Hearts of Stone

Simon Scarrow takes his WWII thriller into less-charted territory — the Greek resistance — and builds it around a three-way friendship that fractures under occupation, which gives the book genuine emotional weight beyond the battlefield action. The Historical Novel Society praised its pacing, and the research into Greek partisan warfare shows. Wartime violence is vivid and brutal, making this best suited to readers 16 and up, but within that range it is a solid, absorbing read.