Stephanie Sullivan: Review - The Diamond Eye

TITLE: The Diamond Eye (audiobook)

RATING: ★★★★

Summary (from Goodreads): In the snowbound city of Kiev, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son - but Hitler’s invasion of Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper - a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her 300th kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.

Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC - until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila’s past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons and enemy bullets in the deadliest duel of her life.

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a mother who became a soldier, of a woman who found her place in the world and changed the course of history forever.

REVIEW: Another amazing book by Kate Quinn! The fact that this story is about a female sniper intrigued me more than anything, and I loved getting to know Mila Pavlichenko, the real-life Russian sniper the book is based on. But before I delve more into my review, I feel like I should get a disclaimer out of the way first, so here goes. If you're triggered by graphic details of war and death, then this probably isn't the book for you. I want to also note that it's clearly stated in the description this book is about a SNIPER, which basically equals death. So, yeah...just don't read it if that bothers you. Mila's one badass heroine in this story, and I admired her courage and bravery in the face of war and many other tragedies. It's always evident how Kate Quinn does a ton of research for her books, and I appreciate that, as a reader and as a learner. You get a little bit of everything with this story - suspense, romance, humor, revenge - just to name a few. I lost count of the many times I oohed, ahhed, gasped, and cheered while listening to this audiobook. And, of course, I can't end this review without gushing over my favorite narrator, Saskia Maarleveld. As always, she does a FANTASTIC job making each individual character come to life. I can't recommend The Diamond Eye enough, especially if you love historical fiction as much as I do.

2 comments:

SusanOctober 2, 2024 at 1:36 PM
I've been meaning to read this book since it came out and I still haven't managed to. In fact, I haven't read anything by Quinn yet! Thanks for mentioning the audiobook. I'm always looking for good ones with amazing narrators, so this could be perfect for me!