Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Nazi-occupied Paris, 1942. “I want to create a world where we are free to be together, to be in love,” he whispered. I gulp down the sobs building in my throat. “I want that too. I’ll come back to you. I swear I’ll come back.”
Elena Garcia knows that the mission she has been tasked with is her most dangerous yet. With a tearful goodbye to the man she has grown to love, the dark-eyed and warm-hearted Santiago Lozano, she hurries to catch the train to the drop-off point, the coded maps she is delivering for the resistance concealed in a pack of playing cards in her purse.
As she leaves the underground meeting, she hears heavy footsteps closing in behind her. Her heart pounds, and a dark figure comes into her line of sight. Expertly fighting off her attacker, Elena races back to the station, barely making it onto the train. She is forced to confront the worst: her cover is blown and now nowhere will be safe. Somebody close to her is a traitor, but when you live in the shadows, how do you know who you can really trust?
To stay alive, Elena must flee the country – and that means leaving Santiago behind. But she refuses to abandon her mission while Europe is still in the clutches of the enemy, and she will not leave Santiago to face the wrath of the Gestapo alone.
But when Elena uncovers that the love of her life has been having meetings with high-ranking government officials and hears German officials greeting him by name in the street, it’s clear that Santiago has his own secrets.
Elena must now ask herself: should she risk everything to save Santiago… or was he the one who betrayed her to the enemy? And now, with millions of innocent lives across Europe at stake, how can she know what is the right choice?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Secret Keeper to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Secret Keeper by Siobhan Curham is a slow burner but my god when it does ignite it does so in spectacular fashion and I was completely hooked. Set during World War Two this is a thrilling story packed full of tension, danger, unease, espionage and romance that moves between America, Madrid and Paris. Trust and loyalty along with doing one’s best to win the fight in the battle of good versus evil are the main themes which were explored so well throughout the book.
We follow American Elena whose heritage is Mexican and French. She is a waitress but trying to make it as an actress. Whilst filming a commercial she impresses those in the war department and soon finds herself being trained as an OSS agent. This takes her completely out of her comfort zone but the powers that be have spotted the qualities need to be a spy undercover in Europe. Elena doubts her abilities time and time again but throughout everything that she endures she remembers the words her grandmother said ‘Love your fear, seek the wonder, embrace the mystery’.
Elena’s French grandmother Rose returned to France from America but since then the Germans have invaded and all contact has been lost. Throughout the book Rose continues to write letters to Elena detailing her experiences of occupation. She never gets to send the letters but getting everything down on paper sustains her through the difficult times. The chapters are interspersed with Rose’s letters and I thought this was brilliant as it gave an insight into life in France during the war and it reinforced for the reader the fact that everything Elena goes through will all be worth it if the war can be won and her grandmother survives. They provided a sharp contrast between what was going on in France and what Elena was living through in Madrid. Elena is told that as a spy your head should always rule over your heart and for her this will be tested time and time again as she finds herself assigned to Madrid where danger lurks around every corner and no one is to be trusted.
Elena arrives in Madrid a fresh and raw recruit who has no idea of what she has gotten herself involved in and she doubts she is strong enough to carry out what has been asked of her. But the further the books progresses she goes through a complete transformation from someone who I viewed as meek and really not fit for the job to a person who became strong, ingenious and hard as nails when push came to shove. Elena adopts the alias of Carmen, an actress who is starring in a new play in Madrid. The early scenes in Madrid made it seem that although the war was raging on that it hadn’t quite hit their doorstep in terms of actual fighting yet really there was a whole network of underhanded dealings going on. She is tasked with discovering just who is working for the Germans and passing on information that should never get into their hands. Elena uses her skills as an actress to perfection throughout the book. You almost forget that she was plucked out of obscurity and is puting her life on the line so good of a role does she play. Her senses are always heightened and she is on full alert at all times. For no one is as they seem and the only person she can really trust is her handler.
It wasn’t until the halfway point that for me the book really picked up the pace. I found the scenes set in Madrid became slightly repetitive and not much happened to push the story on and there became quite a number of characters to keep track of. None of which I knew whether they were loyal or not but then came that turning point that I have experienced whilst reading other books by this author. Something just clicked with me and I found myself racing through the pages eager to know what was happening and why and what the ultimate outcome would be. Elena stepped up in my estimation big time and I loved all the twists and turns that were unfolding. I came to appreciate that the slow start was worth it and that every character needs to be kept an eye on no matter how small or inconsequential I had first viewed them. Fear and tension exude from Elena at all times but she hides them well from the Germans that surround her. She does such a god job pulling the wool over their eyes that is able to infiltrate deep and find out things that are very beneficial to the cause. But on the romance side I found she played a risky game going back and forth between certain people.
Flamenco dancer Santiago catches her eye as soon as she lands in Madrid and I found the chemistry between them just off the charts.They dance around each other drawing close and then seeming far apart as Elena through what she witnesses and hears questions his loyalties. Really you couldn’t blame her as there were so many players in the game of chess that was ongoing in Madrid who were all trying to outdo one each other in the power games that it was impossible to know who was on what side. Romance wasn’t always at the forefront of Elena’s mind but it did provide a nice distraction for her when she needed it and I thought overall this aspect of the plot was really well developed and left you guessing.
When Elena is tasked with a dangerous assignment on another level compared to what she had been engaged in up until that point this for me was when the book really took off and it went to a different level. There was real edge of your seat nail-biting stuff and my heart was in my mouth wondering whether Elena had gone a step too far or was she mentally and physically capable of dealing with all the crisis, horror, terror and threats that were being thrown in her direction? I raced through the last quarter or so as it was jam packed with mystery and intrigue and plenty of surprising revelations reveal themselves. I hadn’t guessed as to the outcome and again I was reminded never to under estimate any character. I did find the ending as in the last few pages or so was quite abrupt given how much time and detail had gone into the overall story. Another chapter would have tied things up nicely but that wasn’t to be.
Overall, The Secret Keeper is a fantastic book and one of the better stories I have recently read in the WW2 historical fiction genre. Despite what I felt was an unnecessary and long winded start the book turned its self on its head and you will race to the end with your heart thumping as it becomes a very dramatic story. The author mentions in her end notes how she enjoys weaving lesser known historical facts into her stories and I was interested to read that the character of Elena was inspired by the true story of an American model turned spy. It makes me want to go and find out more. Siobhan Curham is now definitely on my list of go to authors and I look forward to what she has next in store for us.
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