As a reader we are allied with Ruth, who knows nothing more of her mother's past than we do. Ruth and Eva are not a team, and at no point is Ruth complicit with her mother's actions, being continually surprised by her unusual actions and history. As Eva gives her daughter chapter's of her biography to read Ruth learns of her mother's duplicity; does she even know her mother at all? How can she trust her now she knows that she is a spy? The reader gets taken on this journey with Ruth and i felt a genuine empathy with her situation, and the process to which she comes to terms with it is rational and believable.
Still strikingly fascinating to read was Eva's past life as a spy, Boyd gives such incredible detail to the espionage, the mission's significance to WW2 and to the processes Eva has to follow as a spy. He interweaves the kind of secret service war operation that we a think and want to exist. Everyone wants to believe there's a real Bond out there and Boyd's writing is intricate enough for me to believe it could be real.
I ended up reading this book in about 5 hours because i couldn't put it down. Before i went to bed and when i got up in the morning. The switching between Eva's biography and Ruth's reading of it stopped the plot from getting lack-lustre and made it one of those books that's perfect for reading on the tube; short chapters and constant cliff-hangers. There were points of romance (but not too much) and familial obligation that centred the out of this world spy plot in reality, which can sometimes be lacking in crime-thrillers that are too insane to be believed. A definite bed-time or tube-read recommendation.
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