20 May 2025.
ISBN: 979-1-09731039-4 (PB)
Mélisende des Pittones and her partner Jeff McCracken are enjoying a much-needed break with Mel’s family at their estate in France, following a particularly gruelling mission for their employers the EIRS (the European Investigation and Regulation Service). Their relaxation is interrupted by a desperate call for help from Mel’s mother, Susan, who had been working in her conservatory when a heavy ball of black basalt crashed through the glass roof, narrowly missing her. To add to the horror of this potentially fatal attack, the basalt ball is accompanied by a note, which demands money and threatens to take ‘one of your kids and sell them’ if the cash is not immediately forthcoming. Susan has no idea who could be targeting her and, as her two children are adults, it seems probable that the threat refers to her grandchildren, Mel’s brother’s children.
The local police are summoned, but Mel
wants to investigate the matter herself, aware that she has enough friends in
the EIRS to informally access their facilities, including the use of any state
of the art scientific laboratory in Europe. Mel and McCracken discover a reason
for the threat, which they hope will set the police on the right track, however
they are summoned to return to work as a matter of urgency and are warned that
they will be required to undertake a new mission, which, if they fail, could compromise
the security of Europe.
On the first leg of their journey back to the EIRS headquarters in Brussels, when Mel is briefly alone on Poitiers station, she is attacked by two thugs, who call her by name. Mel, who served in the French army before she joined the EIRS, has no problem dealing with them, and the two men run away. She is uncertain whether this attack is linked to the threat her family are facing or if it is connected with the mission she is about to undertake. When Mel and McCracken meet their EIRS boss, in order to receive their briefing, they are shocked because Patrick Stephenson is not his usual immaculate self, and he confides in them that he has suffered a personal tragedy. Despite this, Stephenson is determined to carry on doing his duty.
The mission he wants Mel and McCracken to undertake could have internationally disastrous consequences if they fail. Achim Nessler is a candidate in the election of a new chancellor for Germany and is expected to lead his party to victory. Nessler is a charismatic and respected centre-left candidate, who would uphold democracy in his country. Nessler’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Emma, has been kidnapped and the abductors have threatened to kill her if Nessler does not withdraw from the election, but if he did withdraw it is almost certain that the extreme right would win and attempt to return the country to a violent extreme-right regime.
While Mel liaises with the German police, McCracken uses the skills he acquired as an undercover police officer and dresses and acts like a right-wing thug, in the hope of infiltrating one of the groups of Neo-Nazis. He swiftly succeeds in doing so, which makes Mel very anxious for his safety, and she is also worried about the difficult situation that her family are suffering at home. To make matters worse, Mel finds working with some of the German police officers very difficult, many of the male officers are misogynistic and she fears that some of them are also corrupt. This means that she is uncertain who amongst her police colleagues she can trust, and all the time the clock moves inexorably nearer to date of the election when Nessler either has to withdraw from the campaign or accept that his daughter will probably be killed.
Double Stakes is the third book in the series featuring Mélisende des
Pittones and Jeff McCracken, and it is an excellent addition to a series that
grows stronger and more gripping all the time. The core central characters are
all engaging and their personalities and relationships develop all the time;
the plot is complex and fast moving; and the political and geographical details
are fascinating. This is a compelling thriller, a page turner, which I
thoroughly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron
Thank you so much for a lovely review, Carol. Really appreciated!
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