Katherine Reay: A Shadow in Moscow

By Kelly Bridgewater

A betrayal at the highest level risks the lives of two courageous female spies: MI6’s best Soviet spy and the CIA’s newest Moscow recruit. As the KGB closes in, a compromise must be struck if either woman hopes to survive.

Vienna, 1954

After losing everyone she loves in the final days of World War II, Ingrid Bauer agrees to a hasty marriage with a gentle Soviet embassy worker and follows him home to Moscow. But nothing deep within the Soviet Union’s totalitarian regime is what it seems, including her new husband, whom Ingrid suspects works for the KGB. Upon her daughter’s birth, Ingrid risks everything and reaches out in hope to the one country she understands and trusts—Britain, the country of her mother’s birth—and starts passing along intelligence to MI6, navigating a world of secrets and lies, light and shadow.

Washington, DC, 1980

Part of the Foreign Studies Initiative, Anya Kadinova finishes her degree at Georgetown University and boards her flight home to Moscow, leaving behind the man she loves and a country she’s grown to respect. Though raised by dedicated and loyal Soviet parents, Anya soon questions an increasingly oppressive and paranoid Soviet regime at the height of the Cold War. When the KGB murders her best friend, Anya picks sides and contacts the CIA. Working in a military research lab, Anya passes along Soviet military plans and schematics in an effort to end the 1980s arms race.

Alternating points of view keep readers on their toes as the past catches up to the present when an unprecedented act of treachery in 1985 threatens all undercover agents operating within the Soviet Union, and both Ingrid and Anya find themselves in a race for their lives against time and the KGB.

 

My Thoughts:

A Shadow of Moscow by Katherine Reay has a synopsis of a Cold War Spy Novel. I enjoy a good spy novel, especially during World War II. However, Reay’s novel does have those elements of a Russian spy with hints of the Nazi Regime that started during World War II. Actually the novel does have a timeline of 1944 with the Nazi’s in it. Some issues with the writing are a lot of telling, not showing. I feel like I was being told a lot of information in information dumps throughout the first 50 percent of the novel. There was a little bit of movement sprinkled in between, but nothing really that important to the idea of the plot. Ingrid, as a character, was really flat. She seemed to have no personality and just moved through the directions and a little bit of discussion. Anya, on the other hand, may be a little more developed, but she seems a little boring too. Both characters are worried about their heritage, but I do not sense a sense of urgency in both characters. If I had the KGB coming after me for something that mother had done in the past, I believe I would be a little more scared. Anya did not have that feeling. Since this a split-time story, I wanted to read more like a story. Overall, A Shadow of Moscow by Katherine Reay did not really capture my attention. With the synopsis, it could have been an interesting story, but I felt like Reay did not deliver what she promised.

I received a complimentary copy of The Shadow of Moscow by Katherine Reay from Harper Muse Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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Katherine Reay: The London House

 By Kelly Bridgewater

Uncovering a dark family secret sends one woman through the history of Britain’s World War II spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris to save her family’s reputation.

Caroline Payne thinks it’s just another day of work until she receives a call from Mat Hammond, an old college friend and historian. But pleasantries are cut short. Mat has uncovered a scandalous secret kept buried for decades: In World War II, Caroline’s British great-aunt betrayed family and country to marry her German lover.

Determined to find answers and save her family’s reputation, Caroline flies to her family’s ancestral home in London. She and Mat discover diaries and letters that reveal her grandmother and great-aunt were known as the “Waite sisters.” Popular and witty, they came of age during the interwar years, a time of peace and luxury filled with dances, jazz clubs, and romance. The buoyant tone of the correspondence soon yields to sadder revelations as the sisters grow apart, and one leaves home for the glittering fashion scene of Paris, despite rumblings of a coming world war.

Each letter brings more questions. Was Caroline’s great-aunt actually a traitor and Nazi collaborator, or is there a more complex truth buried in the past? Together, Caroline and Mat uncover stories of spies and secrets, love and heartbreak, and the events of one fateful evening in 1941 that changed everything.

