WWII Fiction Review: The Ways We Hide

Summary: Annoying choices by the protagonist and melodramatic outcomes meant I didn’t enjoy this much, despite a great premise.

I don’t pick up WWII fiction all of that often because I find the sheer amount of it somewhat off-putting. However, this is the story a of a female illusionist recruited by British military intelligence. That’s a unique enough premise that it convinced me to take a chance on this one.

A few weeks out from reading this, what I mostly remember is how irritating the protagonist was. She was completely incapable of discussing her problems like an adult. Although she did have some past trauma shaping her behavior, it wasn’t enough that her choice to run away from her problems made sense to me. The story was suspenseful and action-packed. Initially, I liked that about it. We spend almost 150 pages on our protagonist’s childhood and the suspense of knowing some big event was looming kept me invested throughout. Over 400+ pages, I thought the book was too one note. Constant high tension isn’t sustainable without some lulls for contrast. By the end, despite spy-movie level drama, I was bored and ready to be done. I also found some of the plot points at the ending melodramatic. There were just some really predictable ways that the author tries to play on the reader’s emotions.

Our protagonists unique skills from her career as a magician were a high point. She is uniquely skilled and is given a plausible backstory to explain those skills. She then gets to use her skills in several tense situations. Sadly, that wasn’t enough to overcome the other weaknesses of this book for me. I’d hoped it would be one of those books that reminds me it is still possible to write a fresh take on WWII. Instead, I wish I’d gone with my first instinct and passed this one by.

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