In Kate Quinn's "The Diamond Eye," Lyudmila (Mila) Pavlichenko is a Ukrainian university student and aspiring historian. Having become pregnant at the age of fifteen, Mila Belova marries the father of her baby, Alexei Pavlichenko, a handsome and charming older man. Her marriage turns out to be a mistake, and she takes on the role of single parent to her bright and beautiful son, Rostislav (Slava). However, she also makes the difficult decision to enlist in the Russian army after the Nazi invasion, secure in the knowledge that her parents will take care of her child. Mila becomes a skilled sharpshooter known as "Lady Death" who, during her illustrious military career, tallies over three hundred kills.

"The Diamond Eye" goes back and forth in time between Mila's activities as a young and naïve woman, her exploits as a battle-hardened soldier on the front lines, and her visit in 1942 to America on a public relations mission, where she meets President Franklin Roosevelt and befriends the first lady, Eleanor. Amazingly, much of this story is true. Quinn drew on Pavlichenko's memoir and other sources to glean information about the real Mila. Furthermore, in her afterword, Quinn explains the ways in which she blended fact and fiction in her telling of this fascinating tale.

Although the plot is engrossing, Quinn's writing style leaves much to be desired. She goes over the same information too often; the descriptive writing is overwrought ("the fury clawed and coiled, liquid and molten at the core of me") and cliché-ridden; and her characters are largely one-dimensional. For example, Alexei is nasty and condescending, but we never get a sense of why this talented surgeon—who could have any woman he wants—torments his estranged wife for years. On the other hand, Mila's kind, affectionate, and protective lover, whom we meet later, is Alexei's opposite in personality. Nevertheless, readers who enjoy novels about wartime adventures (some of which are shocking and bloody); passionate romance; the struggle of a young woman to earn respect for her deeds rather than her looks; and the political, economic, and cultural contrasts between the U. S. S. R. and America during the 1940s, will likely find the "The Diamond Eye" enlightening and diverting.

Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this one. A WWII story seen from the eyes of a Russian soldier. Oh yeah, and that soldier just happens to be the deadliest sniper in history....AND female.

I loved the idea explored throughout the story. The idea that a woman can have many identities, yet sometimes they have to push one down to excel at another. A woman has to be certain things, at certain times. Mila was a mother, student, friend, soldier and sniper. "The mother and the sniper both, succeeding at both."

The relationship between Mila and Alexei was particularly engaging, and often infuriating! "Jump, little Mila".....grrrrrr.

It was compelling to follow Mila as she lands in America and becomes the poster child for Russian propaganda while at the same time hear Eleanor Roosevelt's perspective observing her. The use of various POV throughout was very effective. The multiple timelines work well too.

A favorite quote:
"Snipers must make themselves calm in order to succeed, and that is why women are good at sharpshooting. Because there is not a woman alive who has not learned how to eat rage in order to appear calm." - BOOM.

Overall a very enjoyable read. Be warned that it will have you going back and forth to your computer looking up which parts of the story are factual.

Big thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Mila Pavlichenko is a Ukrainian-born single mother and aspiring historian. Mila is working as a librarian and trying to finish her dissertation as Hitler invades Russia. She immediately felt called to join the war efforts; luckily, her prior courses in marksmanship makes her an ideal candidate for the front. While some are hesitant to follow the orders of a woman, Mila proves herself time and time again, until she is training her own platoon of snipers. After earning the nickname Lady Death, or Lady Midnight, Mila becomes famous worldwide for 309 kills (and those are just the confirmed one -- the tally is expected to be significantly higher).

Mila is part of a Soviet delegation to the United States in 1942, at which time she befriends Eleanor Roosevelt. During the trip, Mila gets numerous death threats, is constantly hounded by the press, and finds herself warding off advances from wealthy American men. Throughout this, she uncovers a plot to kill the President (and frame her for it)! Can she save him and herself, in time?

