The Loyal Servant: Eva Hudson

This book is a political thriller, not the type that I usually consider my first choice. I initially decided to read this book because it had a strong woman as protagonist. The setting is present day London, also a plus.

This book grabbed me and held my interest from the beginning. Unfortunately, I had to read it in too many chunks, and toward the end I stayed up too late to finish the book because I had to know how it ended. For a first novel, I thought it was very well done.

There are actually several strong women characters, but Caroline Barber and her family are definitely the focus of the book. Caroline has a job in the Ministry of Education and has access to sensitive data. She becomes a whistleblower for a government cover-up due to her strongly-held convictions. The story makes the reader ask questions about how much we owe to others, and how much we should risk to right wrongs.

My one quibble with the story, about midway through the book, was why the author was not providing more background on Carolyn's children and why Carolyn was not paying more attention to what is going on in her own household. Later, I decided that some answers are provided, and to a certain extent, the reader is left to decide this on their own.

I will admit that the very thrillerish ending seemed unrealistic. But to me, all thriller endings are unrealistic. I think it would make a great movie. Don’t want to say more than that. Regardless, I was enthralled to the end.

I discovered this book through Sarah at crimepieces, who recently reviewed the next in the series at her blog. Her review of this book is here.

This is the second e-book I have read this year. Still not loving the experience, but very glad we got the Kindle.