This book, the third installation following the Horowitz family, reveals how Levi spent WWII after his father secured him a visa to London after Kristallnacht. Because of his reputation as an expert pianist and his ability to speak multiple languages, the British military recruits Levi to be trained as a spy. He is then dropped back into Germany, but as Werner, a Nazi officer. His role is to pass back information to England, and also try to get close to Hitler and his inner circle through his musical skills. He is successful and ends up playing for Hitler.
However, a series of events leads him to working with the partisans in Italy. Levi's story comes to light decades later in 2017, when the archives uncover the video of him debriefing his wartime actions to the British after the war. The military personnel play the video for Levi's family, revealing his truth to them for the first time.

This book certainly had its pros and cons. The writing itself left much to be desired, as it was stilted and basic. I don't really mind time jumps so I liked the framework of the video immersing us in Levi's story and then having us being suddenly taken out of it to the present day to get the family's reactions. It was not too often so I did not find it at all distracting, but rather, found their insight to his revelations enhanced the story. I also liked that this was a WWII story that had a bit of a different plotline. A Jewish man posing as a Nazi officer and spying, and then joining the Italian resistance is a pretty unique wartime role. Additionally, Levi's homosexuality and the Nazis persecution of homosexuals is another group that is not often highlighted in the historical fiction books I've read, so I appreciated that aspect as well.

However, there were a few things I took issue with or did not really believe. Levi's ability to fall in love with an SS officer—Erik—who admitted to killing Jews in the Polish pogroms is simply unbelievable to me. Without giving spoilers, even with Erik's change of heart after his own personal experiences, I still find it difficult to believe that Levi seemed to barely have to grapple with reconciling those "two" Eriks. Also, there's a present day storyline about Levi's nephew that I did not sit well with me either, but I will not get into it for spoilers.

I had not realized that this was the third book in this series, however, it worked okay as a standalone. When the timeline jumped back to 2017, there were a lot of names, relationships, and past events invoked from the previous books, but Thomas reminded the reader (or, in my case, informed us for the first time) who those people were.

Overall, I appreciated the unique plotline helped elevate this book for me, despite my dislikes.

Levi's War is the third in a series and I have not read the first two. I feel like Levi's War shouldn't be a standalone novel as there are scenes that did not quite make sense. I am assuming that they were flashbacks to information from the first two books. I will be ordering the entire series for my library!

This book! This book was fast paced and unputdownable. I found myself waking up extra early to get a few chapters in. I love historical fiction, especially WWII. Levi is a Jewish pianist and bank clerk during the rise of the Nazi regime. After being sent to a camp, Levi is asked to play the role of spy and is actually dropped behind enemy lines to play the piano and seek information about the Nazis.

Levi's War read like a biography and I found myself googling to see if this was a true story. The attention to detail was impeccable throughout the novel.

I received a free copy of this book from net gallery in exchange for an honest review.
This is the story of Levi, a young Jewish man separated from his family who chooses to risk his life by playing an active role in opposing the Nazi regime during WWII—first as a trained British spy, then as resistance fighter in Italy. The book switches timelines with the present as Levi’s family finds out about his wartime activities for the first time, after his death.
Overall, I would say that I enjoyed the book, but found the timeline to be a bit off. To me, the “present day” chapters lacked the emotion to match the rest of the book—and I found it to be a significant distractor, especially at the end of the book. Perhaps if I had read the first two books in this series, I would have felt differently. I did truly enjoy the historical chapters and story encircling Levi.

#LevisWar #NetGalley
I didn't know this as first but this is the third book of Julie Thomas trilogy, Set on the knowledge of the LIbowtiz family. Since I haven't read the others books, some of the discussions confused me a little pit and I didn't fully get to reference. If I go back and read the other books I think I would get better clarity on how I feel about this.

