Ruta Sepetys: I Must Betray You

I read this novel for Battle of the Books, but I also wanted to read it. I keep trying Sepetys novels, thinking I'm really going to like them, and then finding myself disappointed. This novel was an exception. This is probably the best Sepetys novel I've read so far.

I Must Betray You is the story of Romania behind the Iron Curtain. Christian Florescu is seventeen. His grandfather, an intellectual, questions the current regime, and Christian finds himself agreeing. Romanians are struggling; waiting in long lines hoping for food, spies everywhere, never knowing who's an informer and who isn't. Amidst these tensions, Christian is confronted by an agent of the secret police and blackmailed into informing on Dan Van Dorn, the son of the American Ambassador. Stuck between his beliefs and his fear, Christian does as he's told, hoping that he can dupe the agent.

I loved this book, more than any other Sepetys novel I've read. While Sepetys excels at many things in her writing, I've always felt that she didn't know how to end her books. I Must Betray You is vastly different. Instead of hasty character deaths and messy ribbon-tying, I Must Betray You neatly ties up the story for a conclusion that felt both realistic and satisfying.

I've always appreciated that Ruta Sepetys tells stories that are rarely (if ever) told in the United States. Her novels give voice to stories that have not been told nearly enough. I enjoyed that aspect of I Must Betray You the most. We just don't study the Communist Bloc in much detail here in the U.S., so this story was something I had very little knowledge of.

I loved the characters in this book. I loved Christian's voice throughout the novel. I loved that it felt like this was a book he chose to write after his experiences with being an informer and the revolution that followed. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the "official reports" with Christian's tale. This showed his flawed perspective and just how limited it was. It also adds to the tension of the novel and gives hints that someone closer to Christian is also an informer.

As I said before, the plot for this book is reasonably well thought out. I did feel that I was blindsided by some of the suddenness of events, like when Bunu is killed and when the revolution begins. I didn't think this was a deal-breaker for the novel as these events were meant to seem unforeseeable, but they just felt abrupt.

Overall, I rate this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

PG for some violence