Honestly? I was slightly disappointed in this one. I usually blow through Quinn novels, completely engulfed in the storyline. This one felt...watered down. I love that she wanted to tell Mila Pavlichenko's story -- she was a force to be reckoned with. And I do feel that Quinn was able to capture that in some scenarios, but in others I was left wanting more. As for the entire US storyline, I would have preferred to go without it and focus more on her life in combat. Though admittedly, I love that her and Eleanor Roosevelt were friends IRL.

The story of Mila Pavlichenko is totally fascinating. What an interesting woman! I had no idea there were female snipers during WWII. I really enjoyed getting to know Mila and the people around here. There were a few too many military details in this book for my liking and it wasn't quite as gripping at The Rose Code for me. But it's still a great read and I will recommend it to others! Thanks @netgalley for the ARC!

Quinn's novel makes Russia's experience in WWII come alive through the efforts of Lady Death, a history student turned sniper with more than 300 official kills. It has been said that the Allies prevailed in WWII with British intelligence, American steel, and Russian blood, and the Diamond Eye allows us to see Nazi brutality through the eyes of the many Russian soldiers who died resisting the German invasion.
I was delighted to learn that most of the characters in this novel were real people, and that
Lady Death indeed befriended Eleanor Roosevelt when she visited America on a goodwill tour.
Five stars for dynamic characters, excellent pacing, and historical accuracy.

I have enjoyed Kate Quinn's previous books related to WWII and was quite excited to hear she had another one coming out. The Diamond Eye was amazing and a slight departure from her stories about English women in WWII. This one focuses on Mila Pavlichenko, a student historian turned female sniper. Mila's journey is chronicled well and is based on a true historical figure. It was fascinating to read and it was hard to put down. I will be recommending this to everyone I can!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for this eArc of The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn.

I love Kate Quinn's historical novels her newest title did not disappoint!
As usual, it is clear that Quinn did extensive research on her subject matter and deftly wove this into an incredible narrative, sharing the story of Lady Death, a young female sniper defending her country from the Nazi invaders during WWII.
Quinn does a wonderful job weaving both Mila's experiences as a sniper and as an envoy to the US together seamlessly. Her friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt was especially enjoyable to read about.
Highly recommend!

I love Kate Quinn books and The Diamond Eye did not disappoint. Quinn obviously did extensive research into the real life of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a Ukrainian woman who became a sniper in the Russian Army during WWII. Known as Mila, this graduate student working as a librarian was devastated when Germany moved into Russian territory. She felt strongly that she needed to help her country.

Having earlier trained in shooting a gun in order to prove to her estranged husband that she could teach their son how to shoot when he was old enough, she quickly made a name for herself with her expertise. Mila was not only an expert sniper, she became a leader to men who were devoted to her. Quinn doesn't shy away from the challenges that a woman has in a war zone, she is quite blunt about it. Mila has to protect herself from superiors who push for sexual favors and underlings who don't believe her strengths when they first meet her. There are always rumors about a woman in war.

We meet not only Mila's estranged (and obnoxious) husband but the man who she opens up to and falls in love with. After being injured, Mila becomes an Emissary to the US, asking for help in combatting the Germans. During her trip to the US, she meets and is befriended by Eleanor Roosevelt. This friendship is pivotal to her life, she had assumed that Eleanor's life was full of tea and biscuits and then finds out that Eleanor works very hard.

I love reading the Author's Notes on historical fiction like this, it's so interesting to see what is factual and what is fictionalized in the person's life. It was amazing how much of this book is based on truth.

