Assignment in Brittany

by Helen Macinnes

Paperback, 1983

Status

Available

Genres

Mystery

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Fawcett (1983), Paperback

Description

Fiction. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML: He stared at the unfamiliar watch on his wrist. Three hours ago he had stood on English soil. Three hours ago he had been Martin Hearne, British Intelligence agent. Now he was in Nazi-occupied Brittany, posing as Bertrand Corlay, with the Frenchman's life reduced to headings in his memory. Hearne looked down at the faded uniform which had once been Corlay's, felt once more for the papers in the inside pocket. He was ready. From now on he was one step away from death... The Queen of Spy Writers returns in a stunning series collecting all of her greatest works! Titan kicks off with Assignment in Brittany; the gripping tale of an undercover operative deep in Nazi-occupied France..

User reviews

LibraryThing member Veeralpadhiar

A very down to earth but yet a very taut thriller. No flashy action scenes, just good ol' shrewdness behind enemy occupied territory.

And I liked the end as well.

In my opinion, Helen MacInnes deserves to be among the suspense and thriller greats like Christie, MacLean and Innes.

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LibraryThing member Ant.Harrison

I enjoy the relatively slow pace of the Helen MacInnes novels; some may say they are old-fashioned, but for me, this is part of the pleasure, as it makes her characters more well-rounded.

The French war time settings were well realised and the basic subject matter (allied agent parachuted into

northern France in the first year of WWII) is fertile ground for the development of an exciting story. But my main quibble, which prevented me from really enjoying it is that we are expected to believe that a complete British stranger could impersonate a well-respected local farmer, and get away with it. He even lives with the man's family, including his mother, and arouses no suspicion. This got in the way, and I couldn't ever believe in the story.

© Koplowitz 2011

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LibraryThing member jeffome

An OK book, but not a great book. [This is the time of year that my reading time is dramatically reduced, and it takes forever and a day to get thru one....and that may have impacted my rating.....it is hard to connect with a story deeply at 2-3-pages a day if i am lucky!]

Interesting tale of a

British spy in the late 1930's, who just so happens to be a doppelganger for an injured French soldier in British custody.....and this poor bloke gets to 'go home' as the injured soldier in an attempt to report back from Nazi occupied Brittany as to what was going on. To fool your neighbors may not be too challenging, but your mother??? and your fiance???....potentially unnerving stuff...and the situations occasionally made me nervous for him. But as seems always the case, a wee-bit too much sappy love-story interjects itself into what is an interesting concept, and knocks down my interest level. Needless to say, the inside look at life in occupied France at that time was intriguing and is hard to fathom what that must feel like when your town & homes are overrun by enemies, and i appreciated the window into that horror.

And of course, my ultimate pet peeve, my cover, showing 2 cowering lovers hiding behind a beached boat never happened in the book!!! GRRRR!!! Although there was a beach scene, there were far more interesting parts of the book that to me would be much more cover-worthy....but alas, damsels in distress must sell books. I will certainly continue my extensive shelf of MacInnes books....but this was not my favorite.

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LibraryThing member AliceAnna

A good old school mystery! A little suspension of disbelief is required, but otherwise, it's a good solid read with engaging characters, a compelling plot and nice pacing.

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