October 1, 2022
Waving a momentary au revoir to beloved mystery star Aim�e Leduc, Black brings back Kate Rees from Three Hours in Paris, Black's successful 2020 foray into thrillerdom. Now the British Secret Service has returned Oregon-born and -bred sharpshooter Kate to Paris with a triple-decker assignment: bring penicillin to a group of sick children, assassinate a high-ranking German operative, and rescue a British agent who once saved Kate's life. Can she do it all? With a 100,000-copy first printing.
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2023
After being betrayed by her British handlers in Three Hours in Paris (2020), American sniper Kate Rees is happy to be out of the cloak-and-dagger game. Then the Brits turn up with a new assignment: kill a Nazi who has the scoop on Allied invasion plans and then rescue Kate's friend and fellow agent, Margo. All well and good for the resourceful Kate, except that the stink of betrayal is in the air again. But who is leaving her high and dry this time, and why? Kate may question her undercover wiles, but she never doubts her ability to aim and fire her trusty Lee-Enfield rifle. Good thing, too, because her original target is only the first in a string of double and triple agents who require dispatching. Black likes to send her heroines, whether Kate or the irrepressible Aim�e Leduc, careening around Paris at breakneck speed, and she cranks up the narrative again this time, adding Cairo to the itinerary. The plot machinations nearly spin out of control here, but with Black's foot never leaving the throttle, we don't have time to worry about it.
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January 23, 2023
Set in 1942, bestseller Black’s stirring sequel to 2020’s Three Hours in Paris finds American markswoman Kate Rees in the Scottish Highlands, serving as a rifle/sniper instructor. Kate, who learned her sharpshooting skills growing up in Oregon, receives orders to travel to London, where British intelligence demands she undertake a dangerous mission to Paris. She must disguise herself as a Red Cross nurse, as her face is well known to the German occupiers who hunted her after her failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in Paris in the previous book. Kate knows only a fraction of the plans at first, but eventually learns that she must assassinate a high-ranking German official and rescue a British agent who once saved her life. Meanwhile, Kate still obsesses about killing Hitler and mourns her husband and daughter, who were killed during a German U-boat attack in the Orkneys early in the war. Black vividly evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of Paris under Nazi occupation. The gritty, determined Kate is a heroine for the ages. Agent: Katherine Fausset, Curtis Brown.
March 15, 2023
Sharpshooter Kate Rees returns to the City of Lights for a longer but no less harrowing mission than she had in Three Hours in Paris (2020). After losing her husband and daughter in a German airstrike, Kate wants nothing more than to avenge her family's death on every Nazi within range. The skills with a rifle she developed growing up in rural Oregon paired with the ease of disguising her as a housewife or nurse make her a favorite sniper of the War Department's Alfred Stepney. Before sending her back to Paris with the task of taking out Kurt Lange, Gen. Rommel's right-hand man, Stepney reminds her to trust no one. But that warning places serious constraints on Black's mission as a storyteller. As characters flash by--Dieter von Holz, the RAF pilot who ferries Kate to Paris; German double agent Jaro; Polish freedom fighter Odile; her liaison in Paris, Richards, who escorts her to British HQ in Cairo; her Cairo guide, Sasha; and shrewd belly dancer Nadira--Kate doesn't really connect with anyone. If no one can be trusted, readers have no one to root for. Black packs lots of action and rich local color into her tale of danger. But without characters to invest in, readers may be left with what amounts to an album of travel photos: exotic and colorful but with nothing to harness the heart. Strictly for action/adventure fans.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
March 10, 2023
In Black's second "Kate Rees WWII" novel (following Three Hours in Paris), sharpshooter Kate is happy to be training soldiers in Scotland after a harrowing mission that included betrayal by her British handlers. When one of those handlers shows up and issues orders for a new assignment in Paris, she is not pleased. Heavily disguised as a Red Cross nurse, she must deliver penicillin cultures to the Pasteur Institute, assassinate a Nazi officer, and rescue her friend Margo, a spy who once saved her life. Of course, the only thing that she can really trust is her reliable Lee-Enfield rifle. The people that she must count on are double and triple agents involved in groups that are rife with political infighting. Readers will have a hard time keeping up with Kate's breakneck-speed trips thorough Paris and even Cairo as she rushes to save Margo, kill the enemies, and get secret Nazi invasion plans, but it is definitely worth the ride. VERDICT Black always delivers a great story featuring strong women. Buckle up and start turning the pages.--Barbara M. Bibel
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.