"Levi's War" by Julie Thomas is a gripping historical novel that delves into the remarkable journey of Levi Horowitz, a Jew navigating the treacherous landscape of World War II. The narrative skillfully weaves between past and present, unraveling a tale of courage, resilience, and the depths of human strength. Thomas's vivid prose transports readers to the tumultuous era of 1938 Berlin and beyond, as Levi's story unfolds in the face of adversity and danger. The juxtaposition of Levi's experiences with the recording from 2017 adds a layer of intrigue, propelling the plot forward with a perfect blend of shock and heroism. The author's ability to capture the emotional complexities of the characters, coupled with a compelling historical backdrop, makes this a truly captivating read. For those already familiar with Thomas's previous works, "Levi's War" proves to be an enthralling addition to the Horowitz family saga. With its blend of suspense, historical detail, and impactful storytelling, this book leaves readers utterly breathless and hungry for more.

This book is based on real people and real events during World War II. The story follows Levi and his journey through Europe during the war.

I found it very graphic when sharing about the atrocities in the concentration camps and throughout Italy. It was also pretty descript of killing techniques used by the characters. I also didn't care for the ending.

I would only recommend it to readers that are interested in books about World War II.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360 for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is the first book I’ve read in the Horowitz Chronicles series. This book is considered fiction. However, some of the characters are based on real life individuals. Levi Horowitz’s story is interesting. He serves as a spy. But not even his family is aware of his work for the British Intelligence. Their discovery of a video in which Levi is debriefed and he states that he will share his story one time and never speak of it again. Levi’s courage and struggles will tug at your heart. This is a good addition to books that deal with the atrocities experienced during WWII.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Great book. This is my first time reading anything by this author. I have really been enjoying historical fiction. Books and this one definately did not disappoint. I look forward to reading more by this author.

This is the 3rd book in the Horowitz chronicles,. The series focuses on a different Horowitz family member in each book. In this book, Levi Horowitz is a musician who’s in the Resistance. He eventually ends up in a position to affect the outcome of the war. He’s not a natural fighter, and has to reconcile the gentle musician with the man fighting to save all he holds dear.

I really liked this WWII historical fiction book. It’s well written and suspenseful, and the inner thoughts of the characters were fascinating. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

When I started reading this Julie Thomas story about Levi Horowitz, I did not realize it was the third in this family's fictional history. While this was a stand alone story and I did like it, I feel that I would have enjoyed it more having already read 'The Keeper of Secrets' about the priceless violin and 'Rachel's Legacy' about the youngest daughter before reading about Levi, the eldest Horowitz son. Both the violin and Rachel are talked about in this third installment in the series. Levi's story really begins with Hitler's rise to power beginning in 1933, Levi's escape to England, and his heroic actions to save humanity and destroy Hitler and his followers. He does all this while hiding secrets of his own.

'Levi's War' was somewhat long-winded and somewhat enjoyable. The plot was a bit repetitive and certain things in particular were repeated over and over again. While it is the third book in a series, I didn't have much trouble piecing together what had happened in the other books. Some of the more "shocking" plot events fell a little short for me, and on top of that, the characters could be fairly irritating at times. While it was certainly an experience, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped I would.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This is book #3 in the Horowitz Chronicles.

Levi Horowitz was living in Berlin as a Jew, but in 1938, it was not the place to be. In 2017 a recording appears from the archives and shows a 1945 Levi Horowitz accounting for the last few years of his life and what happened when he left Berlin. His family assumed he was safe in London. He was anything but safe.

This book chronicles in a past/current depiction of his family's reaction to Levi's life during that time. Unfortunately Levi passed away prior to the tape being found, so the family is left with this visual diary of his life during the war.

This book was a fascinating read - the back and the forth I felt like I was watching the family's reaction as the story developed. I have not read the other 2 books so I do not know how much overlap there is in this trilogy.

Tried really hard to love it, but just couldn’t. I didn’t hate it but don’t think I will be rereading it anytime soon! It was worth the read though!

I didn’t realize this book was part of a trilogy. That being said, it’s fine to read as a stand alone, but I wasn’t all that impressed with it.

This is probably one of the better World War Two books I’ve read in the past year. Levi’s War gives a brand new, and much needed, perspective of the war that has been missing for decades.

