Readers should expect to give up weekend plans once they start this novel. Using fictional characters in a story based on real-life efforts to find Nazi fugitives provides a new historical viewpoint. Quinn builds her characters through small details, allowing readers to develop opinions on who’s being honest and what their next action might be. The weaving of separate threads into a cohesive, satisfying end is subtle and skillful ... A great choice for historical fiction fans, particularly of World War II–set novels, mystery readers, or anyone seeking well-crafted stories in which good triumphs over evil.
Quinn braids these story lines and characters together in a seamless narrative that builds toward a dramatic showdown ... The love story that emerges between Jordan and Tony is refreshing and straightforward and hints at the social changes in the years to come ... sure to be a hit with fans of commercial World War II fiction. Nina’s and Jordan’s narratives truly sing in this powerful novel about unusual women facing sometimes insurmountable odds with grace, grit, love and tenacity.
Kate Quinn's The Huntress runs on a bit too long, but once you've read her Author's Note and understand that many of her characters are based on real people, real people who include the craven and the heroic, you'll understand why Quinn has stuffed her book with plot. You'll also see, I hope, that The Huntress reads like the best World War II fiction, stories in which that war means many people had to inhabit gray areas even after it was over ... So a bit long [the novel] may be. It's still engrossing, suspenseful, and authentic, a book to give you a new perspective on women, war, and the wheels of justice.
An impressive historical novel sure to harness WWII-fiction fans’ attention. Each subplot in its triple-stranded structure thrums with tension that intensifies as they braid together ... The secondary characters, from Nina’s anti-Stalinist father to Jordan’s pilot boyfriend, feel three-dimensional, and the coldhearted Huntress is a complex villain. Laced with Russian folklore allusions and deliciously witty banter, Quinn’s tale refreshingly avoids contrived situations while portraying three touching, unpredictable love stories; the suspenseful quest for justice; and the courage involved in confronting one’s greatest fears.
Well-researched and vivid segments are interspersed detailing Nina’s backstory as one of Russia’s sizable force of female combat pilots (dubbed The Night Witches by the Germans), establishing her as a fierce yet vulnerable antecedent to Lisbeth Salander. Quinn’s language is evocative of the period, and her characters are good literary company ... With any luck, the Nazi hunting will go on for a sequel or two.
Though it’s longer than it needs to be, this exciting thriller vividly reveals how people face adversity and sacrifice while chasing justice and retribution.
