The Traitor Beside Her: A WWII Mystery Paperback – June 6, 2023

I ordered this book because it was required for bookclub. I thought the story line was interesting. The first half of the book was about fashion. I understand why some of it was required but not all. Of course the coding parts was way over my head. I was more interested in the who done it part and that didn't seem to come into the book until the second half. After having read it I am not sure I'd read anothe book by this author.

I used this book for myself. I enjoyed the suspense and I felt well written

DID NOT LIKE

The Traitor Beside Her is the second title in Evans’s WWII set series. (First in the series was The Physicist’s Daughter.) It offers an enjoyable read.As the novel opens, Justine is working as a welder and training for secret missions. What does she see at her job as the story begins and what does that mean? This will lead readers right into the story and Justine’s new assignment.Justine will be incognito as Samantha Ogletree, appearing as the daughter of a Southern minister and his wife. Her cover job is to be the the assistant to a Doctor Van Dorn in the German section at Arlington Hall, a place where cryptologists work. Of course, Justine is really there to figure out who is “The Traitor Beside Her.” Plans change however and readers will find out why.Some favorite characters appear again in this story. They include Georgette, Paul and Jerry.Readers will hope for Justine’s success as she tackles espionage, murder and maybe some romance. There is much to enjoy here.Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.Note: This book can be enjoyed even if a reader has not read the first in the series.

Great story set in the fascinating context of WWII code breakers. Could not put this one down.

The USA's secret program of cryptoanalysis in Virginia toward the end of WWII is explored in "The Traitor Beside Her" by Mary Anna Evans. A physicist's daughter, Justine Byrne plays a dangerous game of espionage. On the surface, she has been recruited to decode communication from various Axis powers as Allied forces advance on the front lines toward Germany.  However, her primary objective is to find the traitor among the brilliant decoders at Arlington Hall who are deciphering German codes that could steer the course of the war. She cannot trust anyone as she investigates who could be the potential spy. One woman on site has already been killed and others have gone missing. The suspense builds as she hones on potential suspects, risking her life.Mary Anna Evans has written a unique, smoothly-written novel with elements of suspense, romance, and friendship. The story offers the unique perspective of a young, somewhat naive woman thrust into the midst of espionage with minimal training. The story is told primarily from Justine's perspective, but other points of view are used to move the story forward. Justine can only confide in Georgette, her best friend and fluent speaker of Choctaw, who is suddenly brought into the mission. Nora is another intriguing, eccentric character who can see the colors of the music she composes and plays.One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is to learn about the secret decoding processes that could impact the war as much as the military forces on the battlefield. Each suspect has an interesting backstory that could explain why he or she chooses to betray his/her country. However, the pacing sometimes slows down when the story delves into romance and everyday conversations of women living at Arlington Hall.Readers who enjoy learning more about covert operations that supported the behind-the-scenes war effort of Allies during WWII should enjoy reading "The Traitor Beside Her," told from the perspective of a precocious, young woman thrown into the jaws of espionage.

The Physicists’ Daughter was one of my four or five most favorite mysteries of 2022, so I’ve been eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series, The Traitor Beside Her. And it doesn’t disappoint!All of the same elements that I loved in the first book are still there in this one, however now Justine and her best friend, Georgette, are official employees of the US government. So rather than having to figure out that something is wrong on their own, this time they’ve been sent on purpose to suss out a suspected spy among the codebreakers at Arlington Hall. The stakes are high, since, as you might guess, a traitor in the midst of the operations there would have access to highly sensitive information that could change the course of the war.At first it seems as if the entire mission might go awry on the first day, when Justine is recognized by a close friend of her parents, and her carefully developed cover story is blown. But she quickly adapts, and eventually her sharp brain and analytical skills, and Georgette’s own home-grown skills (duck hunting with her brothers!) and down-to-earth way of looking at things, enable them to piece together what is going on. And there was a very nice twist at the end that I didn’t see coming, which is always fun.Even more enjoyable, however is the detailed and fascinating picture of WWII life on the US home front that author Mary Anna Evans again paints. When reading The Physicists’ Daughter, I got so fascinated with the background that I searched and read up on the Higgins Boat Factory. In A Traitor Beside Her, it was the quirky lives of the codebreakers themselves that are central to the story – a group of (mostly) young women, often on their own for the first time, with odd talents for math, or languages, or puzzles – or all three. Having read Liza Mundy’s excellent non-fiction account of the US codebreaking program, Code Girls, not too long ago, everything just felt so right. And also as with The Physicists’ Daughter, I felt a personal connection of sorts: in this case, my grandfather and great-uncle were two rare anglo Navajo speakers, who worked with the Navajo code-talkers during the war, so I could remember their stories while I was reading about Georgette’s Choctaw-speaking brothers doing the same thing.All-in-all, The Traitor Beside Her is a totally worthy follow-on to The Physicists’ Daughter, and I highly recommend it for anyone who likes historical mysteries, and even folks who just like historical novels. And there’s a nice little hook at the end, so hopefully the next book in the series will be coming soon. I’ll be waiting with fingers crossed! And finally my thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the advance review copy…