors, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, and Andrei Sakharov. With a sweeping command of the subject and the passion and verve of an eyewitness, he paints an unforgettable portrait of the decade in which the familiar and seemingly petrified Cold War world--the world of Checkpoint Charlie and Dr. Strangelove--vanished forever. "Down with Big Brother ranks very high among the plethora of books about the fall of the Soviet Union and the death throes of Communism. It is possibly the most vividly written of the lot." -- Adam B. Ulam, Washington Post Book World "From the Trade Paperback edition.

Into a world of cynicism and sleaze comes a new political hero, Goodfellowe M.P., the parliamentary detective - a man who has discovered the extraordinary powers of a backbencher to ask questions of anyone about anything - and the freedom to make an almighty public fuss.

Thriller set in the sordid world of illegal adoption.

From the No 1 bestselling author of HOUSE OF CARDS, a new-cover reprint of a highly acclaimed thriller of international intrigue that brilliantly captures the tense atmosphere of Berlin -- just before the wall came down.