Tightrope by Simon Mawer

Unabridged Audio Version of Tightrope by Simon Mawer

I decided to listen to the unabridged audio version of the novel, Tightrope by Simon Mawer, based on a review by another blogger Carole from Carole's Chatter and also because the idea of reading a historical thriller set in post World War II London during the Cold War sounded like an appealing novel to read.

Listening time for Tightrope by Simon Mawer is 14 hours, 20 minutes. Tightrope by Simon Mawer is narrated by Kate Reading and I thought she did a good job of narrating Tightrope.

I initially felt that it was a bit difficult to get into the rhythm and flow of Tightrope by Simon Mawer. Sometimes it was a bit difficult to follow the storyline as it goes back an forth in time during some of scenes. I didn't care much for the first 65% of the novel, but felt things became more captivating the last 35% of Tightrope by Simon Mawer.

As far as the leading character, Marian Sutro, goes, I have mixed feelings about her as a character. Truth be told, I didn't end up liking Marian Sutro much by the end of Tightrope. Marian seems to be too caught up in the entire cloak and dagger thing of the Cold War once she returns home from World War II. She doesn't seem to form any real emotional attachments to any one man other than one man who does stand out towards the later part of the novel. It's like relationships with men are a means to and end for Marian. Marian has no problems sleeping with married men or even cheating on her own husband without remorse.

The following is a synopsis of Tightrope by Simon Mawer from Amazon:

This captivating historical thriller brings back Marian Sutro, ex-special operations agent, and traces her romantic and political exploits in post-World War II London, where the Cold War is about to reshape old loyalties.

As Allied forces close in on Berlin in spring 1945, a solitary figure emerges from the wreckage that is Germany. It is Marian Sutro, whose existence was last known to her British controllers in autumn 1943 in Paris. One of a handful of surviving agents of the Special Operations Executive, she has withstood arrest, interrogation, incarceration, and the horrors of Ravensbruck concentration camp, but at what cost? Returned to an England she barely knows and a postwar world she doesn't understand, Marian searches for something on which to ground the rest of her life. Family and friends surround her, but she is haunted by her experiences and by the guilt of knowing that her contribution to the war effort helped lead to the monstrosities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the mysterious Major Fawley, the man who hijacked her wartime mission to Paris, emerges from the shadows to draw her into the ambiguities and uncertainties of the Cold War, she sees a way to make amends for the past and at the same time to find the identity that has never been hers.

A novel of divided loyalties and mixed motives, Tightrope is the complex and enigmatic story of a woman whose search for personal identity and fulfillment leads her to shocking choices.

Tightrope by Simon Mawer, just didn't really do much for me as a novel. It was just okay. I am giving Tightrope by Simon Mawer a rating of 2 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!