The Woman Who Knew Too Much by Tom Savage

The Woman Who Knew Too Much grabbed me immediately when I read "CIA" and "Venice" in the description. I love a good thriller, and I was excited to take a trip to Venice. This book kept me interested and coming back for more, simply because it flowed quickly and left me with enough questions I needed answers to. I haven't read the first book in this series, and I probably should have because events from that book make things happen in this book. For example, Nora gets this assignment because of what she did in the previous book. I can't say I'm convinced this would happen in real life, as I'm sure there were trained agents who could have played Nora's role just fine, but I digress. There were some slow moments, but the last 15% really sucks you in, with all the action. It's well-written, and Nora has wormed her way into my heart. I'm definitely interested in seeing where the next book takes her!

Nora Barton is the spy that isn't. A university professor by day and a CIA field agent by accident. It all started with her husband's disappearance 18 months ago (book 1 in the series) and since then life has returned to the quiet, normal life she thought they had until the disappearing act. Now she knows better, it could change at any moment. Like when she hears a series of taps on the front door of her home late one night. Nora's unique skill set as an actress makes her the perfect person to play someone else and the CIA needs her skills. A famous Russian actress has secrets she is wanting to reveal in exchange for safe passage to America and protection as she defects. The CIA and State Department have agreed and they send Nora in undercover to extract the actress. It's a simple, smart plan that seems straightforward. But if it were then there wouldn't be a story to tell. :) Under the guise of an exclusive interview with the famous actress, Nora and a small team of people travel to Venice, Italy to do the interview and get her to America. But once in Venice plans are changed and lies and half-truths are revealed, endangering lives and the mission.

A quick and easy read, just like book 1. Just enough subterfuge that I couldn't pinpoint exactly what puzzle pieces weren't fitting together and why they weren't. I'm envious of people who can critically think through situations, observe people, and recognize what most can't. And while these are fictional characters I am envious of, there are very real people behind them who brought them into being which means there really are people who can detect a hidden or twisted truth. I really enjoy this series from Savage, on to book 3!

The Woman Who Knew Too Much by Tom Savage
Book Review by Dawn Thomas

241 Pages
Publisher: Alibi / Random House Publishing Group
Release Date: March 28, 2017

Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Political Intrigue, Spies

Nora Baron is the wife of a CIA agent and she is called to help provide a cover story for Galina Rostova to defect to the U.S. She plays her role as a journalist and her carefully picked team doing a documentary special on Galina as the new star in Moscow’s theatre.

This is the second the series. The story is set in Venice, Italy and the author does a wonderful job describing the area. It is written in third person point of view in the past tense. The story moves well, and the characters are well developed. I enjoyed Nora and look forward to more books about her. If you like books with a strong female lead, you will enjoy this one.

I originally wanted to read this book because of the cover. it is dark and mysterious. This book centered around the CIA and their mission was to help actress escape from her lover.

I LOVED this book! Nora was truly a woman to be admired. After she learned about her husbands secret life, she could've reacted a certain way (probably like most) but she was strong and did what she had to do to survive. I loved her strength and determination throughout this book. The suspense and twists made this book so hard to put down!

Great story by Tom Savage!! Really thrilling read, great characters and an enjoyable story. Highly recommend to others!!

I love to read about the CIA and this was a wonderful book to go along with my obsession. I appreciate the story created through the wonderful character development. Thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommended.

As long as the reader can attribute the happenings in this book as fiction you can enjoy it. Suspend reality for a bit and relax with a decent read. As far as I know getting into the CIA is difficult but not so in the fictional world. Nora is to make a defection happen but of course complications arise and that is the story. This is an easy read, not complicated and with characters that are typical of this genre.

I enjoyed reading this fast-paced smart thriller. Nora Barton is a shero who manages to complete what others cannot. Venice is the setting, and Savage makes the reader experience being in Venice.

