Midnight in Istanbul by Kathryn Gauci

During WWII, resistance operatives were working in Turkey, Greece, and in other locations in the world in an effort to defeat the Nazis and end the horrific deaths happening in the concentration camps. In Turkey, an OSS agent, Caldwell Bey, receives a message to meet a man in secret. The identity of the other party isn’t known, but clearly the man knows that Caldwell is working with the resistance. But when he arrives, no one is there to meet him, and a man has been murdered. But the question remains, who was murdered and which side was the murderer on. Was Caldwell the intended victim? Has the resistance been compromised?

I received a review copy of this book, and while I did enjoy the story, I do have to admit that it was not one of my favorites by this author. To me, it felt too disconnected from the rest of the war, and I kept wondering who had committed the murder and why. And while we do learn the identity of the dead man, I’m not entirely certain how it all tied in together.

There is a great deal of the local culture and the wartime atmosphere shown in this book. We see the relationship of Caldwell and another member of the resistance while he is on assignment. A fair amount of the story does involve the relationship between the two of them and their differing assignments while in Turkey.

I kept waiting for something that tied the whole thing together in my mind, and while I did truly enjoy the story, when it ended I felt like I must have missed something important. Perhaps the point of this one was to focus on the daily lives of those in the resistance, but the fact that I’m still not certain if I missed something important or not has left me confused. I normally truly enjoy the books by this author, but honestly, this one left me wanting something more. I’m just not entirely certain what.

But as always, one of the most interesting parts of Ms. Gauci’s books for me involves what we learn after the end of the story. It is the part of the book where she fills us in on the historical research that she completed in order to write this story. We get to learn about what life was like in Turkey during the war. It was a country that claimed neutrality during the war, but in which members of both sides of the war played a part. So when you read this book, be sure to read the information at the end of the story. As always, I think it is one of the best parts of Ms. Gauci’s stories.

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