It is not my first Pam Jenoff book, and for sure it won't be the last one. This one was ok. The pacing for me was strange; I had some trouble with the flashbacks. It is a 2.5-stars book for me.
It is a book that deals with intrigue, lies, murder, and cover-ups, as well as the issue of human trafficking. My biggest problem was with Jordan herself. For a supposedly intelligent woman, she behaves at times like an addled teenager, and I found her actions regarding her friend Sarah a little puzzling. For me, her actions didn’t quite match the value she claimed to put on that friendship.
The ending of "Almost Home" makes you have to read the next of the series. I don't know if I want to continue with series right away. I might pick it up if I find it somewhere to borrow it, for sure I won't buy it ( )

"Almost Home" was quite different from the other books I've read by Pam Jenoff. Although the plot was a bit far-fetched, I still enjoyed all the twist and turns, lies, murders, betrayals and cover-ups which kept me turning the pages.

My biggest complaint was Jordan Weiss herself. For an intelligence officer, she was a disappointment! I found myself shaking my head at the silly, rash decisions she kept making, and too often she behaved like a love-struck teenager rather than a well-travelled, independent woman who had risked her life more than once in war-torn, dangerous areas around the world.

Although "Almost Home" was a light, easy read, I don't think I will bother with the sequel. ( )

very good mystery
@ Foreign Service / Cambridge U. — England / Nazi Money

Ten years ago, American Jordan Weiss's idyllic experience as a graduate student and coxswain at Cambridge was shattered when her boyfriend and fellow crewmember, Jared Short, drowned in the River Cam the night before the biggest race of the year. Since that time, Jordan, a State Department intelligence officer, has traveled the world on dangerous assignments but has managed to avoid returning to face her painful memories in England. When her terminally ill friend Sarah asks her to come to London, though, Jordan finds herself requesting a transfer to the one place she swore she'd never go again.

She HAD to get to London but had no explanation for her boss. He granted her permission, and she left that very evening.

Jordan arrived in London ready to take a cab to see her very ill friend, but her co-worker met her at the airport....oh no, they do have an assignment for her. An assignment in London wasn't the real reason she wanted to return to London, and when she does arrive, all the familiar landmarks she remembered when she was at Cambridge, make her heart twist and bring tears to her eyes as she remembers the reason that made her leave right after graduation. Seeing Chris, a former college classmate, and then seeing him disappear from a dinner party, also didn't help with the memories.

When Chris finally does appear, he tells Jordan something that she can't ignore, and she must return to Cambridge University to find answers. The journey back to her college days is emotionally painful, particularly since she wanted so desperately to never have to re-live an experience that changed her entire life and up to now had almost been put out of her conscious thoughts.

Meanwhile as Jordan is dealing with this information from Chris, her assignment and this situation seem to have some connection...people go missing, papers disappear, someone is following her, betrayal among friends and lovers, people are dying in "accidents" and more information comes to the surface along with a direct order to stop the investigation of a company who they know has something to hide.

The story unravels, the mystery is solved, Jordan's pain doesn't disappear but she finally does have some hope about what caused all this in the first place.

To me the book was not as good as her other two books...it really didn't get interesting until page 200 or so…it didn’t seem tied together until toward the end. The ending was suspenseful and a surprise, though.

I will give it a 4/5 only because it did get come together toward the end of the book. ( )

I have read another book by this author which I enjoyed so I was keen to read this one. This was set in present times unlike the first which was set during the second world war. I found it to be a good read. I wanted to keep reading to see who the bad guy actually was and see how the plot developed.. The ending was a surprise and it left the story up in the air so now I will have to read the follow up when it comes out. ( )