Untitled by Pete Hartley

An exceptional mystery read.
 
Blurb: “She presumed their first meeting had been coincidental, but then discovered that he had already painted her in intimate detail. They agreed not to reveal anything about their previous lives to each other, not even their names. They became lovers and planned to marry, but then he disappeared and she had no means of discovering what might have happened to him. A decade later she received a postcard that enabled her to start the search but, in doing so, she discovered that she could be the most hunted target of the Cold War. She hoped she could survive long enough to find out why. The unseen and unthinkable escalating nuclear arms threat is the dreadful umbrella overshadowing this story, that riddles beneath the ideological standoff that dominated the middle of the last century, but there are other tensions here too, just as dangerous to the individuals involved. National security vies with personal fidelity, integrity with identity and nature with legality in this psychological thriller; and for the protagonist at the heart of it all is the perennial quandary: who really is the person that she loves?”
 
I enjoyed a lot reading this book.
The mystery within the whole story kept me reading and wondering what was behind everything. Mrs. A, the poser, the muse or whatever name the main character had is a strong female character on a mission. First, it seemed to be the mission to find her fiancé that she lost contact with since almost at the end of the world war two. As events evolved and more mysteries appeared, the story seemed much more complicated and her mission has changed slightly. The more I've read the more intrigued I became. Everyone seemed suspicious and it was hard to assume what stood behind the conspiracy. The author managed to get my full attention and everything made sense in a specific way. Leftovers from the war, secret objects inserted in people’s body that may become dangerous for many influencing people from many nations, espionage, fake and real deaths, disguises, talking with people you may not know their names and many other elements created the suspense effect of this book. There was love too, sometimes only as an appearance, a fantasy, an imagination or simply a different kind of love. All in all, this is a book I truly recommend.
 
Type of reader: Fans of exceptionally written novels of mystery, thrillers, suspense with psychological touch and flavors of war, espionage, and politics.
 
Quotes from the book:
 
“Derek had been a distraction, but the artist was her muse. She thought about him every day and most nights. She had even thought about him when she had been with Derek; especially at the most intense times. She had long admitted that the man she adored had become an icon rather than a reality. Like so many of those who had not been seen since the war, he remained as he was when last she saw him, even though she knew that, in reality, he must be quite different. She frequently feared that if she saw him again she might not recognise him. Even worse, she might have already seen him and not known it. How terrible that would have been, especially if he had recognised her.”
 
“Dreams and thoughts became intertwined. In light sleep he was her hero, lifting her from the mundane and moribund life of a department store spinster into an idyllic existence amid shared seclusion. In deeper sleep he was a diabolical deceiver, handing her over to Soviet surgeons who removed her hidden appendage without anaesthetic, and then left her to wither from infection. When she was awake he was close and distant, benevolent and menacing, familiar and strange.”
 
“An oath is the truth; but all truths are temporary. Time sees to that. Time changes everything. It changes you, it changes me, it changes everything that there is. It’s foolish to say I will always be this, because being this is not in one’s control. This belongs to time. When time changes this changes also. My oaths were always true. At the time when they were made.”
 
My rating: 5/5.
 
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