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Katipo Joe #1 Blitzkrieg

Joseph St George is a young New Zealander, the son of diplomats in 1930s Berlin. But the Nazis are on the rise and the world is on a spinning path to destruction. Joe’s world is about to change, violently.

Like something out of one of his spy novels, he and his mother flee. She’s suddenly another person. Professional, cold, calculating and deadly. Joe is sent to New Zealand to live with relatives.

Three years pass, and Joe arrives in London, cold, hungry and looking for his mum. But is she the enemy?

Joe is recruited by MI5 and given a mission to infiltrate the Hitler Youth movement. From vital convoys across the frozen North Atlantic, to the terror of the London Blitz, to the shadowy world of the French Resistance, this is Joe’s world.

Inspired by true events, Katipo Joe is a story of incredible heroism, unlikely friendships and unbearable tragedy, set against the backdrop of World War Two.

Written by Brian Faulkner

$21.99 incl. GST

1 in stock (can be backordered)

Description

Book #1 of an exciting YA World War II spy action thriller series

An intriguing, thought-provoking and impossible-to-put-down read from an award-winning author that touches on themes of survival, personal responsibility and war, all couched in a unique and gripping adventure story.

Katipo Joe #1: Blitzkrieg won the 2021 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best YA crime/mystery/thriller

Reviews

WhatBookNext.com ~ …. bursting with action, tension, and the historical detail is brilliant throughout (without being too much). There are battles in the streets, on the ocean, from moving vehicles and hand to hand combat. The threads of family and friendship weave through the story, grounding Joe as a young man wanting to do the right thing, whilst training to become an assassin. Fantastic writing, riveting spy action and based on fact, right down to a zebra in the middle of London’s Blitz.

About the Kiwi author

Brian Falkner began college intending to study computers, but along the way he decided to shift his focus to something more creative.  After gaining a diploma of journalism, he worked as a reporter and advertising copywriter. Other jobs helped pay the bills and also expand the first-hand experiences that would enrich his fiction, among them stints as a motorcycle courier, radio announcer, graphic designer, and an internet developer.

Brian’s previous books with Scholastic NZ have been the widely acclaimed Shooting Stars, and his World War One novel, 1917 Machines of War, part of the Kiwis at War series. He has been published in 14 countries, including the USA, Canada, England, Australia, Germany, France, Japan and the Netherlands.

Brian currently lives on the Gold Coast of Australia with his wife and two daughters.

Additional information

Dimensions19.8 × 12.8 × 6 cm
First published

2020

Format

Paperback edition

ISBN

9781775436447

Page count

416

Published by

Scholastic NZ

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