No Neutral Ground by Terri Wangard

I really like this World War II series. Wangard's research and attention to detail made this novel enjoyable and informative.

Much of this novel takes place in Sweden, a neutral country during the war. Reading about the conditions there was a very good twist on a war novel. It was a spy game. German agents had infiltrated various places in the country, such as the airports. Americans and other Allies tried to get information useful to the Swedish authorities, perhaps getting some German spies expelled.

Our main female character is Jennie. We meet her on the Queen Mary, converted to a troop ship, as she is on her way to join her parents in Sweden. She's on the payroll of the Office of Strategic Services, having been trained in coding and decoding. When she gets to Sweden, she gets involved in a little more undercover work than she had been expecting.

Some of the action in the novel takes place in England and in the skies over Germany. That's because Jennie meets an American airman on the ship. Rafe had been born in Germany and had taken part in Hitler's youth activities. But then it was discovered that his mother was a Jew. His father refused to leave the country so Rafe's grandfather arranged for their exit. Rafe's mother and siblings had made it to America and now Rafe was in the American military. There are some really good action scenes of Allied bombing runs over Germany.

While I am not usually a fan of war novels, I have really enjoyed this series. Wangard brought my attention to a part of World War II that I had not really considered before. Even though there were “neutral” countries, there was espionage going on in them. Because of its location, American airmen would sometimes end up in the country, unable to fly their damaged bombers all the way back to England. It was very interesting to read about how they were treated once they were there.

I recommend this novel to those who enjoy reading World War II novels that consist of more plot and character development than military action. You will learn about a different aspect of the war and get a little romance too.

I am taking part in a blog tour of this book and you can find other stops on this tour and read a guest post by the author here.

You can read my review of the first novel in this series, Friends and Enemies, here.

My rating: 5/5 stars.

Terri Wangard grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She won the 2013 Writers on the Storm contest and 2013 First Impressions, as well as being a 2012 Genesis finalist. She has a bachelor's degree in history and a master's in library science. She lives in Wisconsin. You can find out more at www.terriwangard.com.

HopeSprings Books, 424 pages. You can purchase the book here.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book through Celebrate Lit for the purpose of an independent and honest review.