The Paris Spy

“Without the freedom to criticize, there is no true praise.”
I did not know this was the seventh book in a series when I picked this up. Hence, any mentions of Maggie Hope's earlier exploits were unfamiliar to me but they were not very distracting from the story itself. But I should probably catch up on the other six soon so as not to miss out any of the adventures of Miss Hope.

Maggie, working as a spy for the Special Operations Executive or SOE calls in some favors to get airdropped to Paris on a mission to find a missing SOE agent. Hopefully, she also wants to find her half -sister who is not reachable. The remaining story follows Maggie through her journey in Paris, working with other spies, navigating the tricky milieu of occupied Paris, establishing a rapport with her sister, capture and ultimate escape from the Nazis.

Posing as a rich Irish bride in Paris shopping for her trousseau, her interactions with Coco Chanel and other prominent Parisians of the time show a very different side of the occupation. Life seems to go on normally for the rich, probably even better considering they are able to openly profess their anti-Semitism but there are also subtle forms of resistance from the ordinary people. The descriptions of the city, its life, fashions, the ballet etc are vivid and rich in detail and the book is very thrilling right until the end. It's the shocking and callous twist at the end that had me dazed and I still can't believe it happened. Hopefully, the next book comes out soon enough. But as brave, resourceful and brilliant as Maggie is, I am sure she will come out on the top.

“Our survival overrides any moral consideration. They are waging total war, and so we must have total commitment to winning. No country was ever saved by good men, because good men will not go to the length that may be necessary.”