The Paris Agent: A Gripping Tale of Family Secrets

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A box of tissues should never be far from hand when reading a Kelly Rimmer book. A story about duty and diligence, secrets and lies, betrayal and bravery, tragedy and trauma, loss and love. Kelly’s books never disappoint. Over the last couple of years, I have been deeply impressed with the works of Kelly Rimmer, a well-established Australian author whose previous novels have been excellent historical dramas set during the Second World War. Rimmer’s books are pretty spectacular, as they masterfully blend powerful personal stories with intense depictions of key parts of the war, especially those involving the evils of the Nazi regime. Her last two books, The Warsaw Orphan (one of my favourite Australian books of 2021) and The German Wife (one of my favourite books and Australian books of 2022), were exceedingly moving, and I now make it a point to grab her new books each year. Her latest novel, The Paris Agent, presented the reader with an interesting new story, one that focuses on female espionage agents in occupied France.

Moved by her father's frustration, Noah's daughter Charlotte begins a search for answers that resurrects the stories of Chloe and Fleur, the code names for two otherwise ordinary women whose lives intersect in 1943 when they're called up by the SOE for deployment in France. Taking enormous risks to support the allied troops with very little information or resources, the women have no idea they're at the mercy of a double agent among them who's causing chaos within the French circuits, whose efforts will affect the outcome of their lives...and the war. If you love strong, capable, intelligent, and courageous spies, you might appreciate the imagined characters in The Paris Agent.

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But we as readers devote our time to consume these novels to keep the subject matter alive, these little known truths.

If you only have time to read one book this year, The Things We Cannot Say should be that book." -- Fresh Fiction The Paris Agent highlights the lives of multiple British SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents during WWII and jumps between the war years in France and post war (1970) in England. I truly loved how each perspective was woven together and how the story blended romance, action, history, espionage and mystery. It was easy to feel all the emotions you expect when reading about this time period and feel as though you are experiencing each triumph and battle with the characters. In the 1970s timeline, Noah lives in Liverpool and is haunted by memories of his time as a British operative in France during WWII. His daughter Charlotte is determined to help her father find answers. In the 1940s timeline, we follow the extraordinary lives of Chloe and Fleur and their career as spies in WWII. Will Noah find the answers he seeks? Has the intrigue from Noah’s past followed him into the present?Eloise and Josie were two women spy agents who both have stories to tell and narrate their classified heroic stories in chapters interspersed throughout Charlotte’s progress. I’m recommending The Paris Agent for fans of Kelly Rimmer, for readers who appreciate intense and suspenseful WWII content, and for those who love stories with a dual timeline and multiple viewpoints.

years after the end of the war, ageing British secret service operative Noah is reflecting on the secret agent who saved his life when a mission went wrong in France. He never knew real names or if the agent survived. His daughter Charlotte begins a search for answers. What follows is the story of Fleur and Chloe, two ordinary women who are called up the SOE for deployment in France in 1943. They have no idea there is a double agent in their ranks. As Charlotte's search for answers bears fruit, suspicions emerge about the identity of the double agent, with unsettling implications for her father... Charlotte Ainsworth has no idea her father wasn't a mechanic during the Second World War, he was in fact a British agent working in France and a brave one. In the summer of 1970, Charlotte is stunned when her dad Noah tells her the truth, she really can’t imagine her father being SOE and she wondered if her mum knew. Noah was wounded towards the end of the war, he fractured his skull, so he can’t remember somethings and others are jumbled up in his mind. Noah wants to thank the agent that saved his life and he needs closure. I appreciate the author’s inclusion of vivid, descriptive details that helped me feel a part of the story. Rimmer has a unique way of drawing the reader immediately into the narrative.

For fans of fast-paced historical thrillers like Our Woman in Moscow and The Rose Code , Kelly Rimmer’s dramatic new novel follows two female SOE operatives whose lives will be determined by a double agent in their midst. At first women agents where used as couriers and wireless operators in the field, but as the war went on and while planning for D-Day invasion they needed them to do more and they did. The women had to speak fluent French, blend in with the population and these agents worked alongside their male peers, carrying out acts of espionage, sabotage, reconnaissance, they knew how to fire Bren light machine gun and use explosives.