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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
So much about this novel appealed to me: historical fiction, espionage, international thrills rooted in New York. I so badly wanted to love this, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. Our narrator Marie is writing down the details of her life, narrating to her twin sons (in terms of "you," which is a jarring approach that didn't work in my opinion), but she spends so much time telling us details that we really don't get to know her well at all, defined by events and movements rather than opinions or feelings. One twist in particular felt contrived and made the ending let me down.
An FBI agent who becomes a spy almost unwittingly and her unintentional contribution to the overthrow of an African country while falling in love or at least lust with the country's leader/dictator. Solidly written and a true spy thriller.
Interesting main character and nice weaving of her emotional issues with the plot, but the story dragged and got bogged down at points. By the end I really didn't care about the characters. That's probably a good thing because the main character was left hanging.
Loved this book, stayed up to finish it and still thinking about it!
So unexpectedly good! Really liked the style of writing and left me wanting to find out what happens next!
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don’t remember how this was recommended to me (probably Annie B Jones)
It was really interesting to see the perspective of a black woman in the FBI/CIA world in the 90s. The back and forth in time of the narrative was hard for me to follow at times but did help define the main character. I had a feeling this would be left open ended in the way the book was written but was still a little disappointed not having a few items described more or wrapped up a bit more.
It was really interesting to see the perspective of a black woman in the FBI/CIA world in the 90s. The back and forth in time of the narrative was hard for me to follow at times but did help define the main character. I had a feeling this would be left open ended in the way the book was written but was still a little disappointed not having a few items described more or wrapped up a bit more.
I was intrigued enough to read by reading a summary of it. It was good but sometimes I would forget what the storyline was about. A couple of plot lines in the book fell flat.
The timeline was a bit confusing, but overall I really liked the main character/narrator.