Good book if you're in a thriller mood. Keeps you quite engaged even though you already know the actual ending of it all because you want to actually know how the story and the characters eventually end. 

Some of the problems with the plot and writing - 

after reaching the island in the sefond half, it becomes sort of obvious how it will end. The writer, however, does a good job of distracting you from that part by engaging you in sex and a bit of emotions. 

I did NOT enjoy the fact that the cold-blooded murdered spy just kept on neglecting to kill that ONE woman at the very end and brought about the defeat of his country. I mean COME ON. That really was stupid after all his cold-bloodedness throughout the chase.

And the continuous repetition by EVERY character ever, about how 'Die Nadel' was the only spy of value in Germany and how the entire war depended on him. After the third time, I was just constantly eye-rolling. 

Thr author kept introducing new characters with names and  backgrounds of a full page even though they are hardly mentioned for two lines. This was happening even in the final act. Felt like it needed a bit of editing. 

Anyway, despite my seemingly many problems with it, I did quite enjoy this WWII spy-thriller. It could have been  better edited, but nevertheless it's not a waste of time, I can assure you. 

Additionally, I did learn about the FUSAG and realised the reason behind the hue and cry of the landing of the allies at Normandy. So yay to that. 

It was very close to a great mystery experience  except I don't understand the writer's choice to make it a first-person narrative. It would have worked just as well, if not better, in third-person. The story anyway feels like a third-person narration because of no involvement of the narrator in the story itself other than to praise himself and point out his ingenuity of the first chapter in the last chapter itself. He could have done the entire thing about this favourite detective novels and authors and all in an epilogue, maybe.. Or a dedication.. Something like that. 

Anyway, other than that it was quite well done. There were, obviously, all elements of a good detective novel (as told explicitly by the narrator himself). It was super fast-paced and I definitely could not put it down or out of mind. 

Solid 4 ⭐ The extra 0.25 for great cultural context and a translation that captured that context quite well. 

A really fast-paced read. The first half of the book is very predictable, though still quite engaging imo. 

The dialogues were written very choppily and if done better, could have elevated the story so much more. I also feel that introspection of their circumstances by the characters was sacrificed in favour of pace. 

Overall a decent read, but quite average and forgettable. 

Too predictable. Really, the author just gave away the whole plot in the first line of the story. After that, I just kept hitting my head because the main character kept taking stupid, blind decisions and I couldn't buy her arguments for one second. Almost a waste of my time, but helped me continue my reading streak, so that's okay, ig.