Such an entertaining and addicting book based on a true story. The world of spies during WWII is an aspect of the war that I had never really heard anything about. It was fascinating to learn about the intellectual confrontation between the strategists among the Americans/British and the Germans concerning the invasion of France. It was a psychological game for the Allies to try to deceive the Germans and for the Germans to be able to tell if the other side would use deception. The obvious way to invade France was to use the convenient Pas de Calais but the Germans could not rule out the use of deception to use a more difficult port like Normandy where the Allies would find a landing difficult but with less troop resistance. Or maybe one side or the other would use reverse psychology and try the more obvious route as a double deception. It was the key to winning the war but the Germans needed to know the answer. This book is the story of how they tried to find that answer by collecting the necessary intelligence and how the British would be able to intercept or maybe even deceive the people they knew would come looking for the answer. The characters involved in the spying and spy-catching business were very well developed and as a reader you couldn't help but have compassion for the people on both sides. The characters were fictional but the larger story really happened and we know that there must have been real people who carried out actions similar to the characters in the book. This book is so addicting because you can't wait to know what happens to the main characters and there's no way to know in advance like with most history related books.The audiobook made the experience especially entertaining and real because the narrator was able to use so many different accents and voice types to reflect the varied people depicted. The voice of Hitler was hilarious because of how crazed he sounded but was probably close to the truth if he could have spoken English with a German accent. In contrast the voice of Himmler was so smooth and sinister sounding like the demented schemer that he was. The voices of Churchill and the many British and American characters was equally well done.
I last read a Daniel Silva spy-thriller in May, 2012. As the cliché says, “So many books; so little time!” I just finished his mammoth (724 pages) first WWII thriller THE UNLIKELY SPY (ISBN 978-0451209306, paperback, $9.99). The story takes place in the U.S., U.K. and Germany from the late 1930s to the landings in Normandy. Some of the characters are real (Winston Churchill and German spymaster Admiral William Canaris). Most are not. Silva has been favorably compared to Ken Follett and Robert Harris as a writer of spy fiction.The Allies are preparing to build the Mulberry Harbors designed by the British to be artificial harbors for unloading men and materials from ships to support the Normandy invasion. But how do you hide massive concrete platforms from the prying eyes of Nazi spies and aerial reconnaissance? That is the problem facing British MI-6 and SHAEF. If you ever travel to Normandy you can see remnants of these artificial harbors in Arromanches and its museum.The action goes back and forth from the U.S. to Germany to England where Canaris’ sleeper network of spies awaits, and then carries out, its mission. There are double agents and double crosses to satisfy the most avid WWII spy-thriller fan. Watch how the agents of good and evil make their moves and countermoves. Good guys and bad guys die, as do a few innocent civilians.Go! Buy! Read!
I've read and enjoyed a few of Silva's books before, but they have all starred his Mossad agent/art restorer, Gabriel Allon. This book is not part of the Allon series, but nonetheless a well-written historical thriller about all the information and disinformation leading up to the Normandy landings. We listened to it in the car on 15 disks!The Unlikely Spy is a spy novel written by Daniel Silva, set during World War II, and published in 1996. While some of the exact characters and events may be fictional, the book is based on very real events- the attempt by the Allies to use British intelligence to cover up the true plans for D-Day. The deception plan was called Operation Fortitude, and Double Cross also played a role. Specifically, the book has a backdrop (a subset of Fortitude referred to as Fortitude South). (Wiki)
—Merilee
What makes the perfect novel? Great plot, interesting characters, and expert pacing should pretty much do it. The Unlikely Spy is one of the best reads I've had in a while. The story is very similar to The Eye of the Needle.In fact, I've seen some complaints from people accusing this as nothing but a cheap clone of Follett's classic.I think The Unlikely Spy was far superior, in terms of evoking the time and place of Britain during WWII. I felt I could really visualize the blackouts (or not visualize, you know what I mean), how it must havefelt to navigate the countryside with hooded headlights or the city of London with a dim torch.The plot is similar to Eye of the Needle, where the great deception for the invasion of Normandy may have been compromised by German spies.This is a terrific read, and stay tuned to this space for more Daniel Silva reviews. He's the next big thing, and I hope his next novels are just as good as this one.
—Bill
Spy novels are not books that I usually read, but this one is engaging and I enjoyed it. It really is a historical novel, I guess, because the facts about WWII on which the book is based are true. It certainly is more interesting learning about WWII by reading this novel than a history book! The story line was based on the preparations for D-Day and the building of an artificial harbor from concrete that was floated across the English Channel so when they landed at Normandy, they would have a harbor. The other part of the story was based on the Allies plan to give Hitler false information through German spies so that he would think that the invasion of France was going to take place in Calais. It was a brilliant ploy by the Allies. Loved learning about this history through reading this novel. Was frequently flipping over to Wikipedia to check out if what I was reading was based on fact and most of it was. Good story. Occasionally a little too much R-rated sex for me (which I didn't think was necessary for the storyline), but otherwise a good book.
—Belinda
