The Best of Our Spies

Best spy novel I have ever read. Ever.

All spy stories should be this devious. Lt. Quinn, having been returned to England following his ship being bombed into oblivion off Crete, falls in love with one of his nurses. Unbeknownst to him she is a German spy in deep cover, but the spymasters in Bletchley Park know it and are manipulating their relationship so they can turn her into a double agent without her, or his, knowledge. “He has no idea whatsoever who she is. He is unaware of what is going on. Thinks this beautiful Frenchwoman who is two years older than him has fallen in love with him. He is like the cat that has found the cream, gallons of the stuff, in fact.” The idea is to feed her all sorts of false information leading to show more an assumption that the real invasion of the continent will take place at Pas de Calais and not Normandy which they want the Germans to believe is just a diversion. Then she is sent to France.

Not only is it a terrific spy novel, but a good love story, as well and nicely set in an historical context. You will begin to question good and evil and whether the end can ever justify the means. show less

A gripping novel built around the successful, masterful deception of "Fortitude", the allies plan to make the Germans believe D-Day would launch in the Pas-de-Calais, not Normandy. Nathalie Mercier is a deep cover Abwehr spy in Britain tasked with discovering the allies' plans for D-Day. Owen Quinn is a young naval officer, unknowingly recruited to allow Nathalie to think he is developing plans for D-Day in the Pas-de-Calais. Unfortunately, Owen falls in love with Nathalie, complicating matters. A compelling blend of fiction and fact.

I've read many non-fiction books about the agents in WWII and any one of them is more exciting and better than this fictional account. I found the read a slog, the characters lacked depth, there began to be many words missing as I read through the second half (the editor got tired of reading?), and finally a mix of some anticipated and other highly improbable endings.

The story is fascinating and breathtaking, written well. The characters are well built and reliable. Gerlis does not fall into the trap of making "our side" pure. He describes it with a mixture of good and evil, as in reality.

The historical background of the book made me spend a lot of time reading and browsing through google maps and Wikipedia, which increased the experience of reading and connected me more to people, events and places embedded in the plot. All in all, I enjoyed the book very much. It seems that I am well connecting to books that take place against an actual historical background and also teach me the story of another period and events from the past.

Conclusions? The need to win overrides moral judgment, and its high show more price justified by the price setters, which will not be paid by them.

The book highly recommended. show less