The plot of this suspense novel was pretty solid, though a bit predictable at times. One thing that could have made it stronger would be cutting down on the number of times the main character "suddenly knew what she had to do," and then wouldn't tell the reader the plan until after it had all worked out perfectly. Not knowing the plan and seeing only parts of it in action isn't really exciting for the reader.

Nora Baron has returned to her life in Long Island as a university drama teacher following her turn at high intrigue months ago when she learned about her husband’s covert life. The former actress surprised herself at her own skills in rescuing him so when the Company calls her for help, Nora’s confident that she’s up to the assignment. Her job will be to help extract famous Russian theatrical actress Galina Rostova from Venice and help her defect to the US. She has information the government feels will make the risk worthwhile. Nora will pose as a television interviewer for a fictional production company and devise a plan to safely get the actress to America.

The elements I loved about the first book continue in this story. Nora is smart, skilled and quick minded. Her talent as an actress certainly helps but it’s those innate instincts that makes her ideal for this assignment. The setting this time is Venice, Italy and it’s as much a part of the story as the intrigue, taking us beyond the traditional sites and venues. I loved the subtlety of the espionage, not resorting to the typical tricks and thrills. This is probably more true to reality where the real effort is figuring out truths from lies and being quick on your feet. There are a host of players and it was a challenge figuring out what was fact and fiction and the true end game.

This is a smart and sophisticated story and I just love Nora. I was thrilled when I learned there would be more stories featuring her and like the direction taken for the character. If you enjoy intelligent mysteries that make you work at assembling clues instead of all action, you’ll love this book and series. There is quite a bit of action but isn’t the main focus, just appropriate in the moments and there to support the mind games. I’m just disappointed I waited so long to resume this series.

This was an arc through Netgalley. The Nora Baron character is a middle-aged woman who teaches acting and is the wife of a career CIA officer. Nora's talents, her world travels, and her intuition, also make her a valuable operative. I've not read the first of this series, but will go back to do so. TWWKTM can be a stand alone novel. Having traveled to both Russia and to Venice, I found the book to be true to the culture and geography of both places. And who doesn't like a convent of cool nuns? I'd like to add that there was a blurb in the back on contemporary Venice. I agree with the author that in recent years, Venice has made appalling decisions about tourism. The city was making strides in fighting back the water that was destroying the city. Having been there, I'd been keeping up with the technology which they were using. Then - the decision was made to allow cruise ships to dock there. In the 1990's the city was already overwhelmed with tourists - so to allow unregulated floating cities which displace the area waters (and the water had to go somewhere!) along with the environmental impact of the ships and even more tourists, just baffles me. In sum, TWWKTM is an exciting read and for an arc, it was well-edited and sustained the thrill, and I would urge readers to understand that the Venice in the book, is not the one that currently exists.

I was sent this ARC but didn't want it nor did I request it. Thanks anyway..

Fast paced, intriguing and full of interesting characters.

Nora Baron, actress, university lecturer, mother and wife is once again centre stage in her husband's espionage world. Can Nora successfully orchestrate the ultimate disappearing act of a heavily guarded Russian star? How can Nora accurately assess the risks when no seems to know anything about the secrets they are risking their lives for? Nora knows she is being lied to. The question is which lies matter. When events drive Nora off script and leave her & her team trapped in a foreign country Nora is forced to fall back on her improvisation skills. Will they be enough?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this fast paced mystery. I hadn't read any of Tom Savages' novels before so I decided to read the first book in the Nora Baron Thriller series before reading this one. I'm glad I did. You don't have to read Mrs John Doe first to enjoy this book but to fully benefit & ensure you can fully experience all of the twists and turns without spoilers I recommend you do. I'm confident once you have read one you will want to read the other.

I look forward to more in the series and hope to read more about many of the supporting characters.

Perfect for fans of James Patterson, Robert Ludlums' Jason Bourne series & Stieg Larsons' Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series.