In this rich historical novel from award-winning author Katherine Reay, a young woman is tasked with writing the next chapter of her family’s story. But Caroline must choose whether to embrace a love of her own and proceed with caution if her family’s decades-old wounds are to heal without tearing them even further apart.

 

My Thoughts:

The London House’s cover is a beautiful masterpiece. Katherine Reay crafted together a story told through a present viewpoint and the past is told through the eyes of handwritten letters and journal entries. While the concept is really interesting, the delivering of the plot was a little harder to stay focused. I wanted to follow and see what actually was the truth behind Caroline’s great-aunt too. I think when the past story is told through the letters, it buts the readers at a distance from the actual story. It would have been nice to actually see the great-aunt Caroline in her story in an actual story format. Instead of being told second-hand what actually occurred. There were moments that I flipped through the story that I kept nodding off. I did enjoy the last ten percent of the novel where present day Caroline, Mat, her dad, and her mother were on racing against the clock to see what the actual ending the great-aunt’s life was. This was nicely handled. Reay does not how to write beautifully, and the story was a little different than anything I have ever encountered, but not one of my favorite World War II novels. There is a hint of romance near the end of the novel that really didn’t force itself on the readers or the characters. Overall The London House was told through letters, so it did not capture my attention like I hoped it would.

I received a complimentary copy of  The London House by Katherine Reay from Harper Muse  Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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Katherine Reay: Lizzy and Jane

By K. L. Bridgewater

Newly published writer, Katherine Reay, finished her second novel, Lizzy and Jane. The story comes after her highly anticipated book, Dear Mr. Knightley, which is a remake of Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster. There are many similarities and differences between the two plots, but I’m going to stick to three of them to strengthen my review of Lizzy and Jane

1.)    Organization:

Dear Mr. Knightley was written in letter form like Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis or Pamela by Samuel Richardson. The story flowed from the writings of Sam, the protagonist as she used a scholarship from a mysterious supporter. The only stipulation was that she has to continue writing Mr. Knightley, so he could watch her progress at this graduate school of journalism.  On the other hand, Lizzy and Jane was told in a straight narrative. We watch the action as it occurs, not later. Lizzy left her restaurant to help her sister, Jane, who battles cancer. Lizzy tries to forgive her sister and make her comfortable by cooking food her sister might be able to eat.

2.)    Character Names:

In Dear Mr. Knightley, Sam quoted Jane Eyre and a multitude of Jane Austen when she was nervous or wanted to make a point about something. Jane Austen made an appearance throughout the book. However, in Lizzy and Jane, Lizzy was named after Elizabeth Bennett in Austen’s most popular book, Pride and Prejudice, while Jane is named after Jane in the same book. Lizzy tries to think of food that Jane Austen’s characters would have eaten, which she uses to help her sister eat.

3.)    Path in Life:

Both of the protagonist, Sam and Lizzy, have no direction in life. Sam believes she wants to be a journalist because she has been told she writes well, however, when attending her first graduate newspaper classes with Professor Johnson, she doubts her chosen profession. In comparison, Lizzy has the desire and mind of a great chef, but Paul, who gave her the money to buy the restaurant, hired another chef for color and to attract more customers. Both girls, by the end of their respective books, have found their paths for their life and the men to share in their journey.

I truly enjoyed Reay’s first book, Dear Mr. Knightley, but the second book, Lizzy and Jane was not as entertaining. The character of Lizzy seems to only think about cooking in order to move along with her sister. Yes, she does try to think of ways to help her sister eat, but she does not confront her sister until toward the end of the book. Being that close to your sister who hurt you, I believe she would have said something earlier, even if it was a snide remark in passing.

The plot moved very, very slowly. Lizzy took tons of trips to the grocery stores, and as a reader, we got tons of description of the food she bought. I understand she was a chef, but come on already, is that all we need to know about her. We learn nothing about Lizzy as a character, just a chef.

I personally did not like Lizzy and Jane as much as Dear Mr. Knightley. I couldn’t wait to turn the pages in Dear Mr. Knightley as I watched Sam struggle through her life, but Lizzy in Lizzy and Jane was not a sympathetic character. I was bored by her. She was too one-dimensional with no personality.

I received a free digital copy of this book from Thomas Nelson, and the opinions stated are all my own.