In June of 1940, when Paris fell to the Nazis, Hitler spent a total of three hours in the City of Light—abruptly leaving, never to return. To this day, no one knows why. Kate Rees, a young American markswoman, has been recruited by British intelligence to drop into Paris with a dangerous assignment: assassinate the Führer. Wrecked by grief after a Luftwaffe bombing killed her husband and infant … husband and infant daughter, she is armed with a rifle, a vendetta, and a fierce resolve. But other than rushed and rudimentary instruction, she has no formal spy training. Thrust into the red-hot center of the war, a country girl from rural Oregon finds herself holding the fate of the world in her hands. When Kate misses her mark and the plan unravels, Kate is on the run for her life—all the time wrestling with the suspicion that the whole operation was a set-up.
New York Times bestselling author Cara Black is at her best as she brings Occupation-era France to vivid life in this masterful, pulse-pounding story about one young woman with the temerity—and drive—to take on Hitler himself.
*Features an illustrated map of 1940s Paris as full color endpapers.
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This book takes Cara to a whole new level. You won’t breathe until you have finished
A wonderful mystery and adventure with an American sharpshooter sent to Paris by the British secret service during WWII. She has a slim window to do one thing: assassinate Adolf Hitler. But when the plans unravel, she–by luck and by chance–stumbles into greater stakes as she works desperately to escape the single minded German detective Hitler has tasked with finding her. Really a fun read and a great page turner.
“What if…” is the classic question writers ask as they begin to work on a story. “What if…” British intelligence sends an American woman to Paris to kill Hitler, and it all goes wrong. That’s the premise of Cara Black’s “Three Hours in Paris” — the title refers to Hitler’s single visit to occupied Paris, in June 1940 — a fast-paced rip of a story. There’s sharp-shooting, grief, the Resistance, unexpected obstacles, loyalty and betrayal and determination — everything a suspenseful thriller should have. Plus, Paris.
What if you read it? I think you’d be caught up in a heck of a good story.
Cara Black is known for her New York Times bestselling Aimée Leduc mystery series set in the City of Lights, but the new book is a departure. Set in Paris—of course—only days after the German occupation at the beginning of World War II, the story is a breathless race against time and the Third Reich. Cara’s already among the finest writers in our genre, but her star is sure to shine even brighter with this astonishing new offering.
Cara Black is best known for her popular Aimee Leduc investigative series set in Paris. This is her first historical fiction and first stand alone novel. She did extensive research to make this book realistic and it shows in every page. She got the idea for this book based on the three hours that Hitler spend in Paris in 1940. After that she created an entirely fictional story with a main character that will be long remembered and a plot that keeps you turning pages to learn the fate of the main character.
Kate Rees is an American who learned to shoot when she grew up on a ranch in Oregon. As the story begins, she lives in England with her husband and daughter. When a tragedy occurs, she is distraught and not sure if her life is worth living. She is recruited by British intelligence and sent on a dangerous mission. They knew that Hitler was going to visit Paris and her assignment was to assassinate him. She misses her shot because she knows she will hurt a young girl standing next to him. When his intelligent officers realize that a shot has been fired at their leader, they begin a deep search for the shooter and Kate’s life is in extreme danger. With minimal training, she manages to stay one step ahead of the people who are looking for her but will her luck continue as she begins to wonder if the entire mission was a set up to divert attention.
This is a fast paced novel with a lot of tension as the Germans play a cat and mouse game with the resourceful Kate. I thought that Kate was smart and resourceful despite the minimal training that she had gotten from British intelligence. She is a main character that I won’t soon forget. I enjoyed this novel so much that I’ve started reading the author’s crime series.
This story takes place in 1940, mostly in Paris. A strong female character with the right skills and circumstances has accepted a mission in Paris. Her race to survive and complete the mission has us on the edge of our seats. Highly recommended.
Superb spy thriller, written by a woman who knows her stuff. Historically accurate and with an edge on every word.
This is an amazing story with rich details of characters and locations.
The way she gets out of one near disaster after another should push the limits of believability, but it never did for me. It makes perfect sense, given the setting and time.
The German police officer is a great character, too. Yes, he works for the Nazis and sees her as a dangerous assassin. But he also recognizes how well she has managed, against all odds, to escape him. He can acknowledge a skilled person’s work. He is also, at his core, a moral and honest person. (Unlike some of the Nazis he has to work with.)
If this were a movie, I would leave the theater feeling like I didn’t breath until the final credits.
It was impossible to put this perfectly named thriller down. Rich in historical detail and gripping suspense, Cara Black’s wartime story of Occupied France introduces us to a remarkable and complex new woman character – Kate Rees, an innocent American sharpshooter drawn into a terrifying plan to assassinate Hitler during his brief, three hour visit to Paris. A missed target and a devastating betrayal force Kate into hiding. Untrained and alone, she must find a way to evade the Gestapo, get to the coast, and make it home.
Loved, loved, loved this book and it was so much fun to interview Cara for the Virginia Book Festival recently.
Cara Black makes you feel like you’re running (sometimes sprinting, sometimes slinking) along with her characters. In Three Hours in Paris, she forays into historical fiction. Paris is still a star, but in this one the stakes are out of control and everything is moving in every direction. Nazis and conspiracies, backstabs and lost and found love.
You like Cara Black’s Aimee LeDuc mysteries, you’ll love this. You’re not so sure about Aimee LeDuc, but are fascinated by the real-life evil that Nazis bring to the page? Check it out.
I read it in seven hours straight. Late to work that day, and my word is right downstairs!
I’m a big fan of historical fiction, spy novels, and books featuring strong women and I was happy that Three Hours In Paris by Cara Black had all of these things!
