The Spy Keeper of Marseille
by Roseanna M. White
My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Historical Christian romance
Zelie Bellarose is second-in-command of a resistance organization in France during the time of Nazi occupation. Marcel Laurent is a famous concert pianist who was recently freed from a POW camp and is tasked with using his contacts and talents to help with the resistance. As the spy network grows, is betrayed from within, and loses members to arrest and execution, Zelie and Marcel lean on each other for support more and more.
As much as I loved White’s The Imposters series, set in Edwardian England, so far her WWII-era books haven’t resonated with me nearly as much. I’m not sure why there would be such a difference, but the plot here dragged for me. I didn’t really care for Zelie as a main character. I liked Marcel more, but honestly, do professional musicians often think in musical terms as much as he does in this book? Also, though I don’t need a Christian book to be heavy on a Christian message by any means, there seems to be an intent to have a message here, but it’s pretty weak. Zelie doesn’t really trust God, but because Marcel does and is kind and says a few nice things about God, she suddenly realizes she needs to trust Him more.
The stakes in this book with a spy network trying to outsmart the Nazis are weirdly high but also not that high. Though people are captured, even executed, I never really felt much of that personally. The climax was fairly intense in this area, at least, which I did appreciate. There are ups and downs in the book that renewed my interest now and then, but overall, it just felt sort of okay. The romance wasn’t necessarily completely front and center, but it still seemed somehow more important in the book than the spying and danger.
I’ve planned to read some of White’s earlier works, set during WWI, and I think I’ll still give one or two of those a try, but if she releases more WWII-era books, I think I’ll pass. Not that this book was terrible, but not interesting enough to want more like it. However, others liked it more than I did, so if you’re interested, check out other reviews at the link below.
I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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