The United States is on the cusp of entering World War II. Anti-German feelings are running thick amongst the country--as well as the Boston Navy Yard. Quiet but gutsy secretary Mary Stirling uses her shorthand and love of Nancy Drew to piece together clues surrounding possible sabotage to a brand new ship being built at the Navy yard. With a large number of suspects and a mystery at hand, Mary finds help and an ally in Ensign Jim Avery. Can Jim and Mary help catch the saboteur? Can they learn how to overcome pride and to not be content with wherever the waves take them--and risk career, life AND falling in love along the way?
This is the first novel I've read by Sarah Sundin...She can definitely pack a lot of historical detail and mystery into a novel! As I said, the storyline is set on the brink of the US involvement in WWII. Most all chapter headings include a date, so you can track progress. Sundin provides much detail to the historical events and I did check some for accuracy and the ones I checked were correct. However, on the flip to that, there was some explanation that read a bit like a history book or there were times when it almost felt like the author assumed you knew the role of what the Axis and Allied powers were doing at the time. I literally had to read-up on the time period to get a handle on things. Not something I really want to do when reading a novel...That being said, there was a lot of naval jargon as well. Some of the battle scenes or military maneuver scenes bogged me down in the lingo. Same with the ship jargon. I mentioned in a previous review of another book, that maybe give a diagram or something for those of us he don't know Aft from Starboard. And for this novel (or next) possibly preface the novel with a brief "history lesson"? I would have found those things helpful.
As far as the plot...wow! Very involved and lots of thought went into it. I was guessing well into the book "who done it". However, there were a lot of characters to keep track of and I found myself getting characters mixed up. However, the characters of Jim and Mary did seem developed fairly well. Besides the actual plot, the subplot of Jim and Mary working through things in their past was a nice change. Add to that their budding romance and I just had to keep reading to see how it all worked out.
Overall, I would give this a 3.75 stars. Some of the jargon was a little daunting and the history lessons were daunting as well.
(I was given this book for free by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
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