Breathtaking, well-written, and captivating WW2 novel seen from the Russian side. Quinn is a mistress with her virtual pen, again!

An interesting, well-written and substantial World War II mystery/thriller.
THE HUNTRESS has received an incredible amount of praise since review copies first went out. I can certainly see why many people gravitated towards it and loved it. The characters are interesting and well-drawn; Quinn's prose is good; and the plot it engaging throughout.

If you're a fan of historical/WW2 fiction, then I think you should enjoy this very much.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn is an engrossing historical thriller set largely in the post World War II period, and focussing on the hunt for a Nazi war criminal whose most contemptible crime was the brutal killing of six young refugee children. The author makes use of several perspectives to weave a complex and tense story, and has created characters that will live long in the memory of the reader, not least of whom is the Huntress herself, a cunning , manipulative and very dangerous woman. On the hunt is Ian Graham, a former war correspondent who has a personal stake finding her and bringing her to justice. Less interested in justice but keen to get revenge is Nina Markova, a Russian woman who escaped poverty and brutality to join an elite squadron of all female fliers , known by their German enemies as "Nachthexen" or Night Witches. Her path crosses that of the Huntress in the middle of a bitter Winter, and not only is she the only known survivor of such an encounter , she managed to scar the Huntress both physically and psychologically. When these two join forces and track their prey to the United States the hunt starts in earnest. Meanwhile seventeen year old Jordan McBride is increasingly suspicious about the soft spoken German woman who has wiggled her way into her father's life, and begins to try to uncover the past that her new stepmother is not just unwilling to talk about ,but actively goes to great lengths to hide.
With that the scene is set and the hunt is on, and the reader is taken on a thrilling chase that will have them hooked to the very last page. Aside from the incredibly engaging story what really hooked me on this book were the wonderful characters the author has created, especially Nina and Jordan. I loved how both of them sought to escape from society's expectations and follow their dreams. The humanity of these characters, their strengths and flaws made them come alive on the page and kept me invested in their stories. I also loved that the author was brave enough to let the reader know from the beginning who the Huntress was, there was no attempt to hide the identity for a " surprise " reveal later in the book, something that I think would have lessened my enjoyment of the book. The skill of the author as a story teller is such that even knowing where the Huntress is hidden the reader is still on tenterhooks awaiting her discovery.
This is a phenomenal work of historical fiction, and it is easily one of the best in the genre that I have read this year,
I read a review copy courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me an ARC in exchange for a review!

The Huntress is a magnificent reading with the action being set in the time of World War II. It is eventful, action-driven, suspenseful and exciting that laces together the need for justice and the desire of romance in hard times.
This book was quintessentially good, in all of the aspects - plot, characters, story, feelings.

This book was fantastic. The story was well developed and I was unable to put the book down, to see what happened.
I think the character development was very well done, Nina is an inspirational woman.
I thought it was so good, I went back and read The Alice Network by the same author. I enjoyed the cameo from that book into this one.

A brilliant novel demonstrating the strength of these fearless women in the hunt to track down a Nazi War criminal. It was very well researched historically and I certainly learned things I didn't know before eg. about the Night Witches. Some parts irritated me a bit (not keen on Romance anyway) but maybe that was realistic under the circumstances. But gripping and suspenseful - a great read - recommended.

Well written story, in fact a page turner. I have not enjoyed a book as much for some time! The content is harrowing, thought provoking and most certainly does not romanticise war crimes. I could not put this down once I had started due to the way it was written, moving between the characters stories. Thoroughly recommended.

Kate Quinn certainly didn’t disappoint me. I’ve loved her previous books so was very much looking forward to reading this. I did find the first half of the book rather slow and tricky to keep tabs on all foreign names and locations etc, but then I was well away and just couldn’t put it down. I connected with all the characters and felt the locations and were very well described. Reading about the Russian female pilots was refreshing and interesting- an angle of war I haven’t read about. I would recommend to anyone who loves books set in this era- stick with it and you will be absolutely rewarded come the end.

When Jordan McBride's father gets remarried Jordan should have been happy but there was something about Annaliese that didn't seem right. When she voices her suspicions she changes her mind and even after her father's death she stays with her stepmother and stepsister in Boston. Meanwhile two Nazi hunters are searching for 'The Huntress', a cold-blooded killer who murdered the brother of one. Accompanied by a wild Russian aviatrix the pair follow a lead and end up in Boston. Can they corner their prey?
This should be a great book. The premise of a Nazi sympathiser hiding in Boston after the war is great and the backstory of the 'Huntress' is great. however the writing feels very leaden at times and I did not warm to the characters. Jordan feels colourless and Nadia overwritten. It's not a bad book, there's still a great plot but it didn't grab me as it should.

Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this compelling book. Loved it from start to finish. Kate Quinn entwines three unforgettable stories into a tale about finding strength when facing seemingly insurmountable odds.

This is a hard hitting read in many ways. It is written from a few points of view and timelines which eventually converge. Interestingly I found myself looking forward to the sections told by the step daughter and not enjoying the historical narrative at all. I struggled to keep going half way through but wanted to know the outcome so thankfully persevered. I have to admit that I didn't find the character of the 'Huntress' that believable and certainly had little sympathy in her direction. Overall, for me, a somewhat confusing read; hence the rating.

Brilliantly written book about WW2 and the aftermath. A history lesson which will grip you. Fantastic!!

Complex and riveting at same time , this is an ambitious achievement. We sense that the various points of view must weave together .. and apart from sometimes wondering about chemistry (between Nina and Ian), it works in earth shattering ways. I learned about history too in WW2 period .. the group of female bombers who were effective. That women can wield prowess and machinery even of war is a mixed lesson but interesting .. the huntress who we also track at least from outside c aftet that first interior explanation,
seems to be hiding in plain sight and early on when her potential daughter in law senses something in her eyes, we are tipped off .. really deftly done , good reading and convincing characters .. blown away! Highly recommend

Wow what a book! The Huntress has been my standout book from 2019, I was enthralled from start to finish. I loved the storyline and how it was told from different view points. I can't wait to read further work by Kate Quinn.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC

I really enjoyed this book. Set mainly in 1950, there are flashbacks to events during World War II including informative descriptions of the all female bomber squadrons of the Red Army. I had no idea that these even existed!
The main storyline follows the efforts of Ian, Tony and Nina to track down The Huntress, a nazi who murdered several children and Ian's brother.
Well researched and well written.
My thanks to netgalley, the author and publisher for this copy.

The Huntress Kate Quinn

This is conundrum of a story, but don’t let that put you off.

Four stories in one, all set in different time periods, all integral to the main story, and all charging to a brilliant conclusion.

During the war.

The Huntress. A killer, a woman working for, or in sympathy, with the German SS during World War Two. A woman who has escaped the war crimes hearings in Nuremberg.

Nina Markov. A Russian woman with a passion for flying. One of Stalin’s famous Night Witches. A woman with a very good reason for finding the Huntress.

After the war

Ian and Tony, two men who specialise in finding war criminals and bringing them to trial, but one woman is right at the top of Ian’s list. The Huntress was responsible for killing his brother, and he wants to see her face her crimes.

Jordan McBride. A young woman in America dreaming of becoming a photographer covering wars around the world. Her father, a widow has a new woman in his life, Anneliese, a woman that Jordan is convinced is a not telling the truth about her past.

This story is magnificent in the way it is told. The storylines of all of the main characters interweave from start to finish. The way the author establishes the crimes committed by the Huntress during the war is clever.

Introducing Nina as one of the famous Night Witches of the Soviet Aviation Group 122 is perfect for the story. I thought I was good on my Second World War history, but I’d never heard of this group. A quick Google search led me down an internet wormhole that lasted for hours whilst I read about this extraordinary group of woman.

Tony’s story, and the story about the tracking down of the illusive Huntress after the war, is the main backbone of the book and it is one of those tales which has you reading well into the night.

But will you guess the end of the story? Is everybody who they appear to be? Are the allegiances that are formed all they seem to be. Will the Huntress get caught?

There’s only one way to find out. Read the book, and I have to say it’s up there in my best books read this year.

Pages: 560
Publisher: Harper Collins
Available now.

Stories from the war are not my thing at all but oh how I loved this book. A beautifully written and lengthy tale told from three different perspectives, Nina, a Russian peasant with a ruthless streak and seemingly unattainable dreams. Ian, an English war journalist who now post-war, hunts Nazi war criminals from an office in Vienna and Jordan, a teenage girl growing up in late 1940’s Boston with her widowed father. Jordan’s father quickly becomes smitten with a new lady who becomes Jordan’s stepmother before she has a chance to really get to know her. Suspicions are aroused and before long Jordan has many reasons to doubt this woman. Is she really a Nazi? Or has the imaginative teenager got her wires well and truly crossed? Kate Quinn’s writing is impeccable as the reader imagines the bitterly cold of Siberia, the vast emptiness and scarce food sources, the tension, fear and exhilaration of flying war planes and the tension and fear of wondering if you are sharing your home with a Nazi war criminal.
Such imaginative and descriptive historic writing that stays with you long after the book is finished. Gripping and full of well researched facts that enhance the story but it’s the strong, clever and interesting characters that bring the whole story to life.
Thanks to NetGalley for the copy for review.

