I love this series. Karin Slaughter has created fantastic characters in Will, Sara, Faith, and Amanda, and she never h5 stars - Crime/Mystery/Thriller
I love this series. Karin Slaughter has created fantastic characters in Will, Sara, Faith, and Amanda, and she never holds back from detailing the evil, ugly aspects of our society. This is another dark, complex thriller, but it's also fucking brutal and deeply disturbing. This book needs a serious trigger warning for rape because it's front and center throughout the entire story, and Ms. Slaughter does not hold back from graphic details.
After That Night made me feel the gamut of emotions...sad, disgusted, heartsick, fearful, and fucking infuriated. It especially made me feel intense anger, deep revulsion, and utter despair for the way women have to constantly deal with the savage and terrifying reality of rape. I had so much rage after reading this book that I asked a friend to go with me to a Krav Maga self-defense class so I could beat the shit out of some strike pads.
The ending felt somewhat rushed to me, and I thought all of the villainous, evil pieces of shit got off way too easy. But the depressing, bitter truth of the world we live in is that people get away with abusing others every second of every minute, every single day, especially rich white men. (view spoiler)[Even though one of the biggest villains in this book is a woman, let's be clear about the fact that the majority of abusers and rapists are men. (hide spoiler)]...more
Wow. What an incredible story of one of the most prominent French resistance leaders and spies of WWII, Nancy Grace A5 stars - WWII Historical Fiction
Wow. What an incredible story of one of the most prominent French resistance leaders and spies of WWII, Nancy Grace Augusta Wake (also known as The White Mouse). She was the Allies most decorated woman during World War II, saving thousands of soldiers and eventually becoming the most wanted person by the German Gestapo in 1943.
Even though this is historical fiction, the author based it on extensive research, biographies written about Nancy Wake, and on Nancy's own autobiography, The White Mouse, and all of the events are real, as are most of the characters in the book.
Ariel Lawhon describes her as "bold, bawdy, and brazen" in the author's note, and Nancy Wake was indeed that. She was also brave, strong, fearless, clever, courageous, compassionate, determined, cunning, stubborn, tough, and fair and had a strong sense of justice. And she risked everything to fight the Germans and to help win the war.
There is a beautiful, romantic, moving, heartbreaking, and tragic love story in this book between Nancy and her French husband, Henri Fiocca. Even already knowing how their story ended, I still wasn't prepared for it.
I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator, Barrie Kreinik, was fantastic and really brought Nancy and the other characters to life.
I highly recommend this to fans of historical fiction and non-fiction, WWII historical fiction and non-fiction, and even to romance fans. If you don't know about Nancy Wake, you really should. What a truly amazing, remarkable woman she was! 5 stars!...more
Wow! The Huntress is one of the best books I’ve read this year. My other favorite book of 5++ stars – WWII Historical Fiction/Mystery/Suspense/Romance
Wow! The Huntress is one of the best books I’ve read this year. My other favorite book of the year is The Diamond Eye, also by Kate Quinn. They’ve both earned high honors on my all-time best top favorite reads lists.
History books and history lessons tend to leave out the contributions of women in WWII. Quinn sheds light on elements of history that haven’t received the attention they deserve. She reminds us that women played integral roles in WWII as pilots, snipers, spies, and soldiers and that there were also female Nazi war criminals.
The Huntress is an empowering, brilliantly written, superbly detailed, stirringly paced, and riveting page-turner with captivating characters. It combines fact and fiction to tell the story of the search for a Nazi murderess on the run. I alternated between the audiobook version narrated fabulously by Saskia Maarlevelde and reading the e-book version.
The Huntress involves three interchanging points of view/timelines: Nina Markova, a woman from remote Siberia who becomes a Soviet bomber pilot with the all-female Night Witches regiment, Ian Graham, a journalist and war correspondent turned Nazi hunter with his partner, Tony Rodomovsky, who are searching for a cold-blood Nazi killer known as die Jagerin, The Huntress, and Jordan McBride, a young photographer whose stepmother may have secrets and not be what she seems. Their stories converge and meticulously come together in a thrilling, explosive climax.
