I was not able to get interested in this book and I did not finish it. The characters and the plot were not able to catch or keep my attention

As a child I was intrigued by anything spy. As a grown up, I realize, of course, that the spy life cannot possibly be as thrilling as the books/movies make. Well, Dickson managed to write a boring book about a boring spy! This almost turned into a DNF, but having committed to writing a review I kept plodding on in the hopes that it would improve. And it did - at 85% into the book.

I'm an avid historical fiction and mystery reader. Maybe I expected too much. Here was a spy novel, playing in Switzerland, my home for the first 25 years of my life, playing during the time my parents met. Yet, this story left me absolutely unengaged, bored, and at times confused.

I think the blame lies with the writing style. It is 90% tell and 10% show. It reminded me so much of when my children read a great book and then tell me in extreme detail the whole story. All the information feels secondhand, as if the author is telling you what he will write about, but never quite gets to it.
It took me weeks (instead of hours) to read, partially because after each couple of paragraphs I would catch myself rewriting the page in my head in a way I would find intriguing. So the best I can recommend this book for is as a writing project in a creative writing class, teaching show instead of tell.

I received a free ARC from Netgalley for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book..

While on his honeymoon Scott Stoddard receives notice to report for testing. He is a United States citizen living in Geneva going to school when he meets his wife, Desiree. In order not to be called up as a 1-A draftee he changes his citizenship from U.S. to Swiss and French. Then he starts doing journalism as a cover working for the the U.S. government. Scott makes himself known as a controversial figure to draw the attention of people the government is wanting to know more about. I thought the story was good but got a little drawn out in places.

I was intrigued to read this book after reading the synopsis. I really like political dramas and thrillers. But sadly, this book failed to keep me intrigued. It was a lot difficult to get into the story. I expected the characters to have the 60s depth, but they are heavily fictionalised. The world during cold war is portrayed beautifully by the author. I would recommend this book solely for understanding the complicated times during the cold war.
Thank you NetGalley, the author and River Grove Books for a reader’s copy of this book. The review is based only on my opinion of the book.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Loved this
Loved the characters and story and drew me in from the first

A great read

I really don't like giving negative reviews. But not one thing about this seemed interesting or new. There was potential, but with leaden prose, boring dialogue, and a protagonist too good and too privileged to be true, there wasn't anything enjoyable about this.

I absolutely adored this book. The characters were so real that it sucked you in and made you feel a part of the story. You didn't want it to end!