The Unwanted Dead, Chris Lloyd
The Unwanted Dead, Chris Lloyd
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The Unwanted Dead
Winner of the HWA Gold Crown for Best Historical Fiction

Author: Chris Lloyd

Narrator: Tim Bentinck

Unabridged: 12 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Orion

Published: 09/17/2020


Synopsis

'A gripping murder mystery and a vivid recreation of Paris under German Occupation.' ANDREW TAYLOR
*WINNER OF THE HWA GOLD CROWN AWARD FOR BEST HISTORICAL FICTION*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD*

'Terrific' SUNDAY TIMES, Best Books of the Month
'A thoughtful, haunting thriller' MICK HERRON
'Sharp and compelling' THE SUN

* * * * *

Paris, Friday 14th June 1940.
The day the Nazis march into Paris, making headlines around the globe.

Paris police detective Eddie Giral - a survivor of the last World War - watches helplessly on as his world changes forever.

But there is something he still has control over. Finding whoever is responsible for the murder of four refugees. The unwanted dead, who no one wants to claim.

To do so, he must tread carefully between the Occupation and the Resistance, between truth and lies, between the man he is and the man he was.

All the while becoming whoever he must be to survive in this new and terrible order descending on his home...

* * * * *

'Lloyd's Second World War Paris is rougher than Alan Furst's, and Eddie Giral, his French detective, is way edgier than Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther ... Ranks alongside both for its convincingly cloying atmosphere of a city subjugated to a foreign power, a plot that reaches across war-torn Europe and into the rifts in the Nazi factions, and a hero who tries to be a good man in a bad world. Powerful stuff.'
THE TIMES

'A tense and gripping mystery which hums with menace and dark humour as well as immersing the reader in the life of occupied Paris' Judges, HWA GOLD CROWN AWARD

'Excellent ... In Eddie Giral, Lloyd has created a character reminiscent of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther, oozing with attitude and a conflicted morality that powers a complex, polished plot. Historical crime at its finest.'
VASEEM KHAN, author of Midnight at Malabar House

'Monumentally impressive ... A truly wonderful book. If somebody'd given it to me and told me it was the latest Robert Harris, I wouldn't have been surprised. Eddie Giral is a wonderful creation.'
ALIS HAWKINS

'A terrific read - gripping and well-paced. The period atmosphere is excellent.'
MARK ELLIS

'The best kind of crime novel: gripping, thought-provoking and moving. In Detective Eddie Giral, Chris Lloyd has created a flawed hero not just for occupied Paris, but for our own times, too.'
KATHERINE STANSFIELD

About Chris Lloyd

Straight after graduating in Spanish and French, Chris Lloyd hopped on a bus from Cardiff to Catalonia and stayed there for over twenty years. He has also lived in Grenoble - researching the French Resistance movement - as well as in the Basque Country and Madrid, where he taught English and worked in educational publishing and as a travel writer. He now lives in South Wales and is a translator and novelist.Paris Requiem is his second novel set in Paris, featuring Detective Eddie Giral. The first, The Unwanted Dead, won the Historical Writers' Association Gold Crown Award for best historical novel of the year, and was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger Award.


Reviews

Goodreads review by 8stitches 9lives on September 18, 2020

The Unwanted Dead is an intriguing and gripping police procedural, set against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Paris in 1940. The first instalment in a brand new historical crime series, it is centred around the murders of four Polish refugees slain on June 14 in a railway siding, the day the Germans......more

Goodreads review by Tegan on January 31, 2021

Maybe I’ve just overdone WWII fiction, but I really couldn’t get into this book. Nothing against the writing- that in itself was quite good, but I struggled to really get into this. Possibly just not my cup of tea.......more

Goodreads review by Paula on March 18, 2023

Absolutely brilliant.Great characters, intricate and clever plot,wonderful and oppressive sense of time and place.......more

Goodreads review by Havers on April 18, 2021

Am 14. Juni 1940 marschieren die Nationalsozialisten in Paris ein und übernehmen die Kontrolle. Ausgangssperre, massive Eingriffe in das öffentliche Leben, Sanktionen. Fluchtartig verlassen die Einwohner die Stadt, nur wenige bleiben zurück. Unter ihnen Eddie Giral, Kommissar der Pariser Polizei, de......more


Quotes

A thoughtful, haunting thriller Mick Herron

A police story with a difference, sepia-painted to match the time and circumstances, with a convincing background and atmosphere, skilfully drawn to encompass the fates of the lead characters as if you were there by their side. Well-written and carefully researched, it is one to stay with you long after you have finished reading Adrian Magson, SHOTS Magazine

Lloyd's Second World War Paris is rougher than Alan Furst's, and Eddie Giral, his French detective, is way edgier than Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther. Powerful Stuff Sunday Times Crime Club

Terrific The Sunday Times

Lloyd's Second World War Paris is rougher than Alan Furst's, and Eddie Giral, his French detective, is way edgier than Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther . . . Ranks alongside both for its convincingly cloying atmosphere of a city subjugated to a foreign power, a plot that reaches across war-torn Europe and into the rifts in the Nazi factions, and a hero who tries to be a good man in a bad world. Powerful stuff. The Times

Excellent . . . In Eddie Giral, Lloyd has created a character reminiscent of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther, oozing with attitude and a conflicted morality that powers a complex, polished plot. Historical crime at its finest. Vaseem Khan, author of Midnight at Malabar House

Such a powerful and morally nuanced crime novel ... Both a gripping murder mystery and a vivid recreation of Paris under German Occupation. Andrew Taylor

The best kind of crime novel: gripping, thought-provoking and moving. In Detective Eddie Giral, Chris Lloyd has created a flawed hero not just for occupied Paris, but for our own times, too. Katherine Stansfield

Wartime Paris rises from the page with its seedy bars, gang-ridden train yards, lonely apartments, and across everything falls the terrible shadow of the Great War ... A fantastic novel. Katherine Stansfield

A terrific read - put me in mind of Alan Furst and Philip Kerr ... Gripping and well-paced. The period atmosphere is excellent. Mark Ellis