by Kate Quinn, 2019
Action-packed historical fiction about Nazi hunters in the 1950s. Characters are very appealing, except for the Huntress – die Jagerin. There are 6 main characters: Jordan McBride, young American girl who wants to be a photographer; Ian Graham, Englishman and former WWII war correspondent, who wants to catch the Huntress because she killed his brother; Nina Markova, decorated Russian pilot who had to escape Russia during the war because her father was a denouncer of Stalin; Tony Rodomovsky, part-Jewish WWII veteran (interpreter) who wants to catch war criminals; Anna McBride, the Huntress, who murdered 6 children because they were Jewish and murdered Ian’s brother, an escaped prisoner; and little Ruth, a little girl who Anna McBride kidnaps after killing her mother in order to escape to America. All of the characters were based on real-life people who did similar things or were an amalgamation of people who did. Got really good towards the end. It is a pretty long book–531 pages.
The main plot is that Anna McBride, the Huntress, has escaped to America and become the wife of Jordan’s widowed Dad. At first, Jordan is suspicious of her, but then her explanations seem reasonable and she grows to love her and her little daughter, Ruth. After Jordan’s dad dies in a hunting accident, Jordan becomes involved with Tony, Ian, and Nina, who are looking for the Huntress. Eventually, they find out that Anna McBride is the Huntress, and Jordan, Tony, Ian, and Nina chase her down and apprehend her. Once Jordan realizes her suspicions about Anna were true, and she helps Ian, Tony, and Nina, the book gets really good. Only part I didn’t like was that Nina, the Russian pilot, is in a lesbian relationship with her co-pilot. (Why does every modern novel, TV show, and movie have to have something gay in it?) But then Nina ends up with Ian Graham, the Englishman, and their relationship is really, really special. Learned a lot about Russian women fighter pilots and about hunting Nazis, and a little about Stalin, Russia, Austria, and Poland during and right after WWII. Good book.