All too often espionage tales feature a lead character that goes deep undercover, risks everything for the good of their country … willingly. But The Knife-Edge Path is different, here we have a protagonist who is left with little choice but to take on a guise and act as a spy for the SS. Geli Straub plays a dangerous game when she “agrees” to become Mlle. Simone Miroux for an SS officer to spy on one of their own. Asking favours of her new SS friend is dangerous, and initially she thinks nothing of using her connections for information, cigarettes … whatever it is that she might need. However, the life of a double agent is a precarious one, never knowing who’s watching and if everyone is who they say they are. For Geli/Simone this is only one aspect that is making life difficult. Whether as Frau Straub or Mlle. Miroux, she is a target of suspicion, her motives are questioned and her life is in danger. Delving into the world of WWII espionage, the author takes readers on a journey filled with intrigue and danger as his characters face perilous situations and risk everything for what they think is right. As she gets to know SS officer Kurt Langsdorff, Simone Miroux sees there’s a side to him that is at odds with his SS facade and develops feelings for him that she knows she shouldn’t have, clashing with her mission and potentially putting everything as risk. The writing is everything I would look for in a book set in this era, crisp details of the characters and their lives, the unnerving feeling of danger lurking ahead, the harrowing details of atrocious acts carried out in the name of the Third Reich and above all, it’s hugely emotive.

A powerful story teller. . . Can Patrick Leahy write the heck out of his subject matter! He demonstrates marvelous control, and has an unerring ear for the sights, sounds and horrors of one of the darkest periods in this world’s history. This book feels like an epic tale rather than a mere depiction of one aspect of the holocaust. Every person is defined so deftly, and with such surgical precision, that they appear on the page living and fully formed. Leahy’s affection for the highly complex main character, Geli Straub, is tangible. In the end, this book depicts, above all else, the compassion that can occur in an environment of such unparalleled evil. The only thing wrong with this terrific read is that there has to be a last page.

The story of this book, and the way it is laid out, is quite compelling I have seen very little written about SS men helping Jews during the Holocaust. It is not completely clear to me if the character set out to help or ended up overwhelmed with conscience and thus tried to help...does it matter? In any case, an interesting read.

The wife of a missing German general on the Eastern Front, learns to cope with danger, treachery and tangled relationships in war-torn Germany. Her prior experience in intelligence work in the North African campaign draws the attention of a minor SS officer who recruits her to spy on a younger SS officer he considers his protégé. This occurs in the waning days of the war and bombings in Germany where hunger and deprivations are rampant. She switches sides as she develops feelings for the object of her spying and faces a series of new challenges. Leahy’s characters are colorful and likeable, despite being “enemies” - eventually sympathizers, who step forward to bear witness to the atrocities of the holocaust. If not a devotee of historical fiction, a reader will also enjoy the story of ill-fated romances and the examples of the daily struggles of people at war. It’s a pleasure to recommend it.

As an ardent, long-time admirer of Pat Leahy's meticulously crafted and at times almost painterly prose, I devoured his latest work in a couple of nights and am still reeling from the experience. In its mining of the human heart's darkest corners, THE KNIFE-EDGE PATH is just a tremendous read: the plotting tight as a harp-string and the characters drawn with such beautiful delicacy, the scope and sense of place genuinely stunning. This is a hugely impressive offering from a writer of significant talent, one that deserves the attention of the widest possible audience. If there's any justice in the world, he'll have a runaway bestseller on his hands.