A good old school mystery! A little suspension of disbelief is required, but otherwise, it's a good solid read with engaging characters, a compelling plot and nice pacing. ( )

Martin Hearne, British Intelligence agent, has assumed the identity of French ex-soldier Bertrand Corley. He is in Nazi occupied Brittany where he will scour the area and report to the Brits intelligence that will help with invasion plans.

A spy adventure with a romance. ( )

Another winner from Helen MacInnes. This time, the main character had to avoid being caught in France and pretend to be someone who was currently recuperating back in England. Suspense, a little romance and the good guys win. ( )

An OK book, but not a great book. [This is the time of year that my reading time is dramatically reduced, and it takes forever and a day to get thru one....and that may have impacted my rating.....it is hard to connect with a story deeply at 2-3-pages a day if i am lucky!]

Interesting tale of a British spy in the late 1930's, who just so happens to be a doppelganger for an injured French soldier in British custody.....and this poor bloke gets to 'go home' as the injured soldier in an attempt to report back from Nazi occupied Brittany as to what was going on. To fool your neighbors may not be too challenging, but your mother??? and your fiance???....potentially unnerving stuff...and the situations occasionally made me nervous for him. But as seems always the case, a wee-bit too much sappy love-story interjects itself into what is an interesting concept, and knocks down my interest level. Needless to say, the inside look at life in occupied France at that time was intriguing and is hard to fathom what that must feel like when your town & homes are overrun by enemies, and i appreciated the window into that horror.

And of course, my ultimate pet peeve, my cover, showing 2 cowering lovers hiding behind a beached boat never happened in the book!!! GRRRR!!! Although there was a beach scene, there were far more interesting parts of the book that to me would be much more cover-worthy....but alas, damsels in distress must sell books. I will certainly continue my extensive shelf of MacInnes books....but this was not my favorite. ( )

Martin Hearne is handed a serendipitous opportunity when he encounters a French soldier who could be his twin. Bertrand Corlay, from the Breton village of St-Déodat, is convalescing in England and supplies Hearne with the information he needs in order to pass as Corlay and gather intelligence for the Allies. The story is tense on many levels: how well will Hearne’s disguise hold up, how long will the French hold out against the Germans, will Hearne be able to get back alive? The setting is rendered well—MacInnes has done her research—and the characters’ use of French (or English written to sound like French) creates extra authenticity.

The interesting thing about this book is that it was contemporary fiction: it was written while the Nazis occupied France. MacInnes was therefore extremely careful to create an entirely fictional village and not include the faintest detail that could be seen as real, in case the Nazis thought it was a true story and started digging around Brittany for alleged resistance units.

My rating is more of a 3.5 for the actual story, with an extra half-star for the author’s note at the end. I’m glad to have finally read this book and am looking forward to more by MacInnes. ( )