Lots of secrets are slowly exposed as Nora Baron is asked by the CIA to help a Russian actress who is requesting asylum in the United States. Nora has helped the CIA before and they think she is perfect for the job.

The novel starts off quite slowly but the pace then quickens. Various interesting places in Europe were used as locations which made for a fun read. More Mystery than Thriller, I would read another Nora Baron adventure

Fatima

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

Alibi and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Woman Who Knew Too Much. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Nora is awakened in the night with Morse code, which is a secret between her and her husband Jeff. Opening the door to find Jeff's boss, the NYC director of the CIA field station there, Nora is intrigued to learn the reason for their visit. Because Nora is an actress and teacher, she has a particular set of skills, which the CIA would like to utilize. Asked to smuggle a famous Russian actress, Galina Rostova, to America because she possesses vital information, Nora soon discovers that the job is more complicated than she realized. With the assistance of some unexpected allies, will Nora be able to complete her mission?

Nora Baron reminds me of the fictitious character Jessica Fletcher from the television series Murder She Wrote, which gives the book a sort of charm. The conclusion was a little too easy, though I did find the plot to be interesting. Nora is an easy character to like, despite the fact that the books are a little too over the top. Mystery/spy novel readers will enjoy taking The Woman Who Knew Too Much on a plane or to the beach.

This was just one of those books that was so so, to me. It didn't leap off the pages, and I probably wouldn't read another book in the series.

I almost didn't read this one. Spies are not my favorite thing but this author writes an excellent tale. He draws you in, spoon feeds you hints, and makes you worry about the characters. Everyone is in danger. You don't play around with Russia...

Alibi and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It has been published, so you can grab a copy now.

Nora is asked to do a special job by her husband's employer. He knows she has acting skills so he sends her to meet a Russian actress who is trying to defect. She and her team, no actual agents, will pretend to be a TV show who wants to feature this new play and artist.

The first thing you learn is that everybody is a spy or part of the underground. They're in Venice and even the boatman is on the plan. As they play their parts, they find out things that make the defecting woman's story look false. She lies to them to start with. Then they find out she has stolen money. She's not what she seems.

Nora plays along, learns what she can, and then asks to see if her suspicions are confirmed. They are. When her husband gets stabbed, she understands just how dangerous the Russians are.

The ending is very ironic and very fitting. The users get used and good wins over evil. Also, Nora's husband survives. All is well in Nora's world.

A modern spy novel set in a fictionalised Venice. A cold war novel that never quite works at any level. I suppose that all spy novels require that you suspend belief to a certain degree but this novel was a step too far. Loosely borrowing the plot of Argo sending in an untrained team to surprise a waiting host was barely credible. It's possible that my intimate knowledge of Italy, and Italian culture made the superficiality of the Italian portrait jar too much for the rest of the novel to work.
The prose was fine and didn't draw attention to itself, the story was well told, with some good characterisation of Nora Baron, the heroine. In the end the book was a very quick and easy read. Harmless.

“The Woman Who Knew Too Much” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Tom Savage (http://tomsavagebooks.com). Mr. Savage has published nine novels, two under the pseudonym of T. J. Phillips. This is the second of his “Nora Baron” thrillers.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story begins in the US, but most of it takes place in Venice, Italy. The primary character is actress and now college professor Nora Baron.

Baron’s husband is a CIA agent. Her husband’s boss approaches her with a special request. He wants her assistance to help a Russian actress defect from the touring troop she is with when it appears in Venice. The job is supposed to be easy and relatively harmless, but it proves to be much more complicated. Baron begins to have serious questions about the woman who has asked for help in defecting.

I enjoyed the 8+ hours I spent reading this 251 page Mystery Thriller. I found this book particularly interesting since my wife and I were in Venice in November of 2016. I liked the character of Nora Baron. While this is the second novel in the series, it does read well as a stand-alone novel. There is some action, but most of the story is about finding out what is behind the proposed defection and the intrigue between the major characters. The cover art is OK, with a hint of Venice. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).