This book follows one of my favorite types of historical fiction, the past and the present both in the book. If you have read some of the authors other books you might have come across some of Levi’s siblings. This is Levi’s story and what one of courage and bravery.
This book, as the others, are very well written and engaging the readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

Levi's War is the story of Levi Horowitz. Levi is a German Jew whose father runs a bank in Berlin. Right after Kristallnacht, Levi is sent to London to stay safe. Not long after arriving he is picked up with other foreigners and sent to a camp to live out the war. It turns out that because he came from a prosperous family Levi was a piano player which comes in handy when the British government comes calling. When the Brits want someone who can get close to the Nazi leadership they pull Levi in for that job. It turns out that the Nazi's love to hold parties and their music.
Levi's goes on to spend the war in Germany and Italy spying on and then fighting the Nazis. In 2017, the Brits find a recording from 1945 of Levi telling his war story. When the Brits go to find Levi, they discover that he has passed but his brother and family are still around. The family is invited to view the video and for the first time they learn about Levi's War.
This is apparently part of a trilogy centering on Levi and his younger brother and sister. Now you do not have to have read the other two in order to read this as the stories do not really intertwine. I did not know there were other books until the acknowledgements at the end. This WWII story feels different than others I have read recently which seem to be about female protagonists that work for the resistance. I really enjoyed this story and found the convention of the two time frames worked really well and was not just a "new" way to tell a story.

I was really surprised and happy with how much I enjoyed this book!! I went in not knowing much about it and loved the premise. There were a few things I would change since I was a bit confused with the present timeline and characters but overall I thought it was a beautiful story that was rich with the plot and the characters were well written.

Levi’s War continues the historical fiction series about the Horowitz family. In book three Thomas focuses on the eldest son of the family, Levi, and his life during WWII. After reading the first two and absolutely loving them, I was really excited to pick up the third installation. The story was extremely interesting and kept my hooked till the end.

The book was advertised as being able to be read as the third in a trilogy or on its own. Because of this, there was a great deal of verbatim from the first two books to fill the reader in on past events and characters. The characters in Levi’s War were extremely interesting, and if you didn't read the first two books you will have their backgrounds in this book.

The main theme of this book speaks to being who you truly are, not who you think you should be. I think Thomas did a magnificent job discussing the internal conflict someone goes through when wanting to be their true self but still striving to please others, all whist fighting to stay alive. Levi’s War discusses important LGBT issues during the Second World War and I think this book would be a good read for someone interested in World War Two fiction who hasn’t already read the first two instalments.

I'm of two minds about Levi's War, the closing chapter of the Horowitz trilogy. I wanted to like it much more than I did, and I wanted it to be able to stand on its own, and it doesn't. I wouldn't say it's a crushing disappointment, as it is not, but neither is it a rip-roaring tale of a fictional Jew (the Levi of the title) trained as a spy and assassin (more on this later), who by sheer happenstance lands in Hitler's inner circle during WWII.

I get that historical fiction, and especially historical spy/thriller tales, need a lot of suspension of disbelief and a big helping of coincidence, but this really strained my willingness to remain in the book. But, as my power cut off during a storm, and remained off for over two hours, and having already read the other books on my Netgalley shelf, I didn't have much else to do.

As might be clear from the above, it's an easy enough, although rather pedestrian, read, and I did complete it during the outage. It is the third book in a trilogy, and this time, I'd say that reading the first two would have been a huge help to keep track of who everyone was, and who was related to whom. Completely denoting it as a third book in that way would have saved Ms Thomas the need to insert explanatory passages from the first two books, and would have saved us having to read them - multiple times throughout. While I know some people minded how the story was told - a young, 1945 Levi tells his story to a camera, the film is found during archival digitizing, and the immediate, extended, and descendant family watching that film - but this was fine with me. I didn't care for just how dry - almost clinically dry - it was.

If you're coming to this book and its weighty subject expecting to find a deeply emotional, resonant work set during one of the most shameful eras of human existence, you won't find it here. There isn't anyone in this book who seemed to be passionate about anything at all, except for Levi when playing the piano. His relationship with a childhood friend and a young Luftwaffe officer was mundane, and it wasn't love that occupied Levi's thoughts, but textbook dry, junior high muddling. Since homosexuality was criminalized, I'd have expected much more about how Levi and Erik evaded detection, since it's clear Levi spends many nights - consecutive nights - at Erik's place, something that surely would have generated gossip.

