RATING: GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
Clara is invited to one of Hitler’s film sessions. There is a very tense moment because she intends to kill Hitler after the newsreel, but then Hitler decides not to watch the film. Clara then overhears him say about working with the Russians. That is why she leaves the place to send a message to the unit. On the way to the bar where she can deposit her message – a coded number -, she dumps the gun in a bin. Then she is arrested by the Gestapo, and she spends most of the night in a cell. When she is questioned, the officer reveals – unkindly – that the piece of paper with the code was found, and Clara says that she has no idea and it could be a phone number that a fan must have left her in her pocket. A senior officer appears, and Clara identifies him as someone she saw in London. When the senior officer tells the other one to bring Clara’s jacket, and when he is gone, the senior officer whispers that he is going to try to get her out. It means that he is an infiltrated agent. When the other officer returns, he says that they have been fools and the number is simply a combination of the lottery ticket.
When Clara leaves, she doesn’t know where to go as she now knows that she is in the Gestapo’s sights. However, she decides to go to her old apartment. Before she gets there, she is intercepted by Adler, who tells her that she is crazy to even think of looking for shelter there when the Gestapo is after her. Adler takes her to her luxurious house, and there he says that he didn’t report her. What he reveals is that in his job for Heydrich, he has been assigned to report the British citizens that are against the regime. One of the names is Angela, Clara’s sister, but Clara can’t believe her because her sister is a member of the German-British fellowship. Adler, though, argues that Angela helps Jews flee and her sympathies for the Nazis is just a facade. Then Adler proposes something to Clara: she should marry him and that way she can protect herself and her sister. Clara is taken aback and feels miffed, but as Adler insists and fights his corner, Clara realises that it will be an easy solution but she still has to think about it.
In the meantime Jochen tells Hedwig about her underhand activities to fight the Nazis, and he wants her to do something. Hedwig wonders if Jochen has ever loved her or if he simply got together with her because she was in the Beauty and Health Society. Jochen admits that at first his friend told him that Hedwig could be useful for them, but when he met her, he really fell for her. What Jochen wants is to hide some anti-Nazi pamphlets in the building where she will dance for Goering and the Prince of Yugoslavia, so Sophie can use them that night. Hedwig is terrified but she agrees to do it. When Jochen says that he might have to leave because the Gestapo might have discovered him, Hedwig says that she will go with him, and Jochen asks her to get her a gun.
The night of Goering’s party for the Prince of Yugoslavia, Clara attends. During the dinner there is a uproar when the violinist, Sophie, throws some pamphlets and she is arrested. Clara feels upset, thinking about what the Gestapo will do to the young woman. Feeling dizzy, she goes to the balcony, and her friend, the German-Russian actress, Olga Chekhova. Olga says that she is seen as suspicious both in Germany and Russia, and she says that it is true that her brother is with the Russians, but she has no connections to him. What Olga wants to tell Clara is to be careful because a few days ago she saw her with a man who she knows is with the Russians.
When Clara returns home, she is not surprised to see Hugh, the journalist, waiting for him. He is the charming man who is in association with the Russians, and he is the one who reported her to the Gestapo. Clara realises that he is also the man who Lottie met in London and who killed her. Hugh admits the truth, and when she accuses of killing Lottie, he says that Lottie stole something from him: a book. It is the only copy of Germania that Hugh that Hugh got hold of. Hugh is sarcastic and bitter, and as he points his gun, Clara knows that she is going to do. But after hearing the shot, she opens her eyes to find Hugh staggering and falling dead. Behind her Hedwig appears; he has killed Hugh. I found this part a bit far-fetched and opportunistic. Having Hedgwig appear with a gun at Clara’s home just in time to prevent Clara from being killed was too much.
Hedwig and Clara dump Hugh’s body in the lake, and when Clara tells her about the book, Germania, Hedwign knows where it is. So she goes to see Hyva, the photographer that Lottie often used to be photographed, and the woman says that Lottie did leave something with her. When Lottie died, Hyva knew what the book was, so she simply left it to rot in a forest.
In the last chapter Clara is watching a magnificent scene for the film “Germania”, she spots a man who she seems to think is Leo. The man is being chased by the police, and she finally realises that it is Leo. The police’s progress is interrupted by a raid drill, and Clara thinks that Leo might have gone to the underground. She sees him there and leads him to an underground shelter that is being built, and there they hug and kiss. Leo says that there was a problem in Austria and now he is a wanted man, but he needed to know that she was okay. What Leo wants is for Clara to leave for England. There is a man who is willing to help him, but he wants her to take his place. Clara refuses, saying that he is in a more dangerous position than she is, and she needs to see Einrich one last time before she leaves. In the end, Leo agrees, and they part their ways, promising to see each other soon.
This was not the best Clara Vine book in the series. I found some parts difficult to believe. Clara’s luck is really put to the test too many times.
My Reading Journal 