This book started as a good, well thought out war time spy thriller with a little romance thrown in. Then three fourth of the way through a couple of needless hot and heavy sex scenes appeared that seemed out of character for Maya and unnecessary for the story line. Then the ending just got unbelievable. It seemed as though the author ran out of steam and did a quick and dirty ending with coincidence and unreal situations abounding.
The characters – Maya, a Jewish refugee trying to get to Palestine with her scientist brother; Mickey, an American newspaperman turned spy; Kesner, a German spy looking for the brother, and a host of minor characters - were well fleshed out with clear voices and actions. A number of historical persons and organizations played minor parts (Anwar Sadat, King Farouk, the Muslim Brotherhood) appearing realistically as needed for the plot. Cairo in 1941, festering with a desire for independence and drowning in refugees and foreign soldiers, was a great setting for the story line. It is too bad the ending was so unsatisfying.
I enjoyed the book as a whole but not the ending.
3 of 5 stars

I received this as a free book for my book club from Pauline Book Movement. We are reading this for book club in July. A few of us finished it already and found it to be an easy ready novel that gave a lot of information about Egypt during WWII that we did not know. It was fun watching the three main characters come together for the climax of the book.

Our book club was very fortunate to win copies of this book and chat with the author. A very interesting and climatic ending!

Enjoyed from the first page to the last!

Very informative of city of Cairo and its citizens at that time in history. I felt that I knew the main characters well. The writing was wonderful and I wanted to keep reading.

Juliana Maio's book is simply brilliant!! The story of Mickey, the American journalist, and Maya, the Jewish refugee, will grab you with both hands and take you through an exotic, exciting journey in Cairo during 1941! I love how the author builds the story through different points of view! This gives the reader a well rounded story which is seen through the eyes of each character. This is a story of love jammed packed with action and adventure. The story is very well written and developed. I absolutely could not read fast enough!

In one word: inconsistent. Started off great, informative and well written, then turned way too graphic in the sex scenes and the end seemed to be written by a different author.