The characters are all fascinating and multifaceted, but Nina Markova definitely stole the book for me. She is a wonderfully complex, intriguing, strong, brave, tough, hard, resilient, difficult, proud, stubborn, brutal, loyal, prickly, funny, loving, and kick-ass heroine and a survivor in every possible way. Nina’s time as navigator and pilot in the Night Witches are some of the best moments of the book. The love between Nina and (view spoiler)[Yelena, her sestra and fellow pilot, (hide spoiler)] was beautiful, genuine, moving, and heartbreaking. There are two other romances in the book as well, and they both weave nicely into the story without distracting from the overall seriousness of the hunt.
Ian, Tony, and Nina (like real life Nazi hunters) worked diligently and determinedly to shine the light of justice on the war criminals hiding in the dark of indifference after WWII when most people just wanted to forget and move on like everything was normal again.
The Huntress is a poignant, inspiring, and exciting story that captivated me from the start and kept me eagerly reading until the suspenseful conclusion. And in the end, who was the true Huntress?
Don’t miss reading the "About the Book" section at the end where the author explains what is fact and fiction in the story and provides more fascinating historical details.
He yelped then, feeling the keen edge of a stropped Siberian razor pressing against the inside of his thigh. “My pilot,” Nina said sweetly, “doesn’t care for your fucking language, you bonehead Leningrad mule. Keep your mouth clean around her, or I will slice off your balls and cram them up your fucking nose.” “Women in the air,” he breathed. “World’s gone crazy, giving planes to you bitches.” “Bitches like my pilot fly better than you will ever fly in your whole goddamned life.” Nina gave another sweet smile. “So take her up there for a loop and keep your fucking language nice, and I won’t jam a propeller up your shit-factory and crank until your asshole flaps like your mouth.” –> See why I love Nina so much?
The dead lie beyond any struggle, so we living must struggle for them. We must remember, because there are other wheels that turn besides the wheel of justice. Time is a wheel, vast and indifferent, and when time rolls on and men forget, we face the risk of circling back. We slouch yawning to a new horizon and find ourselves gazing at old hatreds seeded and watered by forgetfulness and flowering into new wars. New massacres. New monsters like die Jagerin. Let this wheel stop. Let us not forget this time. Let us remember....more
Wow! Another incredible, complex, high-octane Orphan X thriller! His work as the Nowhere Man was a total na5 stars - Vigilante Justice/Action Thriller
Wow! Another incredible, complex, high-octane Orphan X thriller! His work as the Nowhere Man was a total nailbiter! I had no idea how or if he was going to pull everything off and make it out alive! This series is just fantastic! Big 5 stars!
This isn't the last book in the series, and part of me is glad there's more to come. But I also think the end of this book provides closure for Evan's life as Orphan X and the Nowhere Man. (view spoiler)[He receives an informal presidential pardon, so the government will finally stop searching for him. He also completes his final mission as the Nowhere Man, so he can retire and attempt some semblance of a normal life, ideally with Mia and Peter. (hide spoiler)] I think with just another chapter or two and/or an epilogue, this book could've made for a great ending to the series....more
Wow! This series is fantastic! I loved the previous book, Hellbent, so much that I was worrie5 stars - Vigilante Justice/Assassination/Action Thriller
Wow! This series is fantastic! I loved the previous book, Hellbent, so much that I was worried this wouldn't be as good, but it definitely delivered on the action and emotional depth.
This had me on the edge of my seat wondering how the hell Evan/X was going to pull everything off. And I really loved his work as the Nowhere Man in this one. The scenes with the boy he helped were so moving, and his vengeance was delivered brilliantly.
(view spoiler)[My heart breaks for Evan at the longing he feels for a normal life with Mia and Peter. I hope he can find happiness and peace and have a life with them at some point. (hide spoiler)]...more
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