Description (from cover): “It is the summer of 1934, and Hitler is nearing the summit of supreme power in Germany. When Britain’s MI6 gets word that a German scientist has made a key breakthrough in germ warfare, they send Elena Standish on a dangerous mission to get him out of Germany before he’s forced to share his knowledge and its destructive power with Hitler’s elite.
But the British soon learn that the new head of Germany’s germ warfare division is an old enemy of Elena’s grandfather Lucas, the former head of MI6. And he’s bent on using any means to avenge his defeat at Lucas’ hands twenty years before.
What starts as an effort to save Europe from the devastation of disease becomes an intensely personal fight. As Elena and the scientist make their way across Germany, they confront not only the Gestapo but also a group of unpredictable Nazi supporters. With Elena’s every decision challenged, this compelling thriller takes a searing look at what it means to make the right choices in a world rife with so much evil.”
My Thoughts:
Check out my review of the first book in this series, A Question of Betrayal, reviewed on this blog.
In this fourth book of the Elena Standish mystery series, we see Elena returning to Germany once again as an operative of MI6. This time her mission is different, but the constant threat of danger is very real. She is to help one of two scientists escape from Germany. Another agent will help the other scientist escape. The scientists have been working on creating a “germ” to cause an illness that would decimate the enemy and the antidote to the illness . Hitler’s head men are pushing for this new modern technique with war looming dark on Europe’s doorstep. MI6 wants to help the scientists escape the volatile atmosphere in Germany and use the research to further their own cause and no one but Elena can do the job.
After nearly escaping from Germany a year ago, Elena can’t believe she is back in Germany. This time, her mission is short, sweet and to the point: get the scientist safely out of Germany and if at any time the mission is in jeopardy, to kill him without a second thought. When she arrives, she is quickly alarmed when someone begins to follow her around Berlin while she is making contact with her target. She is uneasy, but the mission requires that the scientists be evacuated as soon as possible as every second could be fatal. She teams up with her friend Jacob who is an American journalist who has been reporting on the dark deeds of Germany’s government as it rushes towards another world war. He is doubly in danger as he is also a Jew. Elena and Jacob soon escape Berlin but soon find themselves involved in chaos in Munich as Hitler rids himself of his competition.
The thing that I love so much about this series is that these books are always packed full of action and suspense. Set in the 1930’s as Hitler makes his rise in Germany with England still holding on to hope that another world war can be avoided, these books show just how tense Europe was at that time in history. The author does a great job of using real historical events and people effortlessly into her stories. In this book, the author gives readers a glimpse of what Munich was like on the Night of the Long Knives when Hitler murdered Rohm, the leader of the Brownshirts or the SA (the “Stormtroopers”), and several hundred others all because he felt that Rohm was a strong political opponent and Hitler was insecure of his own power even though he was already the Fuhrer. It is hard to make historical events and fiction flow together easily, but Perry just has that knack for it. I highly encourage readers of historical mystery to check out this lovely series for yourself.
Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
Author: Anne Perry
Series: Elena Standish Mystery #4
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: September 20, 2022
Pages: 289
Genre: Historical Mystery
Get It: Amazon
Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review. I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
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