Vendetta

Vendetta
Derek Lambert

A classic World War II novel from the bestselling thriller writer Derek Lambert.For the beleaguered German and Russian armies there is no war beyond the carnage in the city’s grim skeleton, and the terrible winter at their heels. Desperate men need heroes to boost their morale: orders come from the very top for a duel between champion snipers Antonov the Russian, and Meister the German – a contest each must win. For the two marksmen there is now no war but the race to pin the other in their sights. And no other companion, either, than the stranger whose mind each must read. Dead heroes or living legends? Only time will tell.‘The book is perfect. The horror of war is captured by the spare prose; the tension mounts, and the inevitable confrontation is uplifting in its outcome’ Daily Telegraph‘Told me more than all the military historians ever could about the greatest battle of World War Two’ Daily Mail‘Tense and gripping … a most effective chiller’ British Book News‘One is reminded of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness … For those who like to be in the thick of it, this book is a must’ Surrey and South Middlesex Times‘A good war story’ Kirkus Reviews‘A unique tour de force … poignant, cogent, a strong novel, suspenseful and fascinating, a novel not easily forgotten’ Florida Sun News

VENDETTA

Derek Lambert

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_26640c67-6058-53bb-ab80-4f484b92e2d2)

Collins Crime Club

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/)

First published in Great Britain by Hamish Hamilton Ltd 1986

Copyright © Derek Lambert 1986

Design and illustration by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com

Derek Lambert asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780008268497

Ebook Edition © May 2018 ISBN: 9780008268497

Version: 2018-04-18

DEDICATION (#ulink_b0adc0dc-a5cd-5f1c-982f-5a73e1abacfd)

For Jack and Nora, good neighbours

I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine … War is hell.

Attributed to General Sherman in an address at Michigan University on June 19, 1879.

AUTHOR’S NOTE (#ulink_368fdb15-7295-5d9f-939f-bd534c5b5735)

In 1942 while savage fighting was at its height in Stalingrad two snipers, one Russian and one German, stalked each other among the ruins. In this prolonged duel within a battle each marksman became the embodiment of his country’s desperate designs. That much is fact; in the rest of the book, historical detail apart, the only truth is hope.

CONTENTS

Cover (#u4343ff97-f8d2-5737-9578-699b1b89ec5e)

Title Page (#u2a3cc2ed-1368-5971-b12d-168066461909)

Copyright (#ulink_6a47f05c-529d-5473-80b2-9389b97a3e94)

Dedication (#ulink_1e08b029-1d60-5553-8ceb-598294fc5478)

Author’s Note (#ulink_c3ae90ca-029a-5cf2-b31f-310c98a7eb87)

Chapter One (#ulink_af0def7d-8125-58aa-9258-69b46b6cb94d)

Chapter Two (#ulink_9bd71550-8bd9-59a3-98a9-2316c66851e3)

Chapter Three (#ulink_69edbc02-59ae-5825-afe4-52c867d83a72)

Chapter Four (#ulink_5658d0da-d814-5d1a-adfa-2fb867090043)

Chapter Five (#ulink_674f2b0c-8fc3-5161-94a4-ad42510a67b1)

Chapter Six (#ulink_ca0516ea-e613-5489-81fc-72839ab98b76)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)