The Unlikely Spy Buddy Read

[Anne (Booklady)]

I know that we are still working on our chunsksters. So I am proposing a buddy read for The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva. I plan to start it around March 1st. Care to join me?

Book Blurb:

In wartime," Winston Churchill wrote, "truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." For Britain's counterintelligence operations, this meant finding the unlikeliest agent imaginable-a history professor named Alfred Vicary, handpicked by Churchill himself to expose a highly dangerous, but unknown, traitor. The Nazis, however, have also chosen an unlikely agent: Catherine Blake, a beautiful widow of a war hero, a hospital volunteer-and a Nazi spy under direct orders from Hitler to uncover the Allied plans for D-Day.

[Jannene]

I'm in? I'm glad that my library has it. This would be my first buddy read. How do they typically work?

[Anne (Booklady)]

Jannene wrote: "I'm in. I can see if my library has it. This would be my first buddy read. How do they typically work?"

Hi Jannene. A buddy read usually works a bit like this:

1. Readers agree to start the book around a specific date.
2. We readers discuss the book in the buddy read thread without giving away spoilers or at least hiding them in their post.

Some readers like to divide the book into parts and discuss particular chapters as they read - i.e. Chapters 1 - 8 until everyone is caught up, then read together the next grouping of chapters.

Depending on the interest in this book, I'm not sure how we will do it yet. If there is just you and me then I'll be more than glad to wait an extra few days if you can't find it easily at the library. Daniel Silva is a good writer and his books read fast. =)

[Jannene]

I have read all of his books but this one and The English Girl which I plan to read in April. I enjoy his books. I love mystery/thriller books. I tried finding a buddy for The Sleeping Doll with no takers on the reading challenge buddy read thread.

[Janice, Moderator]

Jannene, welcome to YLTO (You'll Love This One).

[Anne (Booklady)]

Jannene wrote: "I have read all of his books but this one and The English Girl which I plan to read in April. I enjoy his books. I love mystery/thriller books. I tried finding a buddy for "


Jannene, I love Jeffery Deaver. I will re-read The Sleeping Doll with you, if you want. =)

[Anne (Booklady)]

Janice wrote: "Jannene, welcome to YLTO (You'll Love This One)."

Would you like to read with us, Janice?

[Janice, Moderator]

Thanks for the invite, Anne. I'm going to have to decline. It looks like a great chunkster read, but I've got to finish Slick's Slugs before I tackle any other chunksters.

[Jannene]

Anne (Booklady) wrote: "Jannene wrote: "I have read all of his books but this one and The English Girl which I plan to read in April. I enjoy his books. I love mystery/thriller books. I tried finding a bud..."

That is a sweet offer. I would never ask someone to re-read a book. Maybe this thread will get a better response than the one on the 2014 reading challenge. I wasn't thinking of reading it until summer. It looks like you read a variety of mysteries. Is that your favorite genre?

[Anne (Booklady)]

Hi Jannene,

Yes, I love me some Thrillers, especially Mystery and Spy Thrillers! I also read a lot of Classics, Literary, and for some strange reason Historical Fiction set during World War II. I found a list for World War II on Goodreads and am working my way through it.

[Jannene]

Anne, I'm headed out the door to pick up our book. Let me know when you want to start.

[Jannene]

Anne,

I'll have chapters 1-8 finished tomorrow. I have ten pages but just can't finish tonight. I can start the next 90 pages (or equivalent) chapters tomorrow. I can read more since it is the weekend.

Jannene

[Tasha]

I would have loved to join in on this one but I already picked out my reads for Mickey's. Enjoy!

[Jannene]

I'm all caught up.

[Jannene]

Chapters 1-8

(view spoiler)[ I had a hard time getting into this book. Normally, if I wasn't interest around page 50, I would quit. I have only quit 3 books so far and one of them I will retry this year.

Anyway, I found the first part boring while they were trying to build up the characters. I still don't know what the point was to bring up Peter's wife, Margaret and then kill her off.

I don't understand the relationship between Vicary and his secretary. Were they an item? It leads us to believe a woman named Helen he really did like at one time. Does he still? It seems to indicate that.

I also was lost in the whole building of Catherine. Was it Catherine that slept with both the father and daughter? I find that a horrible act. I couldn't even think something like that up. They both know about it which is disgusting.

I'm just a little lost in the character building and wondering why things were so important to mention. I don't understand the entire marriage of Mary and Sean. I know that he's one of the spys but it seems his marriage is one of convenience. Do I care? I'm not sure.

What was the point of bringing Jenny in the picture with her abusive father? I'm not really sure there other than to show off the longing Mary has to have had a child.

I have to say though, the more it progressed the less I had to force myself to read it. I hope that it continues to get better and answer my questions. (hide spoiler)]

I'm going to start on the next 8 chapters. I did start another book to bridge the gap so I'm not trying to read ahead or force you to speed up. I mostly spend my weekends reading. I usually can finish 1 to 1.5 books a weekend.

P.S. This was the first time I used a "spoiler" link. WOOT!!