Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > Mother Daughter Traitor Spy

While it was the title and its play on words (a clever twist on John le Carre’s novel “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”) that caught my attention (and I have no doubt that was the author’s intention), it was the blurb that got me excited. It promised a thriller: sinister and tantalizing. What I felt I got was a book that was so slow to start I wondered if I was even reading the right book (I don’t think the actual plot activated in any minor way until between 25% or 30% of the way in, which is just about anathema in any novel that purports to be a thriller, in my opinion). Even after the plot kicked in the pacing was uneven, the characters weren’t compelling, and the book simply never felt like a thriller.

Back in June, I read William Martin’s “December ‘41”, which is a WWII espionage thriller and WWII historical fiction novel. As a matter of fact, when I reviewed the title, it was categorized exactly the same as “Mother Daughter Traitor Spy” is on Amazon right now. That book is also set in the same time period, starts in Los Angeles with a lot of the same real-life players and the same real-life locations before spinning off into their own plots. Yet “Mother Daughter Traitor Spy” felt like a women’s historical fiction than a thriller at any time. Dramatic and suspenseful, sure, but a thriller? No.

I really wanted this book to wow me, to give me the female spy vibes I longed for. But it just fell flat.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, and Bantam for granting me early access to this title. Due to the 3 star or lower rating, this review will not appear on any social media or bookseller website. This is my personal policy as an ARC and book reviewer.