Shout out naar de ontwerper van de cover Studio Jan de Boer. Een vernuftig beeld dat meteen de oorzaak ontsluiert van hoofdpersonage en partizaan Greta. Slimme verwijzing naar het spionage schaakspel. Een andere verwijzing naar het schaken is de naam van een van de slechteriken. Karpov was ooit een beroemde schaker, maar er gingen ook geruchten over zijn betrekkingen met de Russische geheime dienst. Of dat waar is, is onbekend.

Ook trekt de schrijver een lijntje tussen de internationale verhoudingen in de 20ste eeuw en de schaaktoernooien die toen plaatsvonden. Immers, het strijdtoneel van de Koude Oorlog speelde zich niet alleen af op nucleair en spionagegebied maar ook in de wereld van de schaaktoernooien. De schaakpartijen tussen Amerikaan Bobby Fisher en de Rus Boris Spasski zijn legendarisch.I have hesitated to speak specifically of plot points because the novel conveys these much better than I ever could. I will simply conclude by saying that this is an extremely well written novel and is a must read. I recommend this book to those well acquainted with the spy/thriller/historical fiction genres and also for those who are looking to read a genuinely good book that might be out of their usual reading lists! The author also adds to the near confusion by starting a chapter with a previously unmentioned event and then proceeds to explain said event as the chapter moves on, so it eventually does become relatively clear as to what's going on! If Sergei had something big and he’s taken it to one of the capitalist countries, we’ve got a problem. Like suddenly the machine isn’t playing with chess pieces, it’s playing with Germany and Poland. Figuring out all the moves. What chance would our senile generals have against that?’”

If I were to have any slight criticisms against this book they would be that sometimes the chapters jump around time periods and locations slightly too frequently (and that some may find it hard to keep up) however it does not detract from the main story. