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There are currently 24 member reviews
for Beautiful Assassin
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Valerie C. (Chico, CA)
An okay read
This novel about a woman soldier's life during WWII is a fairly entertaining read. Until you near the end it is slow moving, not riveting, and I feel the characters could have been developed more. If you are interested in a historical novel around this period and like strong female leads, this book may appeal to you.
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Lori L. (La Porte, IN)
Beautiful Assassin
When I first started this book, the plot device of the main character reminiscing about her past life was a bit off-putting, cliched, and heavy-handed (been there, done that). However, thankfully, the author did not continually move back and forth between past and present throughout the book, but instead embedded us into the life of a beautiful female Russian sniper. We learn what motivates Tat'yana Levchenko to write poetry and to kill Nazis, and follow her on her journey to America where the machinations and political posturing by both the US and Russia call into question her convictions about her country and her beliefs about her role in the war.
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Jeanne W. (COLUMBIA, MD)
Good, but not great
Part spy novel and part romance, I enjoyed this book for the most part, but found it pretty predictable. I had difficulty with the idea that Tat'yana was so naive as to not understand the spying that went on and that was expected of her. We live in such a cynical world now that this kind of innocence was difficult to comprehend. That and the implausibility of Tat'yana's friendship with Mrs. Roosevelt made this book a little hard to really get into.
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Joe S. (Port Orange, FL)
Fascinating history and an enjoyable story.
When I first started this book I was a little bit skeptical but once the main character's narration began I was enthralled. The chapters describing the day to day life of a sniper in the Red Army in 1942 are fascinating. When the story moves to the US the book becomes an enjoyable historical thriller. I really enjoyed it.
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Chris G. (New Albany, Ohio)
Beautiful Assassin
Tat'yana Levchenko is a sniper in the Red Army during 1942. She is the heroine of Michael C. White's "Beautiful Assassin", a WWII - era thriller.
Levchenko travels to America as a goodwill ambassador with a stated mission of obtaining financial support and materials for the U.S.S.R as well as to persuade FDR to open a 2nd front in Europe. The US is already fighting in the Pacific but the Europeans desperately need them to enter the war in Europe. Stalin and his secret police have another agenda - one that Tat'yana wants to ignore. Her only goal is to return home and continue killing the German soldiers who are battering her country.
FDR's wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt takes a liking to the young woman and she becomes the darling of the American press. Reluctantly, the beautiful sniper goes along with her espionage agent handler's demand that she spy on the first lady. In the end, Tat'yana must make a fateful choice involving an American army captain she's grown to love.
I found the first half the book much more enthralling then the second half. Levchenko's ethical dilemas about spying on Eleanor Roosevelt are interesting to a point but I found her romantic struggles after arriving in the U.S. to be a bit annoying. I struggle with women being made to appear too much the victim that you just want to shake them to snap them out of it or they are such a heavy that you find them annoying.
So for me this book was a struggle and only mildly enjoyable.
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Sandy C. (Houston, TX)
Mixed review
I have mixed feelings about this book. It was a bit slow moving and drawn out at times, yet fast paced in others. As a fan of historical fiction, I enjoyed the aspects of the story that highlighted the tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during WWII as well as the insight into Eleanor Roosevelt’s personal life … although the friendship between Tat’yana and the First Lady as well as the interplay between Tat’yana and her superiors is a bit far-fetched and unbelievable at times. Overall, this book (for me) was just okay.
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Sharon W. (Columbia, SC)
Beautiful Assassin
This novel should be a rip-roaring good read. It is carefully written, the plot structure would get an A in a creative writing class, and the characters are dutifully developed. Michael White has done a good job of crafting his novel.That is where, however, this book gets into trouble.
All the good work is overshadowed by a lack of art. I wanted more tension, excitement, and suspense. After all, the main character was a rare creature in World War II Russia . . . an excellent female sniper. I wanted much more than I got and left this reading feeling frustrated and unfulfilled.
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