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Review: The Huntress by Kate Quinn

Title: The Huntress
Author: Kate Quinn
Year published: 2019
Category: Adult fiction (historical)
Pages: 576 pages
Rating: 4 out of 5

Location: (my 2023 Google Reading map)USA (MA), Russia, Germany, France

SummaryBold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina’s bravery and cunning will keep her alive.

Transformed by the horrors he witnessed from Omaha Beach to the Nuremberg Trials, British war correspondent Ian Graham has become a Nazi hunter. Yet one target eludes him: a vicious predator known as the Huntress. To find her, the fierce, disciplined investigator joins forces with the only witness to escape the Huntress alive: the brazen, cocksure Nina. But a shared secret could derail their mission unless Ian and Nina force themselves to confront it.

Growing up in post-war Boston, seventeen-year-old Jordan McBride is determined to become a photographer. When her long-widowed father unexpectedly comes homes with a new fiancée, Jordan is thrilled. But there is something disconcerting about the soft-spoken German widow. Certain that danger is lurking, Jordan begins to delve into her new stepmother’s past—only to discover that there are mysteries buried deep in her family . . . secrets that may threaten all Jordan holds dear.

Review: I have so enjoyed Kate Quinn's other novels (see my reviews of Rose Code and ) and had heard good things about this one. I ended up getting it from Audible, thinking I would listen to it on my walks. Well, then I got laid off and the rains started so I didn't seem to have the ability to focus on an audiobook. It took me a while to get to this one, but the plane rides to NY and back helped get me back on track.

Kate Quinn has a knack for making history come alive and she did so in this novel. The chapters alternate between Nina, Jordan, and Ian and, as usual, I enjoyed the different viewpoints and perspectives on the events in the story. World War II has been done so many times, but this novel was different with the Nazi hunting of the 1950s to balance out the war-time plot. There was definitely heartbreak, suspense, anger, and more in this novel.

While not all likable, the characters were really good for their roles and the narrator did a fantastic job on the accents so I really felt like I was listening to the various characters speaking and thinking.

If you like Quinn's other books, you'll enjoy this one.

Challenges for which this counts: 
  • Alphabet (author)--Q
  • Literary Escapes--France, Germany, Russia, MA


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