A review by booklistqueen
Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy—and the Sister She Betrayed by Jim Popkin

informative slow-paced

2.5

 Ana Montes was one of the US government's top experts on Cuba, working her way up the ranks to the Defense Intelligence Agency. The daughter of an Army Colonel, Ana's family was full of patriots; her siblings were FBI agents, and her sister Lucy was responsible for hunting out Cuban spies. Yet, even Lucy was shocked when, in the days after 9/11, Ana was arrested as a secret agent for Cuba. With Ana Montes's release from prison scheduled in January 2023, Jim Popkin details the opposite routes two sisters took and how one turned into the most-damaging spy against America.

Who knew the story of the most deadly spy in US History could be so completely and utterly boring. With stilted writing full of cliches, Code Name Blue Wren was more informative than interesting. Popkin failed to add any force behind his writing, and I finally gave up at the 25% mark, realizing that the writing was never going to improve enough for me to care about this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harlequin Trade Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.