The timing of this book coming out is interesting with the whole world watching Ukraine. In the book, Mila is a devout Russian who had written her dissertation on Ukraine joining Russia hundreds of years earlier.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Although I have liked Kate Quinn's previous books quite a lot, Diamond Eye fell short for me, so much so that I could read only half of it before turning to another book. The real-life story of a female Soviet sniper is compelling, but regrettably, Quinn was not able to capture it in an equally compelling way. I liked the interspersing of excerpts of Eleanor Roosevelt's notes and Mila's comments from her "memoirs" - those for public consumption and those that are her private thoughts. However, while Mila's comments rang true, Eleanor's did not. More to the point, though, Mila's real-life breath-taking story unfolded at a slow wheezing pace and I lost all interest in it. Similarly, the employer of the would-be FDR assassin and his motivations seemed unimportant. Although Diamond Eye was not a good match for me, I am sure that Quinn's fans will devour it.

This is an absolutely gripping tale of a Russian female sniper and what it was like for the Russian troops as the Nazis advanced into their homeland. The descriptions of war and the work of the snipers were unforgettable. The book switched between earlier in the war and a few years later when a group of Russians were sent to the US to encourage FDR to give aid to Russia. The book would have been 5 stars without the over-the-top ending (I really didn't need a sniper coming after the sniper in a Washington DC forest--the book was good enough on its own). Much respect for Kate Quinn's research and ability to uncover heroic women and shine a light on them.

Kate Quinn has found a female main character as different from American women as possible. However, she develops Lyudmila Pavlichenko (Mila) so deeply that the reader thoroughly understands her motivations, cheers her on, and sympathizes with her. Quinn’s genius for finding unknown, untold stories from history is peerless. This one is perfectly timed with the current Russian invasion of Ukraine as American readers will come to understand the Russian value of the collective over the individual. (This does not excuse the invasion.) The back matter that Quinn includes is stellar. Every book club will be watching the YouTube videos. This one is a brilliant diamond of the highest quality, polished and multifaceted. Kudos Kate Quinn. You’ve done it again.

Pulls you in and doesn’t let go. While at times the writing feels a bit amateurish, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read with history, drama, suspense, romance as well as friendship and loss. And it is fascinating to learn at the end about the real people and events that inspired this story. Highly recommend!

Move Over Nina; Here comes Mila!

Ever since I read Quinn’s “The Huntress” I’ve said that my favorite fictional character was Nina from that novel. Well, now I’m thinking that Mila is her equal in every way, except that Mila was a real person, and Nina was a figment of Quinn's imagination! So, yes, I do recognize the false equivalency in the title of this review, but I’m certain that had Nina been the main protagonist of her novel, that Quinn would have written her just the way she wrote Mila. And by that, I mean with a level of irreverence, mixed with unparalleled respect that completely belies the dichotomy of putting both those nouns in one sentence to describe this woman. What’s more, Quinn renders Mila quite brashly, giving her a rapier wit, and depth of extreme dedication to her mission that again seems to be a contradiction. Finally, Quinn not only recognized that this woman killed (officially) 309 soldiers in cold blood, with the steely eyed personality to achieve this, but she also gave Mila a heart that could be both gentle and passionate. Plus, she’s also a geeky nerd bookworm! Talk about your complex characters, right? So, is it any wonder that I’m in love with Mila?

Have you figured out that I’m going to be effusing all over this book yet? Well, I am, and for many very good reasons. First of all, as already mentioned, I’ve falling head over heels in love with Mila. If that wasn’t enough, Quinn’s style here is a bit different from the previous books of hers that I’ve read. As already mentioned, Quinn infused Mila’s narration of the story with a cheeky attitude that wavered between humorous and harshly ominous. Quinn also has two other narrators, one being an unnamed marksman who has been hired to kill President Roosevelt, and the other being the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The marksman’s pieces are written quite dryly in stark contrast to Mila’s story, while Eleanor Roosevelt’s pieces are written like diary entries, so there’s no problem keeping their voices separate. Furthermore, most of Mila’s stories are prefaced with types of headlines from what sound like an autobiography, where there is the official story, followed by an unofficial one.

