Review of Doing one's duty

[Vivian Stones]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Doing one's duty" by Mike Walsham.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Doing One's Duty by Mike Walsham is a war novel. The novel illustrates how intelligence gathering was done during World War II by the British government. The book is about a British spy who works on different missions around Europe. The story begins with Andrew having to debrief his boss on his mission in France and how he was almost betrayed by one of their contacts. When he is through debriefing, he decides to go on leave to go and meet his wife and his child, who just celebrated his birthday. While at home, he finds out that one of his friends has died in the war. He goes and offers his condolence to the new widow. He cannot tell his family about his actual job due to the secrecy surrounding his job. He spends some time with his family but has to report back to his job. On returning, he is given a new mission. He is to go and help in the evacuation of soldiers from France and obtain information. He is then left with an obligation to fulfill this task and all the other missions he is sent to perform. Would he succeed?

The book was well informative. It gave a different light to the espionage industry. It showed how most spies were not boisterous and were not violent in the infiltration of enemies but instead used a more subtle and camouflaged approach in performing their tasks. Though the approach was more subtle, the book showed how dangerous most of the jobs they did were. The importance of their job during the war was substantial as the war council tended to use the information gotten from spies in their planning. The improvisation that the spies needed to have to perform their jobs and survive was also depicted in the novel. The author well crafted the suspense in the novel as the build-up of the story was well structured to depict it. The book used some accurate historical facts and characters, which made it realistic.

The book had a few shortcomings. One of such shortcomings in the book is the vocabulary used in the novel. There were words that I did not understand and had to search for the meaning of. Some of the words used felt unnecessary as there were easier words that could have been used instead. Another is the multiple names used to characterize the protagonist. The name change was done to show when he was undercover and working, but it just made reading the novel confusing. In the end, it made it difficult to follow.

I give the book four out of four stars because it was well written, very entertaining, and enlightening. The book was also professionally edited. I found very few errors in it.

I recommend this book to history enthusiasts as well as people who tend to read military novels. I also recommend this novel to individuals who want to pursue a career in the espionage industry, as it depicts the stress, dangers, and sacrifices that are needed in the discharge of one's duty.

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Doing one's duty
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[ChampagneSon]

Sounds really interesting, as a fan of historical fiction I will definitely enjoy this

[Mary Lou Mills]

I find historical fiction to be an easy way to learn history. This book seems realistic with its subtle way of doing espionage.

[Aisha Yakub]

Sounds like a great read. I look forward to reading this. Great review.

[Big Muhammad]

Sound like a great read I love military novels

[Sammy Kamau 2]

I love stories about espionage, especially in ww2 where electronics were not in full use. Which meant HUMINT had to be relied upon. Thanks, for the review

[Elijah0007]

It sounds like the author did his research on this one. Ambiguity is a quirk most writers have these days. I don't particularly have any issues with it but it becomes a problem when it's excessive. Great review

[Mmaduabuchi Eze]

An epic storyline. I love the content of this military novel, as well as the author's characterization of Andrew.

[MARJORIE obeso]

this novel's Doing one's duty when I read this review it implies that as a soldier we need to do our duty to serve our nations and keep the secrecy of specific missions they have been assigned even, sometimes it felt hurt that most of the time they are out of there as part of their oath promise job and serve the nation in good faith.

[Mmaduabuchi Eze]

I find historical fiction to be an easy way to learn history. This book seems realistic with its subtle way of doing espionage.

I too. Education and entertainment; all in one piece.

[Ikechukwu+12345]

I love historical books, I found this piece interesting. Thanks for amazing review.

[Etini Willie]

When people write historical on a huge historical event like this, I can't help but marvel at how wild the author's mind rins. Kudos to the author and the reviewer