Review: Code Name: Lise

Code Name: Lise by Larry Loftis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A real-life spy story that includes the details and the failures as much as the adventure. In fact, if you look at how the story goes, (view spoiler)[ our spies are captured and deal with imprisonment for almost half of the book. Given that the book begins with the work of convincing Odette and her training, there isn’t all that much “spy adventure” included. It’s more a “love and torture” book. The author somewhat dispels the idea that a spy leads a life of intrigue given the difficult situation faced by our hero. I learned quite a bit by reading this, including about how Allied spies in France operated and how often they were discovered and captured. Spying looks to have been as short-lived a role as early fighter pilots. (hide spoiler)]

The writing reminded me of the youth non-fiction books I would read from the elementary school library, a simple style. The author ended each chapter with a kind of “perils of Pauline” cliff hanger statement. I was hoping for something more refined. Overall, an interesting story, though not what I was expecting, and written in too simple a style. Perhaps this would have been better broken up into 3 books: a love story, a spycraft story, and a separate story of the imprisonment.


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