Add to all this the perfectly timed pacing of the various events in Mila’s wartime experiences, we get a real rollercoaster of a story that has our hearts thumping and blood racing almost to the end of the book. Plus, interspersed with these wartime pieces are accounts of Mila’s 1942 trip to the US as part of a Soviet delegation. This second timeline is so close to the first one that I wouldn’t call this a dual-timeline novel, and unlike some of those, having them both really helps with the pacing, by giving us some calming breathing spaces between battles. It also shows us the sharp contrasts between Communist Soviet life together with close-ups of the war, and the (decadent capitalist) nation on the opposite side of the globe from the conflict.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the release of this book at this particular time ended up being somewhat serendipitous, considering Putin’s recent invasion of Ukraine. The main reason why Mila is sent to the US is to try to convince the US President and the American public to join forces in the European front of the war (they were only fighting in the Pacific at that time), as well as send more aid to the USSR to help their fight against the Nazis and the Axis forces. Quinn didn’t know this would happen when she wrote this book, but the parallels are there, and it won’t be lost on Quinn’s readers that Mila was technically Ukrainian! Zelinsky’s requests for more military and humanitarian aid, combined with his begging to call for a no-fly zone, feel very much like what Mila was trying to do on her American tour. Furthermore, how the Nazis and Axis soldiers behaved during WWII on the Russian Front horrifically mirrors how Putin and his armies are behaving in Ukraine today.

Let me conclude this review by saying that while I thought she couldn’t do it, Quinn has not only met, but exceeded my expectations with this captivating novel. I totally adored Mila; I feared for her safety, laughed at her jokes and jibes, and wept at her pains and her heartbreaks. This is a book I can unconditionally recommend to anyone who wants to laugh, cry, and feel hopeful during these very trying times. If this book doesn’t deserve an unqualified five stars out of five, I don’t know what book does! Read it; you won’t regret it.

Mila Pavlichenko, a single mother and history student, is working on finishing her dissertation when Hitler invades Russia. Wanting to protect her family and country, she joins the Red Army. Her exceptional shooting ability, skill and confirmed kills earn her the nickname "Lady Death" from the Nazis. Far from being a cold-hearted killer, this incredible woman fights to survive not only against the Nazis but also against the misogyny and misconceptions of her fellow soldiers. I was fascinated by the story of this courageous and extraordinary woman who became the most successful female sniper in recorded history. By brilliantly weaving fiction with historical facts, Kate Quinn creates a credible narrative of Mila's life, producing a desire in me to learn more about this intriguing woman. Historical fiction at its finest!

I found my favorite book of 2022 so far! Kate Quinn just keeps getting better and better. The Diamond Eye was an amazing novel of World War II (yes, another one), which focuses on Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who was a distinguished sniper in the Russian Army recording a reported 309 kills. I was amazed at the fact that the Russian Army had female snipers during the war, but that is only the beginning of the history that I learned in this book.

As if the story of a female sniper during World War II does not present enough material for a thrilling novel, there is the added storyline of Ms. Pavlichenko coming to the U.S. as an ambassador of sorts and becoming friends with Eleanor Roosevelt (true story!). And while she is in the U.S., she is stalked by someone who wishes to inflict harm on many. So even after she is away from the wartime front, she is not out of danger.

The plot was suspenseful and riveting. I am awed by some of Kate Quinn's writing: it is poignant, beautiful and powerful. I highlighted so many quotes including, "Snipers must make themselves calm in order to succeed, and that is why women are good at sharpshooting. Because there is not a woman alive who has not learned how to eat rage in order to appear calm." So true. Here is another great one, "I didn't necessarily want the other side dead; I only wanted them gone. But they weren't going, and so help me, I would settle for dead." She may have been a mild research librarian, but she was also a fierce fighter to be taken seriously.

My emotions were given a full workout as I read this book. I cried more than once as I felt that my heart was completely wrung out. Ms. Quinn has the power to make a reader feel so many things; within a few chapters I felt rage, sorrow and hope. And it is not all wartime misery; there is a beautiful romance, too.

The history of Ms. Pavlichenko as a sniper is fascinating. The author's note thoroughly explains how much of the book is based on history as well as which parts were fictionalized.

