Book Review: Beautiful Assassin by Michael White

Author: Michael C. White

Title: Beautiful Assassin

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller.

Format: paperback

Pages: 480

Published: November 30, 2009

Where I Got It: Dollar Tree

Summary: 

World War II seems lost for the beleaguered Soviets as they struggle to hold back the rising German tide at Sevastopol. But a fearless female sniper inspires hope during her nation's darkest hour. Word of the extraordinary Soviet heroine, Tat'yana Levchenko, reaches American First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who invites the beautiful assassin to tour the United States with her. For the Russians, Tat'yana's visit is an opportunity to gain support and valuable U.S. intelligence. But Tat'yana knows she is a pawn in a deadly game of treachery and deceit, forced to question the motivations of everyone around her . . . even the dashing and sympathetic American captain assigned as her translator. And then, as suddenly as she rose to international fame, Tat'yana vanishes without a trace.

Her strange disappearance will remain a mystery for decades—until a determined journalist stumbles across Tat'yana's story . . . and uncovers the astonishing truth.

Review:

Finally dusted this bad boy off to ready. Been a long time! I think I bought this in like 2015.

Here we follow Tat'yana who was a war heroine. She was deadly and killed over 300 Nazis with her sniper rifle. After being injured, she was asked to be the face of Soviet Russia and visit America to gain support from the Americans. Little does she know she would be forced to be the pawn of a deadly game of treachery and deceit. After vanishing without a trace, her story went with her. Until decades later when a journalist stumbles upon this story and finds the woman herself to hear the story of the Beautiful Assassin. 

We pretty much start right in the middle of the story. The journalist has tracked down this missing heroine and gets her to tell her story. Tat'yana is at first reluctant but she has nothing left to lose than to tell her story. She is old now and a widow. 

I enjoyed this story quite a bit. I wish that the story was a hair more linear. I would've liked to see Tat'yana as a youth, grow up, marry, and then join the Army. I would've liked to see more of her stories of valor on the Frontline. And then see her be shipped to America to be the pretty killer to make Americans want to join the fight. I think it would've been more impactful to see her as a youth...lose her innocence....see her fight up the ranks and the body count...and then lose more innocence as she is asked to lie and spy. 

Besides that, I did enjoy this. I grew to adore Tat'yana and I just wanted her to find happiness and love. She really deserved that after everything she went through. Oh! I did have a tear about a certain character. I feel like that wasn't fair for that character and for Tat'yana. It really made some parts of the plot anti-climatic. But war is Hell. 

One scene made me cheer! I know it will end badly for a certain someone, but what a redemption. No spoilers from me ;) 

Overall, I did enjoy this. There is some romance, war, and espionage. I wish the format and narrative were told a little differently, but at the end of the day, I still enjoyed following Tat'yana. You can't help but want the best for her but war is Hell. I'll give this 3 stars.  

Challenge(s):

- TBR Reading Challenge (#10)