Reviews

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

jess_mango's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5 stars

A character-driven spy novel. It's the mid 80's and Marie is a young black women who works as an intelligence officer for the FBI. She is asked to join a task force meant to undermine Thomas Sankara, the president of Burkina Faso. She ends up seducing Thomas and spends a good portion of the book questioning her role in everything.

This just didn't grip me as much as I was hoping.

dxxvi's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

lgilly's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Very slow burn. Less of a spy book than it is a larger societal commentary. 

janemylechreest's review against another edition

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medium-paced

2.5

franha02's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

tishywishy's review against another edition

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3.0

Good storyline once you get into it but I found the 'romance' to be really lacking. Part of the story veered to her connecting with Thomas and it just didn't click. It seemed terribly one-sided and short lived at best.

The intrigue and mental games was intriguing and I think the story may have been stronger if it had focused on that instead.

This book features Caribbean (Barbados & Martinique), first-gen, bi-racial and immigrant characters and spoke about racism and gender biases.

aliarose's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

rachelfontenot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

akmickler16's review

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3.0

The premise and narrative style of this book really drew me in, but overall I found it underwhelming. The plot was somewhat predictable, and some of the details felt unnecessary. I don't think I'd pick this book up again, but I'm glad I read it all the way through.

mitchiechel's review against another edition

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4.0

This felt like it ended too soon? Idk it's missing something. I wanted to know what happened to her after she left her kids. Did she die? Did she end it and live?