(See all my Book Reviews and Author Interviews) – William Christie https://williamchristieauthor.com is the author of ten novels. The Double Agent was published in 2022. This was the 86th book I completed in 2022.
I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com with the expectation of delivering a fair and honest review. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to scenes of violence, mature situations, and mature language, I categorize this novel as R. The primary character in the novel is Russian Alexsi Smirnoff.
Smirnoff grew up as an orphan. As a young man, the Russian NKVD recognized his abilities and recruited him. After training, he was sent to Nazi Germany. He was able to penetrate the German Intelligence services and rose in rank.
As the tide of the war becomes clear, and not wanting to return to Russia, Smirnoff attempts to disappear. To his misfortune, he is captured by British troops. Sensing his abilities, the SIS recruits him. After further training, he is dropped into Italy with credentials as a member of the Wehrmacht. The NKVD had learned that he still lived and was in Britain. A hit squad had been sent to find and execute him. War-torn Italy sounded like a good place to hide.
His new identity was as a German Sergeant. With the papers of a communications expert, he is able to take a post within the headquarters of Field Marshall Kesselring. There he has access to information critical to the Allies.
His past has led Smirnoff to bend and flex with the conditions he is faced with. Will he change his allegiance again?
I enjoyed the 8 hours I spent reading this 344-page WWII-era thriller. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.
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If you have an interest in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest.
- The “World War II Resources” page is a constantly growing collection of more than 590 links to museums, memorials, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other sources with information on the World War II era in history.
- The “World War II Timeline” page expands almost daily and shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.
- The About WWII page is a collection of links to posts that I have made over the years that are relevant to WWII. Included are links to many fiction and non-fiction books on WWII that I have read and reviewed. There are also links to WWII oriented podcasts.
John's Notes 