From the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel, THE ALICE NETWORK, comes another fascinating historical novel about a battle-haunted English journalist and a Russian female bomber pilot who join forces to track the Huntress, a Nazi war criminal gone to ground in America.
In the aftermath of war, the hunter becomes the hunted…
Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina’s bravery and cunning will keep her alive.
Transformed by the horrors he witnessed from Omaha Beach to the Nuremberg Trials, British war correspondent Ian Graham has become a Nazi hunter. Yet one target eludes him: a vicious predator known as the Huntress. To find her, the fierce, disciplined investigator joins forces with the only witness to escape the Huntress alive: the brazen, cocksure Nina. But a shared secret could derail their mission unless Ian and Nina force themselves to confront it.
Growing up in post-war Boston, seventeen-year-old Jordan McBride is determined to become a photographer. When her long-widowed father unexpectedly comes homes with a new fiancée, Jordan is thrilled. But there is something disconcerting about the soft-spoken German widow. Certain that danger is lurking, Jordan begins to delve into her new stepmother’s past—only to discover that there are mysteries buried deep in her family . . . secrets that may threaten all Jordan holds dear.
In this immersive, heart-wrenching story, Kate Quinn illuminates the consequences of war on individual lives, and the price we pay to seek justice and truth.
This audiobook includes an episode of the Book Club Girl Podcast, featuring an interview with Kate Quinn about The Huntress.
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Took a while to get into the story, but then … whoa! Kept me up for two nights while tried to figure out the story would resolve.
Absolutely fascinating. The kind of book you read, keep thinking about, share with others, and then buy in paperback form so you hand it to your non-ebook reading mother so that she too can enjoy this wonderful writer.
Kate Quinn is simply a master of historical adventure and intrigue. I devoured this book!
Awesome follow up to The Alice Network
Liked it even better than THE ALICE NETWORK, and I really liked that one.
A page-turning post-World War II novel about a female Russian fighter pilot, one of the infamous Nachthexen “Night witches” who joins forces with two Nazi hunters to find a war criminal known as the Huntress. Meanwhile, in Boston a young woman is suspicious of her widowed father’s new bride who has recently arrived from war torn Europe with her young daughter. This exciting novel blends historical fiction, crime solving and the complexities of human relationships.
I got through this at lightening speed, I think even faster than The Alice Network. Excellent characters, a tremendous plot, and wonderful writing. Kate Quinn pulls everything together and delivers a fascinating, deeply absorbing experience.
The Huntress was a riveting, suspenseful novel of WWII featuring a cast of colorful characters on the hunt to capture a Nazi war criminal. I highly recommend this book to fans of historical fiction!
Kate Quinn’s new book delivers on every count. The characters are unforgettable, the history riveting and the story a real page turner. Do not miss out on this book if you love World War II stories, as well as her look at the aftermath of war. This book is both haunting in its story and lesson for today’s ongoing struggles.
This was going to be a 4+ star read until the ending, wow that bumped it up to 5+ stars!!! The authors notes at the end of the book are just as interesting to read as the book. Knowing that much of the book is based on actual events and real people made the book come alive for me that much more.
From the blurb you know that there is a team that is still hunting Nazi war criminals even after the Nuremberg trials. We are now in the late 1940’s and it’s getting harder and harder to find survivors who can identify the Nazi SS who commited the more horrendous acts.
Ian is a former British war correspondent who has teamed up with Tony a former US soldier working in a small office in Vienna trying to find information on Nazi’s who have fled and are hiding in Europe and now the US.
Nina is a former Russian fighter pilot, their regiment was called “The Night Witches” because their planes descended so silently that the Germans on the ground didn’t hear them coming until they had dropped their bombs. These women were young and fierce and did as many as 8 to 10 runs a night, in planes made of wood and fabric, with an open cockpit! Nina met Tony when she was recuperating at a hospital, but I will leave that story for you to discover. I found Nina’s story to be mesmerizing, what heroes these women were! The Soviets were the only air force that used women pilots.
Ian’s and Tony’s next target is a woman SS soldier who was known as “The Huntress”, she showed no mercy, killing hundreds of innocent people including many children. Nina will team up with Tony and Ian to find her. Both Nina and Ian have personal reasons for bringing justice to “The Huntress”, they are prepared to do whatever it takes to hunt her down. A quote from Nina “Die Jagerin (The Huntress) She kills because she likes it, and she hunts what she thinks are easy targets–children, people on the run, those who can’t fight her”.
Jordan is a young woman of about 18 living in the United States. She helps her father run an antique shop in Boston but is an avid photographer. Though she has a serious boyfriend, later fiance, she still has hopes of making photography her lifelong passion. Her father meets a German woman and her little girl whom he is seriously dating. Jordan isn’t sure why but she doesn’t trust this woman, Anneliese, and her little girl, Ruth, has nightmares that can’t be explained. It is obvious that the little girl has suffered some trauma in her life.
All of these storylines are woven together wonderfully, from one character to another, from past to present until they become one, fantastic writing!
This is wonderful historical fiction with a great plot to immerse yourself in. I found the ending to be exciting, satisfying and memorable. Kate Quinn has written another winner, I would recommend this book to any fan of historical fiction!
I received an ARC of this novel from Edelweiss.
Warning: before you start this book, you need to clear your calendar and turn your phone off. You will not want to be interrupted until you get to the end. This book has it all – fantastic characters that you care about, a plot that will keep the tension high, some laughter and even more tears.