Julie Thomas writes a brilliant historical novel about one man’s fight against Hitler and the Nazi’s. Levi, who comes from a wealthy banking family, leaves his mother country for a job with a London bank when things begin to get difficult for the Jews. Once in London he cannot sit by and watch his people being annihilated. What follows is the story of one man’s battle and the tremendous risks he takes to fight against the enemy. Unbeknownst to his family until he is long gone, Levi was a hero in the truest sense of the word. Beautifully written, this well researched novel is a must read.

This is the third and final novel in the author's planned trilogy about the Horowitz family and events they took part in during World War II. I have not read the first two books so that certain described situations mentioned in this book are not familiar to me. While it would have helped overall understanding I did not lose complete track of events and could keep up with the flow of this book. Levi is a Jewish boy born into a well to do banking family living in Berlin, Germany enjoying life until the horror of Adolf Hitler and his cronies seized power and turned the country into a police state looking to conquer the world.
Levi's father saw what was probably going to happen and sent Levi to live and work in England. He was supposed to establish a base in order to bring over all his family but fate threw him a curve and he began life as a spy thanks to the British government interceding with him, training him as a soldier, and sending him back into Germany to spy on Nazi activities for the allies. Levi returns and gets a position with a Nazi unit to both support himself and have access to information needed by his sponsors. As a young man Levi had developed a love for and a talent for music playing at a concert hall level. This skill helps him in working at his spy craft gaining entrance to homes of the very well connected including the very top: - Hitler himself.
Themes running through the novel are Levi's having to apologize for his Jewishness and also to have to hide the fact that he is gay in a country which makes homosexuality a crime even to killing the person for showing a same sex love for another human being.
While Ms. Thomas shows the amount of research she undertook to tell this story I fault her on jumping helter skelter from topic and circumstance to something else. There were a few situations where the reader could very easily have lost continuity and interest making it very far from an all nighter. Levi's constant fixing on his homosexuality is overdone and doesn't at all help maintain the reader's interest.

World War II-era novels are some of my favorites, so I was looking forward to this book. Sadly, it didn't quite hit the mark for me. I haven't read the author's prior books, so perhaps that's why this one didn't connect with me.

In addition, the writing style didn't work for me. The flow just seemed off in some way. There were some elements I wasn't expecting, and that didn't improve my impressions. I will not be checking out the other books in this series.

I did not enjoy this book. I felt it was disjointed and rushed at times. It just wasn’t for me and I read historical fiction primarily. I will say that I did not read the first two books and that might be part of the issue. Regardless, I wasn’t interested in the characters in this book enough to go back and read the other two.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper360/Harper Collins NZ for this ARC.

Julie Thomas wrote an incredible account of Levi Horowitz’s life and strength. Her written words are visceral. Brava. Thank you NetGalley and Harper 360 for this opportunity to read this ARC.

This is the first book I have read from this series and now I plan on going back and reading the first two. There are a lot of WWII fiction books out there and I think this one was unique. I couldn't stop turning pages, highly recommend.

Levi’s War is the third book in a trilogy about the Horowitz family. I loved the first two books but found this book a disappointment. This story takes place after Levi’s death, when the British government uncovers forgotten films from the end of WW2 in which Levi Horowitz is being debriefed on his experience as a British spy behind enemy lines. For his entire post war life, his family has thought that Levi was safely in England during the war, but as a German citizen living in England he had been interred in a camp, then recruited and trained to spy and dropped back into Germany.

I read a lot of WW2 fiction but just had a hard time with this book, which I was eagerly waiting for. The writing didn’t flow as it did in the earlier 2 books.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

An interesting WW2 story of bravery, resiliency, and family set around music and Levi Horowitz, a German-Jewish spy for the British that had me turning pages but also confused me at times. I didn't realize this was the 3rd story in the Horowitz Chronicles. It works as a stand-alone novel but (I think) there are definitely parts that would be easier to understand if you've read the previous novels.

The novel goes back and forth between the war and 2017 when Levi's family learns about "his war" and I found the latter part of the book, set all in 2017, to be rather clunky. Although I understand the reason for it, there was just something missing for me.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper 360/HarperCollins NZ, and the author for an advanced copy of this book.

