A fresh, fascinating World War I puzzle ~

In 1918 England, Lieutenant Colin Mabry spends his days decoding messages for MI  after suffering injuries at the front. When he receives an urgent summons by carrier pigeon from Jewel Reyer–a woman who saved his life and who he believed to be dead–he can only hope he’ll regain the courage he lost on the front lines as he’s driven back into war-torn France.  But Jewel isn’t the one waiting for him in Paris. …  [back cover]

Kate Breslin’s new novel, Far Side of the Sea, is a jam-packed tale set in WW I. It’s a great adventure of spies and espionage that introduces new places and unexplored aspects of a war that was fought in locations besides muddy trenches of France and Belgium. It’s the intriguing puzzle that all good spy movies must be with interesting characters, most of whom we’re only certain if they’re trustworthy at the final, gripping end. The exception, of course, is Lieutenant Colin Mabry who’s been injured already in this war but perseveres in spite of that, proving himself a worthy and admirable hero.

Breslin’s ability to populate her story with realistic, fully-developed characters whose personalities and actions shift in and out of shadow to guide or misdirect us is excellent. As is her skill at researching and weaving interesting historical nuggets into the dramatic storylines. Her settings are vibrant; the romance sweet and believable. And into her tale she sprinkles touches of humor—a nice counterpoint to the tension.

I enjoyed reading this, as I have all Breslin’s books. But I had an issue with pacing. At times the story seemed to amble forward rather than charge ahead with the intensity of the life-and-death issues at play. This was only an occasional issue and occurred less often in later chapters.

If this were a class, I’d give Breslin extra credit points for her stellar research and weaving in gems of new information in fresh ways. For example, numerous scenes involve carrier pigeons. The details of how they were used and the extensive impact they had on the troops were all new to me. Including the birds allowed new dimensions of characters to be explored as well as new plot twists to rev up the tension.

Breslin’s stories are compelling and I look forward to reading more of them. To learn more, you can visit her website here.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher to review and was not required to write a positive one. Opinions expressed here are mine.