Sleeping with the Enemy [Hardcover]

Evelyn Anthony (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003

With a new foreword by the author In occupied France, it's not always easy to tell the difference between collaboration and resistance. In an atmosphere of betrayal and brutality, the village of St Blaize is forced to cooperate with the occupying troops, while unknown to them German scientists based in the village work on a deadly nerve gas. But events conspire to turn the villagers into heroes rather than cowards, and bring the Death's Head Battalion of the SS to wreak vengeance on St Blaize. Years later, a woman hunts for revenge. The horror and anguish of the past must be lived again, and shameful secrets and forbidden lusts must come to light.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

For sheer excitement, Anthony's latest thriller is top-notch. When Louise de Bernard is visited by the wife of an old enemy, she is assaulted with dreadful memories of living in German-occupied France during World War II. The enemy, German soldier Heinz Minden, was billeted with Louise and her husband, Jean, during the war. Although Jean chose to collaborate with the Germans and formed an uneasy friendship with Minden, Louise despised the officer and detested her husband's weakness. Then handsome Roger Savage, an American spy posing as Louise's cousin, arrived, intent on destroying the supply of lethal nerve gas being manufactured by the Germans in the nearby village. His operation succeeds, but in the process, he murders a high-ranking German general. The Germans punish the entire village for Savage's attack, and the form of retribution they choose is particularly merciless and horrifying. Louise, torn between loyalty to her husband and her growing love for Savage, uses the only weapon she can think of to stop the Germans from destroying her home, her family, and her village. The suspense is palpable, the action nerve-tingling, and the story gripping and original. Despite a sentimental conclusion, this is a white-knuckled, hair-raising page-turner of a thriller. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Evelyn Anthony began her writing career after meeting her husband in 1949. Primarily self-taught, she was educated at home during the War--first writing short stories for magazines. She went on to achieve success with her historical romances and espionage and thriller stories. Her novels have been selected for the American Literary Guild and The Tamarind Seed was made into a film starring Omar Sharif and Julie Andrews.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727859471
• ISBN-13: 978-0727859471
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,951,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sleeping With the Enemy, May 15, 2003

By 

Ginger L Hobbs (Universal City, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sleeping with the Enemy (Hardcover)

This is a good read of the WW II era, about the choices people make during war time and their consequences....However, this book was originally published in 1973 under the title"Stanger at the Gates".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good story but not factual, May 29, 2008

By 

princehal "princehal" (Vienna Austria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sleeping with the Enemy (Hardcover)

In May 1944, a small French village is getting along peacefully with their Nazi occupiers until an OSS agent parachutes in with an important mission, one that could turn the tide of war. Many of the villagers are collaborators with the Nazis, including the count at the chateau. His wife, Louise, an American, has lost all respect for him because of his weak stance with the Nazis. A German officer is killed in mysterious circumstances and all hell breaks loose, with fearful retributions to the village. In the chateau lives a Nazi officer who is crazy with desire for Louise. All these circumstances create a great story and a suspenseful one. My problem with it is that Ms. Anthony should have had a WWII historian read the book before publication because of wincing factual errors. Or she should have had a better editor. Allan Dulles, the head of OSS in Bern did not know for certain that there were death camps in the Reich until the late fall of 1944. Of course most people knew about the concentration camps, but not extermination camps. Dulles had heard rumors of the death camps from escaping Polish officers, but nothing was confirmed until much later. French villagers in May 1944 certainly would not have known this. Ms. Anthony is a very talented writer and I have enjoyed several of her books, especially The Tamarind Seed. I just wish she had done more research for this one.