Ice Islands

Another outstanding geopolitical thriller in Hawksley’s excellent Rake Ozenna series
Booklist

Combines fast-paced storytelling with the background of an informed reporter.
Financial Times, Best Thrillers

Major Rake Ozenna’s mission is simple: gain the trust of Sara Kato, the unloved daughter of the Kato family, Japan’s most dangerous crime empire. But when the son of the Russian leader is assassinated and Sara is implicated in the murder, Rake needs to protect her while escaping the inhospitable terrain of the icy Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea.As Russia insists on revenge for the murder, America discovers that Japan is far from the trusted ally it thought it was. Amid high tension, rich with action and human drama, Rake moves from northern Europe to Washington to Japan, needing every ounce of skill and grit to prevent global catastrophe and keep Sara safe.

If anyone is qualified to write a compelling international thriller series, it’s Humphrey Hawksley

And as the world desperately seeks peace and diplomacy for Ukraine, this is where his new thriller, ICE ISLAND, begins—at an international peace conference of the coast of Finland. But that’s where things also unravel, hurling superpowers towards a nuclear confrontation when a Russian delegate is murdered, and the daughter of Japan’s most dangerous crime family is implicated. […]

Read full interview on The Big Thrill

Humphrey talks ICE ISLANDS with Uncaged Magazine

House of Mystery

Van Buren Variety Show

Radio Interview On The Stuph File Programme

Publishers Weekly LitCast: A Conversation with Humphrey Hawksley

Ice Islands Interview on Urban Book Reviews

Q: What themes will readers find in your novel, Ice Islands? 
The impact of a rejected child. Sara Kato is an emotionally damaged young woman whose parents gave her no love and little care. Her father sent her to boarding school in England aged ten. She craves family love and sees her older brother Michio as a figure she can trust. Then, she learns Michio is a killer.

Japan and Russia are technically still at war. In 1945, there was a ceasefire, but no peace treaty. As relations between the West and Russia deteriorates this little-known situation is becoming a flashpoint.

International crime is now so organized that it is threatening democratically elected governments. From the criminal viewpoint, the more there is chaos, the more they can take control. (This is one view of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin). ICE ISLANDS draws on a Presidential Executive Order 13581 from 2011 which shines a spotlight on this threat. Impossible love. A recurring theme is Rake Ozenna’s on-off relationship with trauma surgeon, Carrie Walker, the one woman he can’t get out of his mind. They are soul mates, but could never settle down together, and they are in every thriller in the Rake Ozenna series. […]

Read full interview on Urban Book Reviews

Ice Islands Interview on Influential People News

Tell us about the Rake Ozenna series.
ICE ISLANDS is the fourth in the series, featuring the hard-as-nails Indigenous Alaskan islander, Rake Ozenna, as the hero protagonist. In each thriller I try to take the reader to vivid, exotic, little-known locations with a story that weaves global politics with hard action, coupled with Rake’s unsteady personal life. His soul mate and lover is Carrie Walker, a conflict trauma surgeon whom Rake met while deployed to Afghanistan. Carrie is the only woman he can’t get out of his mind. Rake was raised as an orphan on Little Diomede island on the U.S.-Russian border. MAN ON ICE, the first in the series, has him battling a Russian invasion of his home island.. The second, MAN ON EDGE, takes him to the Norwegian-Russian border when military secrets go missing. Carrie, who is half Russian and half Estonian, becomes embroiled through a Russian naval uncle and there are high-action dog sled fight scenes on the frozen Arctic steppe. The next, MAN ON FIRE, begins on Little Diomede where Rake is tasked to bring in an agent crossing from Russia. The agent dies in a firefight and Rake begins a hunt to track down a catastrophic weapon. He goes into Russia and ends up tackling the bad guys in the stunningly picturesque Elbe Sandstone Mountains in Czechia. […]

Read full interview on Influential People News

Reviews for Humphrey Hawksley’s Rake Ozenna thrillers

Another outstanding geopolitical thriller in Hawksley’s excellent Rake Ozenna series, carefully researched, action-packed, and suspenseful.
Booklist, Starred Review

Hawksley is a distinguished former foreign correspondent for the BBC. He once again combines fast-paced storytelling with the background of an informed reporter.
Financial Times

A cracker of a book … full of impressive technical detail which gives it the ring of authenticity
Maj. Gen Ashock Mehta, The Pioneer

Gritty hero Rake Ozenna keeps us totally hooked as he races through dangerous geographies and adroitly chosen political scenarios. Riveting, satisfying and great fun.
New York Times best seller, Simon Winchester, ICE ISLANDS

Entertaining, thrilling, and brilliantly written
Anthony Avina Reviews, ICE ISLANDS

Gripping narrative that keeps us on edge all the way
Scribble’s Worth Book Reviews, ICE ISLANDS 

Rake Ozenna, is smart and tough, and we’re glad to have him on our side.
New York Times best seller Nelson DeMille

Hawksley deftly moves between high-powered diplomacy, lively scene-setting and fast-paced action on the ground to make a brisk and very contemporary read
Best Thrillers, Financial Times, MAN ON FIRE

Hawksley’s excellent idea is to move the battleground from Eastern Europe to the Arctic north. There’s only one man who can prevent the situation from escalating into a nuclear war: Rake Ozenna of the elite Eskimo Scouts
Mail on Sunday, Thriller of the Week on MAN ON ICE

A hard-as-nails hero, an out-of-the-ordinary location, and oodles of high-action encounter—it’s everything readers want in a political thriller
Library Journal on MAN ON EDGE

An up-to-the-minute, page-turning spy thriller with the atmosphere of a Cold War classic
New York Times bestseller, Charles Cumming on MAN ON EDGE

Exciting… Chilling… A game-changing weapon capable of overwhelming destruction… Readers will look forward to Rake’s further adventures
Publishers Weekly on MAN ON FIRE

Brass-knuckled international intrigue for readers who still pine for the world of James Bond.
Kirkus Reviews on MAN ON FIRE

Knuckle-whitening suspense, bloody violence, dirty tricks, and plenty of surprising twists make this a gripping, can’t-put-it-down read
Booklist on MAN ON ICE

MAN ON EDGE aptly showcases Humphrey Hawksley’s genuine flair for narrative storytelling
Midwest Book Review