Review of “Not My War” by Valerie Anne Hudson

Score: 96/100 (9.6 out of 10)

Not My War by Valerie Anne Hudson is a masterfully-crafted, truly suspenseful Holocaust/World War II novel that will have you at the edge of your seat by the end of it!

This novel follows a multilingual, witty protagonist named Louise (more commonly just called “Lulu”) who serves as a lookout and informant for the French Resistance during German occupation in the middle of World War II.

While the other members of the French Resistance, like Judith, are concerned with simply causing as much destruction and havoc among the Germans as possible (via arson), Lulu knows that the way to truly disrupt their operations is via intelligence.

As she eventually concludes: “I might not have weapons, but I certainly have my wits.”

The crux of this novel is the very awkward attraction and romance between Lulu and a handsome German captain named Hans Hartman, the nephew of the general in charge of the occupation of the region. Hans may be handsome and a charming gentleman to Lulu at times, but he is complicit in the vile, cruel, murderous, and genocidal acts of the Nazis. While he is relatively kind to Lulu, he actively hunts and captures Jews, Gypsies, and others whom the Nazi ideology deems “undesirable.” He even roughly grabs and strikes a fleeing Jewish woman in front of Lulu, an incident which haunts her.

Lulu finds herself in between a rock and a hard place, working as an counter-intelligence agent for Captain Hans, whom she loves. However, she also has her loyalties to the resistance who view Hans and the Germans as monsters. This book does a great job at presenting the characters in an understandable and even sympathetic way, even the Nazis at times. The book reminds us that Hans and others like him were indoctrinated and essentially brainwashed by a poisonous ideology to act and think a certain way: a vicious, ugly, and disgusting way. Hans's bigotry and hatred are slowly unveiled to us, and it is absolutely terrifying to read how toxic and twisted his thoughts had become since before the war. He has essentially become a monster.

This is an example of how insidious the Nazi ideology and influence was. Even some of the French collaborators are shown to be under its spell.

There are so many awkward yet fascinating moments such as when Lulu denies being Jewish and a French national in order to avoid being persecuted, essentially alongside Jewish and French nationals. There's another moment when a French soldier is ordered to guard the people being taken to concentration camps, and one of the older French women shouts at him that she's French just like him. It just hits you in the soul and breaks your heart to read sections like that. There's a couple in here, Aaron and Miriam, who—despite having so little screen time—pull on your heartstrings as they try to endure what could be their last moments of freedom and life together.

Lulu's scheming and plans, while seeming crazy at times, are sometimes so bold, ambitious, and courageous that you can't help but cheer from her.

Lulu grows from being a very passive character who does the bare minimum to stop the Germans to becoming a full-fledged anti-Nazi resistance member who fully realizes that she may die as a result of it. She begins to realize that this conflict is not just about her or her life, it's about everyone and everything she has ever known and cared about.

This might be the most suspenseful novel of the year! Yes, even considering the unavoidable challenge that it's a historical novel and that many of the outcomes are known, we still couldn't help but bite our nails and sweat whenever the main protagonist was on the verge of being caught by the Nazis and the French police/collaborators.

Captain Hans and General Hartman are fascinating and terrifying villains who only grow in their creepiness and scariness the more that you and the protagonist get to know them.

Now, this book has a very slow first-half that might lull you into a false sense of security. However, it really picks up by the end.

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