Devil, Darling, Spy by Matt Killeen

 

Author: Matt Killeen

Title: Devil, Darling, Spy

Published: 2020

Publisher: Usborne

Pages: 448

Genre: Young Adult / Historical Fiction 

     The deadliest weapon is a girl with nothing to lose... Sarah is used to spying in the champagne-fuelled parties of Nazi Berlin. But her new mission is infinitely more deadly - tracking a lethal disease across bullet-torn Africa, to uncover the monster who would use it to create fifty million corpses. Her enemies think she is a terrified little girl. But she is a warrior set to burn them all.

     Two years ago now I read the first in this series Orphan, Monster, Spy it was a book that I really enjoyed. For me, It took all those elements of historical fiction novels about world war to and mashed them with a sort of James Bond-like quality.  It was a great adventure book that you could get lost in with all the danger and peril you would expect to find in a book about a Jewish girl becoming a spy in Nazi Germany. So now we come to Devil, Darling, Spy which came out at the beginning of this year. Which I have to admit I missed the release of until now. But upon finding out about it of course I was going to jump right in.

     Once again we are thrust into the dangerous and absorbing world of Sarah. She is a character that I greatly enjoy being around. She can be feisty and determined, she is driven by a very singular focus and if you have read the first in this series it is all too apparent why this is. And to be honest, even if you haven't, knowing she is a Jewish girl in Nazi Germany would be enough. To me, she is a great counterpart to those very male driven spy novels about world war two. Now obviously one can not act as a spy alone, you must be part of a network for all this sort of thing to work. So queue just that, with this, we get just what you would expect from any such novel. Maybe a touch cliched but  I think this book knows what it's aiming for and such they fit within the context of the narrative. Likewise are the villains of this piece. Whilst just having Nazis would I think, be enough for anyone Here they get ramped up to eleven. 

     When it comes to Devil, Darling, Spy I must confess the first book in the series was a better fit for me. That withstanding this is by no means a bad book. We still get a rip-roaring adventure to sink our teeth into. This time transplanting the story from Germany to Africa. I think maybe it for me is starting to become a lot more Bond-like in its style of narrative. Whereas the first one was much more about Sarah trying to survive this book looks at her taking control of her own destiny. I would say she is much more confidant in her self but this also leads to her taking risks that could have much great repercussions. There seems to be this interesting mix of James bond, Inglourious bastards happing here being mixed with just enough historical events to keep it feeling grounded. 

     Overall I still feel like I had an enjoyable time with this book. The continued adventure of Sarah are something I look forward to. This author managed to tell great adventure stories all the while raising questions about what took place back then. It is a book that is easy to get lost and has many characters that I could care about their outcomes.