Assignment: Suspense: Above Suspicion / Horizon / Assignment in Brittany

by Helen MacInnes

Three novel omnibus:

• Above Suspicion

• Horizon

• Assignment in Brittany

Genres: Historical Fiction

561 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Helen MacInnes was a Scottish-American author of espionage novels. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in Scotland in 1928 with a degree in French and German. A librarian, she married Professor Gilbert Highet in 1932 and moved with her husband to New York in 1937 so he could teach classics at Columbia University. She wrote her first novel, Above Suspicion, in 1939. She wrote many bestselling suspense novels and became an American citizen in 1951.

Reviews

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/24/21 — finished the first of three espionage books in this anthology of work by Helen MacInnes. It is also the first book she ever wrote — 1941 Above Suspicion — and I have to say that it was very, very good. Set in 1939, the Myles take a summer trip into Europe 'before it's too late' —it is the eve of World War II and Germany under Hitler, is considering the invasion of Poland. The Myles are given what sounds like a simple request — travel to Paris and begin a search for a British agent who has gone missing. It is never a simple request, especially in Germany in the throes of Nazism. MacInnes never comes out and says it, but you suspect the husband has done this sort of thing before, but it will be the first time for his wife.

Like her main characters, Richard and Frances Myles, MacInnes and her husband, Gilbert Highet, traveled during the summers when Highet was not teaching classics (at St. John's College, Oxford, and later Columbia University) and his work for Britain's MI-6. MacInnes would go on to write 20 more espionage thrillers, four of which would later become films.

Can't wait to begin the next story in line, Horizon.

9/27/21 — Finished Horizon and if you light tense, seat-of-your pants spy novels, this is right up your line. We live the tale of British soldier Peter Lennox, a prisoner of war. He is dreaming of escaping and finding his way out of the war, after all he has been wounded and the damage to his right hand is continuing making it improbable he will ever fight again. But there are different ways to fight, ways to help in the struggle against the Nazis and Lennox discovers just how much he can still do. Great writing, great character development and a thrilling story.

10/6/21 — Last story has been finished and I'm so thrilled that I read this. It has been quite some time that I have read a spy story that really had been focused on capturing every detail, thrilling at the language, the pace, the action — and I got it with all three of these tales. Helen MacInnes is a genius and a delight to read. In this third story, we follow a young British spy who is sent into France, taking the place of a wounded French service man who he looks very, very much alike. But he is going in without knowing that this man is not a French patriot, but a German collaborator. It creates problems for him, as does his getting to know the people who live in the village, including the man's mother and fiancee. The whole story covers a four week period and its jam packed with everything that a thrill-mystery-spy story reader will enjoy.

[Debbiebandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading Assignment: Above Suspicion, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It brought to life 1939 and how the world was preparing for what the Nazis made an inevitable war. She writes suspense well, and even though the characters are a tad two-dimensional, they and the story kept me interested. I will read more by this author.