"But where was there to go in this world that had taken everything she loved? This world of hunting wolves. She used to be the hunter, and now she was the prey."
-from the Prologue of the novel
After reading The Alice Network and enjoying it very much, I saw that the author had written a more recent novel, this one, The Huntress. It was another engrossing historical fiction.
The author weaves 3 stories into one. All take place before, during or after WWII. Jordan McBride is introduced first, age 17 in 1946, and an aspiring photographer in Boston. Ian Graham is living in Cologne, Germany, 1950, when the reader first meets him. He is a British war correspondent who carries some emotional wounds from the traumas he's seen and is working at tracking down Nazi war criminals, along with his American partner, Tony Rodomovsky. Nina Markova's story begins in Siberia before the war and continues into it as she becomes a Russian pilot and a member of the all-female night bomber regiment feared by the Germans who called them Night Witches.
Lastly, die Jagerin, the Huntress, is our antagonist. She is a Nazi guilty of heinous crimes who has, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. Both Ian and Nina have intense personal reasons to want her caught and punished. So the Huntress becomes the hunted, as the quote intimates.
Nina was maybe the most interesting character to me, with her misunderstanding of English and curses in Russian, she adds some humor to a serious story. She rose above a tragic family life and developed a passion for flying. She was fearless (except for one admitted fear, which I will keep to myself) and tenacious in a loveable sort of way. She reminded me of the women of the Alice Network.
Ms. Quinn provides much insight in the Author's Note where she describes her research (considerable!) and which characters are actual historical figures and who the fictional characters were based on. I found it fascinating.
My only complaint about the book is that many sections divided between Jordan, Ian and Nina end with cliffhangers, making you want to know more immediately but you must wait through the next two sections to find out what happened! Frustrating but making for a real page-turner! I will rate The Huntress a 5, an exciting and entertaining read!
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