Brilliant read! Gripping, with tension that slowly, slowly ramps up. I could not put this down, I was desperate to find out what would happen!
With female Russian bombers, Nazi hunters and a woman who does not want to be found, this is one exciting read! Characters you can empathise with, and others who are truly chilling, all combined with a fascinating story make this book truly enthralling. Highly recommended!

WWII historical fiction is one of my absolute favorite subgenres, so it is easy to say that between the glowing reviews and the bonus of a favorite genre I had extremely high expectations for this story. It's the first time I read one of Kate Quinn's books (I have The Alice Network high on my TBR though), and I was definitely blown away by what I found. My expectations were more than met and I have found a new favorite story as well as author. Say hello to one of my 2019 top reads!

With its 560 pages, there is so much going on in The Huntress that I'm having a hard time figuring out where to start with my review. For lack of better ideas, I've decided to keep it simple and start with the historical setting. Due to the complexity of this story, we have three different storylines, POVs and thus three different historical settings to discuss... The one I found most striking was Nina's POV, as we don't often see a focus on the Russian side of the war, let alone learn more about female Russian pilots and everything related to their role in the war. We see Nina evolve as she grows up in inhospitable Siberia and wants to follow her dream to conquer the sky... The descriptions of the different places in Russia are simply fantastic, and the same goes for the incorporation of historical facts about the female pilot division and everything that relates to the Night Witches, the bombings and other things happening during the war. And I have to say that Nina's POV alone already made me want to hand out the full 5 stars for this story.

To contrast this rather intense storyline, we have the milder POV set in postwar Boston with Jordan in the lead. This is a story of a young woman with a passion for photography, dreaming about a seemingly unreachable exciting life but instead being pushed to tie the knot with her boyfriend and take over her father's business in the future. This storyline is also focused on family and has that whole 'possibly evil' stepmother vibe... It was really interesting to see both this storyline and Jordan's character evolve over time and slowly merge with the third POV: Ian. Ian Graham is a British war correspondent who is determined to hunt down as many Nazi members as possible after the war with the help of his colleague Tony. Their journey starts in Austria as they decide to track down the infamous 'huntress', and here comes Nina in play as well as the only witness who saw the woman and survived.

At this point in the story we don't know about Nina's past yet, and it was fascinating to see how all different storylines slowly evolve as the hunt continues and brings them to different places and closer to the final so-called reckoning. I especially liked how we only learned about Nina's past in small doses, absorbing those final details just before the story reaches its climax. The three different storylines and POVs are woven together in the most expert way and basically give you three different high quality stories to follow all wrapped together into one brilliant masterpiece. I'm not lying when I say that this is without doubt one of the best WWII inspired historical fiction stories I've read to this date, and I'm not taking those words lightly... The Huntress left me lost for words.

I don't want to talk too much about the plot as I don't want to give away any spoilers, but what I can say is that between the complex and rich plot, the writing, the different characters, historical references and settings, there is a lot to love in The Huntress. While the pace might be slower in points, the story also has moments of speed (especially in Nina's POV) and you will have to prepare yourself for a healthy dose of surprises in the plot. The writing is simply beautiful and draws you right in, and I loved the use of foreign words here and there. The character development is also sublime, and I loved how the different storylines slowly came together until the full picture is finally revealed as you fit the last piece of the puzzle. Most of the characters are so easy to like as well, partly because of their flaws and realistic development, partly because of their charms. Especially Nina stood out for me (I loved her bluntness), but it was great to follow Ian and Jordan as well. Even the 'huntress' was a fascinating and well developed character, though of course she can never be called likeable.

As you might have guessed, there is a lot to love in The Huntress and I can highly highly recommend it to anyone who loves WWII historical fiction as much as I do. Between an unique, complex and rich plot, beautiful writing, fascinating characters, detailed descriptions that really make the historical settings come alive and a healthy dose of secrets and surprises, you will find yourself having a hard time picking what exactly your favorite element of this story is.

A really thought provoking, moving book. A wonderful historical fiction with a story based on the real life Night Witches - brave Russian women who took to the air during WW2. Then post war the disturbing searches for Nazi war criminals. I loved this story that follows three characters - a journalist, the russian pilot and a young girl living in Boston. Throw in a war criminal and it leads to a gripping story of bravery, deceit and family tragedies. Highly recommended.