A review by ssham92
Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen

4.0

Whew!
This book was a roller coaster. Despite having a WWII setting, this book was different than any other WWII book I have read. First, the opening of the story starts out with a bang. Um, maybe not the right use of word, but I'll go on. In this book, Sarah, our main character, is a Jewish orphan, who meets a man is involved in a spy operation. She is sent to a boarding school. Her mission is to be friends with a girl whose father is a scientist and creating something that is potentially life threatening. The main plot of the book is whether she succeeds or not.
The writing is really good. I'm shocked this is a debut book, because Matt Killeen can write really well. On top of that, he did a ton of research for this book, and it showed. Sarah was an excellent protagonist. She was smart, but also vulnerable and naive. Her character made sense, and she wasn't the bad ass, not afraid of anything female character, which I enjoyed. This book gets really really dark, and touches on heavy issues. There were parts where I was cringing, because of what was happening. This book had a lot of layers. In the end of the book, the author added some great commentary to the story about WWII and his book. Overall, this book was an excellent and unique read. I recommend this book for historical fiction, spy fiction , and WWII literature fans.