A Question of Betrayal is the second in Anne Perry’s spy series set just prior to World War II. I found it worked well as a stand-alone novel.
Elena Standish’s grandfather, Lucas, has retired from British Intelligence, MI6. She follows in his footsteps, and on her first official mission, she’s sent to Trieste, using her photographic skills as a cover. There, in Mussolini’s Italy, she’s to recover a British agent, Aiden Strother, whose handler has disappeared. Strother is also her former lover who humiliated her when he dumped her. Precisely because of her prior intimate relationship with him, she is the only person equipped for the job as she can immediately recognize Aiden and make contact.
A Question of Betrayal has a very intricate plot which Perry juggles well, weaving the three threads of the story together. While Elena is involved in Trieste, her sister, Margot, is attending a wedding in Berlin—where her best friend is marrying an up-and-coming young Nazi. In the meantime, their grandfather and grandmother are investigating traitors within MI6 itself. All three story lines deal with the rise of Nazism and the overthrow of Dollfuss, the Chancellor of Austria, between 1932 and 1934. I also liked the emphasis on how closely tied some British families were tied to Germany, making for some complicated allegiances.
The ending is heart-stopping and brings the naive young Elena into a new light and definitively moves her into the category of potentially being a “strong female protagonist.” I read this in one sitting and backtracked and pick up volume one of Elena Standish’s story, Death in Focus. Overall, however, I felt both books were superficial and missing any depth of emotion. I cared for Lucas, the grandfather, most; and Elena seems not only naive but a bit of a flibbertigibbet, flying off half-cocked much of the time. Despite the fabulous settings (Trieste, Berlin, London, Paris), I didn’t get any real sense of place.
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Death in Focus is available through:
A Question of Betrayal is available through:
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