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Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers' Favorite
Tom Kane's Walking Away from Midnight is a gripping WWII espionage thriller spanning from June 1939 to June 1940. This is book one in The Midnight Series. The principal character is Jessie Fordham, a young Englishwoman who, in the summer of 1939, is a recent graduate from Cambridge University. The story begins with Jessie's childhood and teenage days, with family life very much influenced by her father's career in the British military. In 1939, Jessie's father, Colonel Albert Fordham, was Britain's Military Attaché to France. Jessie, her younger siblings, her uncle Nev, and her father are at the family's summer home at Midnight Lake in the French Ardennes. When Germany advances into France in May 1940, Jessie's father instructs her to leave immediately with her younger siblings and go to Dunkirk, where the British Navy has a rescue mission in place. Jessica has a diplomatic briefcase with her, which her father says she must guard with her life and deliver to British intelligence in London.
I thoroughly enjoyed Walking Away from Midnight for its fascinating and diverse characters and its well-crafted, convoluted web of wartime mystery, espionage, and daunting and dangerous personal challenges. I particularly enjoyed the character development of Jessie Fordham. I liked how her character matures and her inner transformative journeys, particularly when she must undertake a dangerous trek across Europe, with German forces advancing on the ground and the ever-present threat of Luftwaffe attacks. The story gains great depth as Jessie's character development is interwoven into her family's life, and the characters of her father, uncle, and siblings emerge. Jessie's abilities, vulnerabilities and fears, and inner courage sprang into life for me through the other characters, as well as the evocative and atmospheric settings of Midnight Lake and the Ardennes. The characters, dialogues, and chaotic wartime settings are well-crafted, showing the perils of espionage and counter-espionage. Tom Kane has written a terrific espionage thriller in a tale of courage and determination. I immensely enjoyed the thread of humor that runs through the story.