This is a much written about era.. horrific as best described... but I feel executed better than this novel managed to do. Hitler and the Nazi regime have been analyzed and dissected since before WWII. There are thousands of pages of literature dedicated to this topic and many are noteworthy. Levi’s War is not one I can recommend. It became monotonous and I felt not believable at times. The added homosexual relationship seemed superfluous and hardly credible that an ardent family of Nazi sympathizers would exhibit such a turn around.

Levi Horowitz is an amazing character and easy to love! Levi's War is a story about a young, gay, jewish man, during the holocaust. The story was great but at some times the writing felt rushed and not fully thought out. I also felt like the end of the story was a little abrupt. However, I highly recommend this book as it's a different perspective from WW2.

The perfect way to end a trilogy. Julie Thomas writes so poignantly it's like you're there with the characters, watching as they make some of the most difficult choices of their lives. Levi's story wraps up the three stories of the Horowitz family, and how they all had such different experiences during WWII. You do not need to have read the first two books to enjoy this one, but it does help.

"Levi's War" by Julie Thomas is the third book in the trilogy of the Horowitz family. I did not realize this was a trilogy until after I downloaded the book and added it to my GoodReads account.

Levi is a pianist and bank clerk; he is also Jewish. Levi's father finds a way to gain passage to London for Levi in 1938. He eventually arrives in London, moves into a boardinghouse, and works at a bank. After war is declared, Levi registers as a German national, and eventually is declared an Enemy Alien and sent to a camp. There, he is approached about being a spy for Britain and dropped behind enemy lines to play piano and listen for information to help the Allies win the war. There, Levi meets a young man who he cares about very much. This young man is then arrested and taken to Dachau Concentration Camp for being gay. The two eventually join the Resistance fight.

The research completed by the author is outstanding; there is much detail. I appreciate how 'God' is written as 'G-d," as many Jews feel that writing it this way does not show any disrespect to God.

I do not prefer historical books that flip from the past to present day, and this book does, since Levi's descendants are invited to watch a video created by the national archives. I also found some of the information shared a bit much, and that took away from the story.

This is definitely not a standalone novel, as there were references to violin and a painting, that was probably explained in the previous books.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy in exchange for my review.

I've decided not to post a review of this book, as the biggest concern that I have involves a spoiler. I just absolutely do not believe that British intelligence could get a source that close to Hitler - and that said source would take a bullet meant for him! Couldn't suspend disbelief enough to find the rest of the book entertaining. Since I can't recommend it based on that, and I won't discuss the spoiler in the book, I can't do the review.

I liked some elements of the book, and was okay with the character. I disliked the framing scenes and thought they were totally unnecessary--I get that they hearken back to other books in the series, but still.

The third novel in Julie Thomas’ Horowitz Chronicles, follows a family during WWII. I did not realize that this is part of a trilogy, and would have much better appreciated it if I had read the first two novels prior to this one. I would highly recommend reading these in order to avoid missing key details and points, and will be doing that myself.

Another addition to the growling list of WWII titles! This book was a little confusing for me until I realized its #3 in a series. I enjoyed it and will be reading the first two, which are highly rated on goodreads. If you can't get enough of WWII in your fiction reading. this is a worthy candidate to add to your list!

I have read countless books that center around WW2. The author surprised me with this story as it had a unique viewpoint. Levi Horowitz, the main character, is an immensely talented musician. So while this book centers on the war, music and culture also play a prominent role.

This is the third novel in the trilogy of the Libowitz family. Although this book can certainly be read without reading the prior two, I do believe a lot would be confusing or missed if the others not read beforehand.

I felt that the book did a good job making you believe that the majority of these characters could have been real life people during this time in history. So while fiction was certainly a factor in this book, there were several facts present as well. Overall, a well written book, but I did feel it dragged on a bit too long.

I received an ARC of "Levi's War" by Julie Thomas in exchange for an honest review.