The Standish family has been involved in British intelligence for many years from Lucas Standish who headed MI6 during WWI to Lucas’ granddaughter, Elena, a newly minted agent. MI6 is worried about a plot by a secret group to take over Austria for Germany. They have lost contact with their agent in Trieste and fear for his safety. They badly need his information so Peter Howard, Elena’s boss, decides to send her to get him out.
Elena is chosen for the mission because the agent is the ex-lover who betrayed her and ended her career as a foreign service officer. Meanwhile, Elena’s sister, Margot, is attending a wedding in Germany where she witnesses the upper levels of Nazi society first hand. Closer to home, a friend and colleague of Lucas’ worries that an enemy sympathizer has infiltrated MI6.
This is the second book in Anne Perry’s new series with events leading up to WWII. Although it’s the second book, I found it very easy to read as a standalone, although you may want to go back and read the first book to get a more in-depth view of the characters.
Elena has had her confidence badly damaged by her lover’s betrayal. In this book, she starts very unsure of ability, but grows into a confident agent. I loved the other plot lines in the story. Lucas and Peter Howard were two of my favorite characters. Margot also played her part well.
The book starts rather slowly, but the action increases quickly with several dangerous moments which include personal standoffs on policy as well as more overtly dangerous encounters.
I highly recommend this book if you enjoy historical mysteries.
I received this book from Random House for this review.
No comments:
Post a Comment