The Girl from Berlin: Gruppenführer's Mistress

I’ve been a fan of this author’s writing for some time now, and have read several of her historical dramas set during World War II. The tales are always very well researched, which helps the era to come alive on every page. And her dramas and characters always engaging. That said, I think this might be my new favorite. Quicker than ever I got swept away in the dangerous game our heroine was playing and her motivations for doing it. The odds of her surviving unscathed were infinitesimally low. She’s playing at espionage games for the American government, while pretending to be a devout and loyal German, and she’s clearly not professionally trained for the job. These are the kinds of activities that get the professionals killed, so what chance did she have, really? She’s leaning on one of the most dangerous men in the Gestapo for assistance with seeking a vengeance murder for her brother’s death, and the ensuing fall out of that. Meanwhile she’s on assignment for the Americans, who have their own agenda, and she’s trying to pussyfoot around her husband who watches her every move. The plot is devilishly fun and engaging, and I suspect would be so played out in almost any historical context. But played out during Nazi Germany, it just adds a bit of poignancy to the tale.

Highly recommended, though I suspect you should start with the first installment of the series.

I am going to write one review for the three novels in this series. I am also going to give some spoilers so heads up! I cannot believe that I continued reading this series! It was like rubbernecking a really bad accident! Naive stupid Jewish girl Annalise marries her father's friend (20 plus years her senior) and becomes an agent for the OSS because her husband Heinrich is an agent. She then becomes the secretary to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, one of the vilest humans to ever walk the face of the earth. Kaltenbrunner goes on to rape Annalise who ends up becoming his mistress and they fall in love. Luke and Laura anyone? This storyline was beyond preposterous! I liked Heinrich at the beginning of the novels but he ends up becoming an emasculated loser who tolerates his wife carrying on an affair and eventually getting pregnant by her narcissistic lover and then raising the kid. This wouldn't be so bad and one could consider him noble except that Annalise pines away her life for this waste of human life who the author wants us to believe is just a misunderstood man caught in a situation not of his own making. Annalise is shallow. The dialogue is banal. The ridiculousness of the whole situation is beyond comprehension. The whole idea of the good girl falling for the bad boy is sickening. Kaltenbrunner was more than just a bad boy. He was an evil, horrible, immoral villain. There were many other "events" in the story line but I can't justify going into them. I thought that each book in the series got worse. I read a lot of WW II fiction. There are much better authors and stories. I found this author because I previously read her books Metropolis and Spies which take place pre -war and were really very good. I am going to post this under all three novels in hopes of saving someone from having to endure the trilogy.

NOT WORTH THE PAPER IT WAS PRINTED ON!
Can hardly be called historical fiction since the historical content of this book is virtually non-existent, kind of on a grade school level. The heroine is plain stupid, so is her father for revealing the family secret to an eleven year old girl,, and a lot of the other characters are just not believable. I just kept shaking my head as I kept reading, telling myself it has to get better with all the positive feedback posted on Amazon, but, alas it did not. Plus, if you do translate foreign languages at least make the effort to get the translation and the spelling correct. Not everybody speaks only English. How this book got even one 5 Star rating is beyond me. The only positive thing I have to say is that the plot was actually interesting, however, the author just could not deliver. It reads like a Harlequin romance novel somehow displaced into Nazi Germany. There are many much better WW II books out there.

Needs better editing. Lots of grammatical errors.

Picking up from the first book in this series, two of the main characters, Annalise and her husband Heindrich, deepen their anti-government work and by doing so, learn valuable lessons: how making the choice to kill to protect one’s own family can take its toll, and following the edict, “For the better good” can have some unexpected consequences.

But to me, this book is ultimately a portrayal of a woman’s attraction to her boss, someone she herself readily calls “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Why is she so forgiving of and drawn to such a sweet-one-moment/vicious-the-next man? That leads us to the age-old question: why do certain women get involved with men they shouldn’t?

Ms. Midwood presents this quandary extremely well. Her slow buildup of Annalise’s feelings—her excuses, her anger/indignation, her softening, her guilt, her physical stimulation is so well done, once again, the pages were turning—nay, flipping by—as I HAD to find out more, all the way to the book’s cliff-hanging end. Well, all I can say is . . . now it’s on to the series’ third book!

War, spies, espionage, international intrigue, and romance—‘The Girl from Berlin: Gruppenführer's Mistress’' provides everything an avid suspense reader could want. As far as thrillers go, it's up there at the top of my list.

I'm a sucker for WWII stories. I don't know what it is, but that era fascinates me. This is the second Ellie Midwood book I've read staged during this time period and I felt myself drawn in from the first paragraph. It takes up exactly where the first one left off, following Annalise's story as she carefully negotiates her way through love and war.

As an author, Ellie Midwood has that magical ability to create the kind of suspense that causes the reader to turn pages rapidly. Each chapter left me cliffhanging, and as the plot rose to a crescendo, it finally took me, completely off guard, to an unexpected ending.

In a world gone, there are few options for someone like Annieliese. So beautiful a character, I was completely engrossed in her story. Excellent read from beginning. Couldn't put it down

Oh good lord, where do I start? Lol. This is truly a love triangle in every sense of the word in this book. I'm so mad at the author right now but I HAVE to read the next book. Ugh.. And that's said with all the love I have for this series.

Enjoyed reading it

I can't wait to see how this series is brought to completion! I've enjoyed reading all the plots Ms. Midwood created for the characters and it's made me want to research them to see if she portrayed them as they were in real life. Book three here I come with anticipation!