I would like to say, first of all, that Michael Ridpath is one of my favourite authors. I have read every book he has written from the early financial thrillers (which I loved) through the Icelandic mysteries to the recent novels about World War ll espionage.
I must admit that I found The Diplomat’s Wife a real chore to read and struggled to finish it.
The style of writing was as accomplished as ever but I must admit that I find stories about espionage and spies double crossing etc very tedious. I enjoyed the relationship between Emma and her grandson, Phillip, as they travelled across Europe together in 1979 revisiting the places Emma, had lived with her diplomatic husband shortly before the war.
I liked the alternating between 1938 and 1979 with different typefaces to remind the reader which year they were reading about.
But there were just too many characters for me to keep them straight in my mind and, in the end, I wasn’t interested enough in the story to even try. Was her brother, Hugh, a communist spy? Was he murdered? What about Dick, Roland, Kurt, Kay, Freddie, Cyril, Swann, Heike, Frances, Lothar, Heston-Smith et al?
Not sure this book was a pleasure to read - it was hard going for me.
I must admit that I found The Diplomat’s Wife a real chore to read and struggled to finish it.
The style of writing was as accomplished as ever but I must admit that I find stories about espionage and spies double crossing etc very tedious. I enjoyed the relationship between Emma and her grandson, Phillip, as they travelled across Europe together in 1979 revisiting the places Emma, had lived with her diplomatic husband shortly before the war.
I liked the alternating between 1938 and 1979 with different typefaces to remind the reader which year they were reading about.
But there were just too many characters for me to keep them straight in my mind and, in the end, I wasn’t interested enough in the story to even try. Was her brother, Hugh, a communist spy? Was he murdered? What about Dick, Roland, Kurt, Kay, Freddie, Cyril, Swann, Heike, Frances, Lothar, Heston-Smith et al?
Not sure this book was a pleasure to read - it was hard going for me.