I cannot recommend this highly enough to readers who enjoy historical fiction about strong women.

Thanks to the publisher, William Morrow and NetGalley for the e-card in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love this author. Kate Quinn writes beautiful, exacting prose. I devoured the previous books she has written about women in wartime. This book focuses on a Russian female sniper during WWII, and her subsequent tour of the USA to drum up American support to aid the Allies in WWII. Maybe it is a reaction to the events currently happening with Russia and the Ukraine, but I could not warm up to this character at all, and my mine kept veering to Russia after WWII and the cold war. While the plot was swift, and the descriptive language on point, I could not care if the main character survived all her trials and tribulations.

The Diamond Eye
by Kate Quinn
Pub Date: March 29, 2022
William Morrow and Company
The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history's deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.
Thanks to Kate Quinn, William Morrow and Company, and NetGalley for this great ARC. I will be recommending this book. I was able to meet this author in a webinar and she is delightful! It gave me even more desire to read this book and all of her other books.
Her prose is wonderful and her research meticulous.
5 stars

Kate Quinn doesn't disappoint and she is absolutely a historical fiction author that you should know. Her newest novel is "immersive" and action-packed and puts you squarely in the life (and loves!) of a Russian female sniper who you have probably never heard of. I loved how small vignettes from history were brought to light - such as Mila's BFF friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt. Mila is a kickass heroine who you will adore. Read this if you love WWII stories that keep you on the edge of your seat. Thank you, Netgalley, for my arc.

Kate Quinn has become a “must read” author for me, and this didn’t disappoint. I really enjoyed getting to know famed World War II female Red Army sniper Lyudmila "Mila" Pavlichenko in this enthralling tale, which has two plotlines that converge later in the novel. The earlier story introduces 21-year-old Mila, university student and already a mother to five-year-old son Slavka, frustrated with her erstwhile husband, Alexei, who always misses their divorce appointments despite not wanting to be live with her. She enrolls in marksmanship classes as much to prove something to Alexei as for herself and soon excels at the skills she learns. When Germany invades the Soviet Union in 1941, Ukranian-born Mila enlists in the army and offers her skills to fight off the unwelcome “Hitlerites,” though she finds many officers who would prefer her to serve as a nurse. Eventually she secures a place as a sniper and eventually a leader of other snipers.
The second plot revolves around the 1942 visit of a Soviet delegation to the United States, intended to foster good will among the allies and to secure American aid to the Russian war effort. Unbeknownst to anyone, sinister elements in the US are plotting to assassinate FDR, and a stealthy American marksman has hatched a plan to pin the kill shot on none other than “Lady Death” herself during a White House stop.
The two narratives come together and bring urgency to the read, which is interspersed with notes from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who befriends Mila. I appreciated Mila’s point of view and learned much about life on the front lines for a sniper. Reading this during the recent developments in Ukraine brought a poignancy to the book that it might not otherwise have had, and Mila’s strong, defiant rejection of the WWII invaders is indicative of the fierce reaction I see by today’s Ukranians.
Highly recommended

Besties, Kate Quinn has done it again. I’m not a fan of WWII fiction, but I will never hesitate to read a WWII novel if Kate Quinn is at the helm.

The Diamond Eye is almost a pseudo-autobiography, an engrossing re-imagining the official (state-sponsored) memoir of Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko. When German troops reach the borders of the USSR, Mila abandons her quiet life as a library research assistant and history student to enlist in the Red Army. The book moves between her time acclimating to the horrors of war as she hones her deadly sharpshooting skills and her subsequent goodwill tour across America.

4/5: I really enjoyed this one; it wasn’t my favorite of Quinn’s (The Rose Code and Mistress of Rome hold that honor), but it was impeccably researched and full of interesting characters. Fans of The Huntress in particular should love The Diamond Eye’s deeper dive into Soviet resistance during the war.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!