Review by ReyvrexQuestor Reyes -- Sandra Eden's War

[ReyvrexQuestor Reyes]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Sandra Eden's War" by Michael Low.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Sandra Eden, a British Special Operation Executive (SOE) agent may not exactly be what Frenchmen would call a “femme fatale” in the traditional sense, although she has the looks. But she was deadly in conventional warfare, and other arts of war, as covered by her training in the SOE organization that was set up by Winston Churchill in 1940, as the Second World War intensified. Among her expertise were to lead and outfit missions that would sabotage enemy installations, disrupt enemy troop movements, and block supply lines.

The Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, designated as D-Day, was very much awaited by the French Resistance at the time. Sandra was parachuted into the French countryside — or rather, literally dropped instead, as her parachute failed to open, which nearly killed her — three weeks prior, or at what military strategists would call as day D-21. Starting at that time, and up to three weeks after the Allied invasion of Normandy — at what would be day D+21, when Sandra reported back to London to take on a new assignment — her exploits were chronicled in this novel: Sandra Eden’s War by Mike Low. It was just a short engagement but effectively made the Nazis on her part of France busy, while the Allies pushed through with their beachhead in Normandy that decisively secured for them a foothold in northern France. History could attest to how the sacrifices of the likes of Sandra helped shorten the duration of Nazism in France and, ultimately, in the whole of Europe.

Mike Low did a marvelous job of fleshing out Sandra, the stereotype for courageous women of the SOE, sent by London to coordinate and supply the French Resistance as they strike to cripple the German mobility. Sandra proved to be a spirited freedom fighter, harboring no more fear after emerging victorious from her previous brush with death on that 3,000-foot jump with a faulty parachute. Her courage was further highlighted when she declared, while on a mission: “It really doesn’t matter if I die, because without freedom there is no point in living.” And she didn’t have any compunction to kill; if that could prevent the deaths of more compatriots, which was the case with a traitor she shot after having been confirmed to have betrayed their trust. The atrocities of war will always fill the pages of history with gore and blood, as perpetrated by both sides.

Sandra Eden’s War was fast-paced and told in a literary style that was truly uplifting for the female gender of the human species. No erotic scenes, of any level of intensity, could be found anywhere in the book. Although Sandra may be said to have laid down some foundation for a potential romantic liaison in the future — of four counts, actually, with four distinct individuals — the curtain fell down without any more update on these. No. This is not the thing I dislike with this book. Rather, I was thinking that more missions should have been done by Sandra to make the book longer.

Some errors slipped past the editors; I intercepted three so far. And as for character development, it was satisfactorily done, albeit selectively, for others only needed a cursory mention. Given the historicity of the events herein, I recommend this book to fans of historical fiction; the fast-paced action might prove delightful for fans of thriller, crime, and young adult genres. Sandra Eden’s War would rate 4 out of 4 stars on all fronts.

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Sandra Eden's War
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