Justine Byrne, a spy in the Signal Intelligence Service in the US during WWII is trying to figure out who is the traitor and leaking documents. The quick thinking when something doesn’t go as planned and the adaptability was great when an old family friend recognized Justine. The primary and secondary characters were for the most part likable. I enjoyed reading about the strong women such as Justine and her bestie, Georgette. The pace was a bit slow for my liking and it felt that parts of the story dragged on. I was listening to the audiobook and found myself not fully paying attention and my mind wondering. A great book / audiobook must keep you engaged throughout the entirety of the story. This one was missing something, and I can’t put my finger on it.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for an audio copy of The Traitor Beside Me for an honest review.

Justine becomes a spy in World War II. She has good instincts, but are they good enough to save her own life?

The Traitor Beside Her by Mary Anna Evans
Narrated by Kimberly M. Wetherell

Justine Byrne is back again. She already has experience ferreting out a dangerous spy thanks to her keen mind and doggedness as a former factory worker. She did it again at her latest factory job...well, she thought she'd done it. But she finds she can't get too cocky in the game of espionage. Since her first factory job Justine and her friend Georgette were given the training they badly needed, even training with firearms and other weapons.

Now Justine is infiltrating a group of cryptanalysts at Arlington Hall, a former women's college in Virginia, turned into a United States Army code breaking base. Her keen mind is up to the job of both learning what she needs to learn about code breaking but also noticing the patterns and eccentricities that might show up when a German spy is attempting to live among their enemy so they can pass on important information or manipulate information in order to foil the Allies.

There is no doubt of a spy being among this group and that spy is responsible for many deaths across the sea but also probably at least one death among the code breakers. Now Justine and Georgette have to find this spy or spies without giving themselves away. It doesn't help that Justine's mission boss is so tempted to over protect her that she might not be able to do her job or complete the mission.

Just like with the first book, Wetherell puts her all into the narration of the book. No voice is the same, you always know who is speaking, complete with accents and emotion. It's obvious that Justine and Georgette aren't finished working behind the scenes for their country since the ending hints at more to come.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the free audio book in exchange for my honest review. This is narrated by Kimberly M. Wetherell who does an exceptional job! I highly recommend the audio book.

This is an engaging historical fiction that focuses on espionage pre-WWII and the women code breakers. Set in Arlington, Virginia during one week in December in 1944, we meet Justine, whose task is to determine who among the coders in Room 117 is a traitor. There is her bestie, Georgette, who also is on the case with her. Jerry is in on the job and Paul is their handler.

I thought that the multiple narrators and their points of view added to the suspense, mystery and overall story. The dialogue is sharp and very appropriate for the setting. Overall, this book ticked all of the boxes for me: historically accurate facts, a different twist on WWII, intrigue, secrets, and wisps of romance. The ending was very well done as well.

Highly recommend!

Evans makes a significant departure from her long-running Faye Longchamp series to write this story about the codebreakers of World War II. Justine Byrd sits with hundreds of codebreakers in a college in Virginia; ostensibly she’s there to try to break German coded messages like the others. She’s there to try to suss out a traitor in the ranks, someone willing to sell Allied information to the highest bidder; someone willing to have the blood of thousands on their hands for a price. Justine befriends each of the suspects and finds it hard to believe any one of them could be capable of such a heinous act. But she’s wrong, and her one of those suspects has no compunction about quieting Justine forever.