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Jump to navigationJump to searchOrphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen (view source)
Revision as of 11:25, 8 January 2018
, 11:25, 8 January 2018no edit summary
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Teens
|summary=Fabulous WWII thriller in which a young Jewish girl infiltrates a girl's school filled with daughters of the Reich. Unforgettable central character and packed with historical detail.
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
The whole book is gripping in this way. It's tense throughout as the reader sees through Sarah's eyes and joins her in constant evaluations of what's going on - where's the escape route? Why is this person asking this question? Do they suspect? What's my correct response? Is there a detail I'm missing? And Sarah is just ''fantastic''. She does all this as though it is second nature - and by this time, it is. Sarah has had several years of negotiating an increasingly hostile German society as a Jewish girl. And of coping with unstable and unpredictable adults as the daughter of an alcoholic. What's wonderful about Sarah is the acerbic wit she has maintained through all of this strife. She has a wonderful relationship with the Captain in which she gives as good as she takes.
But this story isn't ''all'' about Sarah, fantastic as Sarah is. The historical detail is superb and woven deeply into the narrative. The supporting cast comes to you fully-fleshed and interesting - from the conflicted Captain, through the snarky Polish nurse who comes up trumps, to the pliant but resilient Mouse, trying to find her own way through an uncompromising Reich. Real life nuclear physicist Lise Meitner also gets a cameo role and I hope readers make the effort to look her up after reading - an element is named after her as a kind of consolation prize for having been overlooked for the Nobel prize in favour of her collaborator Otto Hahn - a man. And this brings me to the underlying feminist message in ''Orphan Monster Spy''. Yes, Sarah is a kick ass heroine but this book isn't superficial about it. Sarah is more than just a good action scene. She is funny and clever and resourceful and she gets the better of all the men she meets - even the Captain, who is on her side. And, in their own ways, so do other female characters in this story - Elsa, the girl Sarah has been sent to befriend; the nurse; Mouse; even Sarah's own mother in the end.
In case you hadn't guessed, I loved ''Orphan Monster Spy'' and I think you should read it. I hope there is another book planned about Sarah and the Captain, because I'd be first in line for a copy.