I haven’t read much in the way of historical thrillers yet, and I’m glad I decided to pick this one up. I listened to the entire book on audio and I absolutely loved the narrator, Elisabeth Rodgers. She did a superb job with narration and was able to bring all the suspense and scenery to life for me. I thought the book was wonderfully fast-paced, and I really liked that it switched between a few different characters but not so many that it was confusing or overwhelming.
I really liked Kate as a character, and I loved that she was an American markswoman. I haven’t read many books about female spies and the fact that she gets sent in to kill Hitler made the book very exciting. It was a pretty intense ride throughout and interesting on top of it. I loved the story, the setting, and the narrator, and with an ending I didn’t see coming I would highly recommend checking out Three Hours In Paris if you are a fan of historical fiction or historical thrillers.
Thank you to Libro.fm and the publisher for my advance listening copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
A brilliant, trifurcated novel of WWII espionage–the chaser, the chased and the instigator. Plot within a plot, then another plot. Intrigue, suspense and a resourceful character, Kate Rees from Oregon. A real- page turner.
RADA Read the situation, assess options, decide, act
Kate, her husband and her daughter were stationed in Britain. A freak bombing hit the car her husband and daughter were in killing both of them. She vowed that Hitler would pay. She was assigned by British Intelligence to an assignment in Paris to assassinate Hitler when he visited Paris for 3 hours. She was given this assignment because she was an award winning marksman.
She fails at her assignment in Paris and takes on the Admiral standing next to Hitler instead. Now she is a hunted woman in Paris. She must try to find a way back to London before the Nazi’s catch her.
This is a book filled with suspense, excitement, spies and betrayal. There is an informer in the resistance and it almost costs her, her own British countrymen, caught and tortured give her up to the Nazi’s. She is almost caught so many times and escapes. Philippe vows to help, but who can she trust. Several times her meeting points have been compromised. She can trust no one. It is a crazy race through Paris and her different disguises that save her.
It is a page turner trying to figure out what will happen next. Will she get away…will she be caught. It keeps you wanting to read until the last page. This book did not disappoint, it was very well written, it kept you interest every second and I would highly recommend it.
Thanks to Cara Black, Soho Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review an advance copy of the book.
According to author Cara Black, Three Hours in Paris stemmed from a footnote in history. In June of 1940, Hitler came to newly occupied Paris for three hours. Only three hours and then left, with no victory parade or fanfare of any kind. Black says she knew there was more to this and the fact Goebbels, his propaganda minister, and pioneer of faux news, edited the newsreel of Hitler’s visit! And from this little bit of hidden history she has reimagined events and crafted a masterful thriller.
Life doesn’t have much meaning for American Kate Rees since she lost her husband and infant daughter in a Luftwaffe bombing, so when she is recruited by British intelligence to put her markswoman skills to use and parachute into Paris and assassinate Hitler she sees her chance for revenge. Even if she is killed or captured, by killing the Führer she will have achieved a small victory in honor of her dead family. She is given a crash course in spy craft and put on the plane. And from that point the story takes off and never slows down until the very last page.
The description of the book barely scratches the surface. There is so much more beneath.
Fate, happenstance, (bad) luck, coincidence, whatever it is, nothing is as it seems or goes as expected. This book is deliciously complicated and convoluted. It’s as if they are all making connections but the connections are slightly off, and nobody realizes it. Very exciting, tense, short, short chapters work perfectly because about the time your stress level is at its breaking point the scene or POV shifts. You get a little breather, but then more suspense. About halfway through and I still had no idea at all how this might end. It’s one of those books where you really want to take a peek at the end because you can’t stand it, but you won’t do it because you are enjoying this terrifying ride too much. There is such a ripple effect of tragedy and ruination to all those Kate innocently touches as she blunders around trying to get back to England, and so many aspects of her mission, and the missions of others, that I just did not see coming.
The writing is masterful, characters captivating, and the plot moves along at breakneck pace. Scenes are brought vividly to life. You can feel the heat, smell the cigarette smoke, hear the water in the fountains. Thanks to Penguin Random House for providing an advance copy of Three Hours in Paris. All opinions are my own. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
(ARC) Book Review: Three Hours in Paris by author, Cara Black
Expected release~ April 7, 2020
“As apricot dawn blushed over the rooftop chimneys, she checked the bullets, calibrated and adjusted the telescopic mount, as she had every few hours.”
A young mother, loving wife….and a WWII Sniper! Wait, what!?
Her name is Kate Rees, and she’s an American markswoman on a mission you won’t believe.
Ms. Black is a new author to me, so of course I was anxious to see just where she would be taking me within this story… and I can happily report, the journey was incredibly intriguing, knowledgeable and entertaining. A thriller on a whole different level!
This is a wonderfully intense, vivid, nail-bitter of a narrative, that’s sure to capture your attention, and leave you breathless…
If you enjoy the fierce, the cat and mouse chase, and the descriptive energy that historical fiction brings~ then this book is for you!
5 Stars
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Wow! This is the most exciting book I’ve read in ages. A genuine page-turner. I’ve read a lot of WWII stories lately, and this is one of the best. Highly recommended.
This was an historical fiction story that was very well written. The characters were believable. The historical information I hope was as accurate as possible. I learned some aspects of the Nazi occupation and results of that occupation that was unfamiliar to me before.
Terrific standalone by Cara Black, author of the Aimee LeDuc series, about an American woman sniper sent to Paris by the British. Her target: Hitler. What happens next will keep you on the edge of your seat. Highly recommended!
When an Oregon cowgirl sharpshooter takes up an assignment for British intelligence, she not only saves herself by using what she learned React-Assess-Decide-Act as her mantra for survival, but she ends up not only saving Britain from invading forces,@lynnfc but also reconciling the loss of he husband and daughter.