This book takes place in the early 1950s with some flashbacks to WWII. The war is over but everyone knows that there are still former Nazis hiding all over the world. Ian, a British war reporter and his friend Tony are tracking down Nazis and have a special interest in The Huntress, the lover of an SS officer, she shot several young children for fun near the end of the war. They are helped by Nina who can identify the Huntress due to a run in with her. Nina’s story is so exciting – she was a member of the Soviet Night Witches – an all female group of night bombers who bombed Hitler’s armies on the Eastern front. The third main character is Jordan who lives in Boston with her father and wants to be a famous photographer. She is thrilled when her widowed father meets and marries a German woman but can’t help but think she is hiding something. Ian, Nina and Jordan are all from totally different worlds but their stories collide as they all try to find the woman who affected their lives so strongly. I loved the way all of their stories were brought together at the end of the novel.
This is a fantastic novel with characters I won’t soon forget. Nina is armed with a straight razor, Ian with his words and Jordan with her camera as they attempt to find the Huntress and bring her to justice. You’ll be cheering them on as attempt to bring this evil woman to be punished for her crimes.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Utterly unputdownable. I started it at ten last night and finished it at ten this morning. Sleep? Who needs sleep?
I really love the way she interweaves the timelines. Her writing is wonderful and she makes the story fascinating. Can’t wait for her next book!
“We must remember, because there are other wheels that turn besides the wheel of justice. Time is a wheel, vast and indifferent. And when time rolls on and men forget, we face the risk of circling back. We slouch, yawning to a new horizon and find ourselves gazing at old hatreds, seeded and watered by forgetfulness and flowering into new wars, new massacres, new monsters like Die Jagerin. Let this wheel stop. Let us not forget.”
Kate Quinn’s latest historical epic takes us across continents and through time. Three Nazi hunters determined to bring about justice for those the world would just as soon forget. One woman, desperate to escape her own past only to have it emerge, undeniable in its vindication. I’ll be honest and say that by the end I was left wishing for more, desperate for a better answer than just that people do terrible things because they can. But perhaps that’s the point, the truth I’d just as soon deny. Sometimes the reasons behind our cruelty amount to nothing at all.
I loved this book, and my second foray into Kate Quinn’s historical fiction has made me a fan for life. Beyond the technical skill of her writing, the artful interplay of dialect and persona, lie the heart of a true storyteller. I’ve always admired those who can write multiple POV seamlessly and in a way that allows the plot to build, piggy-backing on each other until they climax in a simultaneously thrilling and satisfying way. Highly recommend for all lovers of the historical fiction-thriller cross-genre.
Historical fiction – some interesting characters. Makes you think more about Russia’s involvement with WWII.
“The Huntress” by Kate Quinn is an amazing book, just as “The Alice Network” was. The book is spellbinding, a page-turner, action-packed, and informative all rolled into an original story about the aftermath of WWII and the climate post-war. Most books of this genre tell of events pre-V-E Day. It must be hard to spend so much time researching and writing a novel like this because of the subject matter and all the atrocities and horror stories associated with the war. Kate Quinn does a great job of making her characters jump off the page as they find their strength while battling their fears. I highly recommend it!
At the top of my can’t wait to read list!!! Loved The Alice Network!
This was really good! I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of this book around the time that it was being published. Then I didn’t get around to reading it. It happens. I have thought about picking it up several times over the years and usually ended up grabbing something shorter. I shouldn’t have let the length of this book deter me because it was really such an engrossing story that it didn’t feel long at all. I am so glad that I finally took the time to experience this book!
The characters in this book were fantastic! This story is told from three points of view and I really liked each of them equally which is a rare thing. Nina was quite the character. She was fierce, bold, and determined. We get to see her in the past working as a pilot in the Russian army during WWII. We also see her in the 1950s but those scenes are usually told from her husband, Ian’s point of view. Ian worked as a journalist but is now focused on bringing war criminals to justice. The third point of view comes from Jordan. Jordan lives in Boston with her father and eventually her stepmother and sister. She is smart and never gives up. I loved seeing their stories come together over the course of this book.
This was a pretty exciting story. Learning the things that Nina and others went through during the war was eye-opening. It was interesting to see how far Ian and his team would go to bring their target to justice. Jordan only knew life after the war and I loved how ambitious she was. There were some things that I did figure out in the story but there were also plenty of surprises along the way. This was a really captivating story that had me glued to the pages.
Saskia Maarleveld did an amazing job with the narration of this book. I loved the way that she was able to create different voices and use various accents for the key characters. I really felt like she brought the story to life and added a lot of emotion and excitement t the story. I believe that her narration added to my overall enjoyment of the story.
I would definitely recommend this book to others. I found this to be an incredibly well-written and thoroughly researched story filled with characters that were easy to fall for. I definitely plan to read more of this author’s work in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from William Morrow via Edelweiss and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.
Kate Quinn, probably best known for The Alice Network, has once again created a multi-layered read with converging storylines that tie up beautifully in the end. Alternating from the war years in Russia to 1950 Boston, The Huntress is compelling and addictive from page one as Quinn crafts believable characters based on historical fact. A must read.
Superb historical fiction. This story has it all – historical detail, compelling characters, and all the feelings you need in a story that immersed you utterly. Brilliant! (FYI adult themes of violence and sexuality not appropriate for all readers)