Sunday, June 6, 2010

The Swiss Courier, by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey

Swiss Courier, The: A Novel


Gabi Mueller is a young girl living in Switzerland, with a Swiss mother and and American father, secretly working for the Office of Strategic Services.  After realizing that no one can be trusted, and nothing is as it seems, she is given a very dangerous mission, to act as a courier to transport precious cargo in the form of Joseph Engel.  Engel is a German scientist who was born to Jewish parents, and is now wanted by the Gestapo.  Gabi must make sure she gets him out of enemy territory, but will she be able to save him?  And how will she know who to trust along the way?

I tend to be fascinated by anything set during World War II, so I was excited when I started reading this book.  Unfortunately, it was not really what I expected.  I found the plot to be slow, and hard to follow in the beginning.  A lot of time what used setting up the situation with Gabi, showing who she could and could not trust, and while I understood that, at times it plodded along.  Also, the dialogue often slipped into German, with no translation.  As a reader who does not speak German, I found this frustrating, and was not sure what purpose it served other than to show off the foreign language skills of the author.

Once the story really got rolling, I was more interested in the book.  However, I felt that some of the information at the end was just thrown away.  For example, Gabi is following the orders of two higher agents, Pascal and Jean-Pierre.  When their identities were revealed, it was very anticlimactic.  I did enjoy the substory of Gabi's romantic interests, and watching her grow in that aspect. 

I think that this book would be very appealing to readers who enjoy stories of espionage.  Fans of authors like Ian Flemming would love this, especially fans looking for something with more action and less sexuality.  Since this is a Christian book, that is exactly what you get, lots of action in the espionage arena.  If you enjoy books set in this era with more character driven or romantic story lines, I am not sure this would be a good fit for you, and would instead recommend Queen of Hearts by K Dawn Byrd.


8 comments:

  1. Tiffany: As the co-author, I want to say thanks for your review of "The Swiss Courier," and while you found our novel slow and bit confusing, I do appreciate that you hung with it to the end. We were gratified to learn that "The Swiss Courier" was nominated for a Christy award for Historical Fiction, so we'll see what happens. We think there are a lot of plot twists, and readers have been telling us that we've been keeping them up late to finish the last 50 pages. Anyway, we appreciate your insights. Mike Yorkey

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  2. Mike,
    I do think this was a good book, I just do not think I was the intended target audience :) As I mentioned, espionage fans, and military or historical drama fans would love this book.

    Best of luck with the award, and I will be interested to read more of your work in the future!

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  3. Hi! I am a new follower from Tag Along Tuesday, and I LOVE to read!! I belong to a book club, and we are always looking for good suggestions!

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  4. A lot of times, if I think a book is good for discussion in book groups, I will mention that in my review!

    Do you have a blog as well, so that I can check it out? If not, maybe you can start a blog about book clubs, because I would love to start one, but do not know how, and could use advice!

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  5. Hi there...stopping by from New Friend Friday!!! =) I love reading also, although I don't get as much time as I'd like!! I'll have to stop back soon!

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  6. Hi there...stopping by from New Friend Friday!!! =) I love reading also, although I don't get as much time as I'd like!! I'll have to stop back soon!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi there...stopping by from New Friend Friday!!! =) I love reading also, although I don't get as much time as I'd like!! I'll have to stop back soon!

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  8. I'm your newest follower from Follow Me Fridays. I always like reading a book that someone has recommended, rather than just going into it 'cold.' THANKS.

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