Beyond that, the book is a rather straightforward account of what Levi did during the war. He leaves Berlin, bound for London via Sweden, but gets held up by a Nazi at a checkpoint. Now, Levi at this point if just Levi, the musician. In this scene, he may as well be James Bond: the Nazi's Ruger jams not once, but twice when he tries to shoot Levi. Levi needs only to step into the Nazi as the latter is about to pistol whip him and throw what amounts to one punch, which slams the man against a wall an knocks him out. Then Levi picks up the gun and flees with his belongings into the woods, magically making it to London despite having no military or survival training.

All the right doors open for Levi when they need to, and all the right people appear for him when the plot needs it. He works as a banker until total war breaks out, at which point he is placed in a camp with other refugees. He's eventually tapped by the British to be a spy - and not just any spy: a spy whose purpose is to get into the circle of high level Nazis in order to send information back to the Allies. The British train him in less than a year, and he's off to Berlin, to work in Goebbels' office, translating English newspaper articles. He's tapped to play piano at a party, eventually making it up the Nazi food chain until hes sent to play or Hitler himself. In doing so, he manages to send back quite a it of material, because the Nazis apparently don't keep their mouths shut about organizational issues and/or chitchat when junior officers are present.

Levi eventually leaves Germany with Erik, who has recently been snuck out of Dachau worse for wear. They decide that Italy is where they should go, to fight with the partisans there, and that's just what they do, traveling at night and hiding out during the day - something Levi does again later, on his own, and in neither instance is there any threat to being discovered. There's no tension on those pages or many others in this book.

The Allies win, Levi is debriefed, and off he goes to live his life, with his relatives only finding out the story all those years later, watching the film. The ending sputters out a little, with a genealogy search that says flat out the circle of the Horowitz tale is over, instead of using a more metaphorical image to end on.

It's decent enough if you're casting around for something to read and have a few hours to do so. But if you haven't read the first two books, just a warning that you'll see the same information presented over and over because you weren't there for the first two.

Two and half stars, rounded to three, and that only because the story, in its own framework, held itself together to the end.

Thanks to Harper360 and NetGalley for the review copy.

Levi Horowitz was a German Jew living in Berlin at the start of WWII. He eventually flees to London, where he is asked to return to Germany and serve as a spy for British Intelligence.
Levi is a gifted pianist, and he uses his skills to reach the inner circle of the Nazi regime.
The story of Levi’s family is also told, in 2017 London. The family learns more about Levi’s time during the war, and many revelations are revealed about Levi himself, and his role in defeating the Nazis.
Overall, I found the storyline to be an interesting one. However, the pacing of this book was very off to me. Some really interesting plot points were just glossed over, and other parts of the story took way too long to get through.

Levi's War is the compelling story of Levi Horowitz and the life he led and secrets he kept during WWII. Secrets no one knew until a recording he made surfaces in 2017.

This is my first book by Julie Thomas, but I plan on getting more of her work to read, especially the other books in this trilogy. Levi's War took my breath away!

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a WWII historical fiction that connects with others. I had not read the other books and felt the author did a good job of putting the details in place to understand and enjoy this novel. Very gripping!

Levi Horowitz is a talented Jewish musician who is caught up in the Nazi Regime. It is not by choice, but he is asked to spy on the elite of Hitlers posse at their parties where he will be the concert pianist. He is befriended by many individuals and eventually he becomes noticed by the man himself, Hitler.

This is a third book and final in a series of three of the Horowitz family. I was luckily enough to have read one of the other books to be familiar with the family, but this could be read as a stand alone until the end and then you may be confused about all the players. However, I do believe if you read further it all comes together and the book will make complete sense.
I personally thought this book moved slower than the other two books. Yes, of course I had to read the other one before jumping into this one. I think there were still areas left unanswered and some things that should have been left private, but during wartime nothing is private.

Overall, the book was written very well and the characters were dynamic, but I think there could have been more interesting twists and turns with things between the family dynamics in the states .

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.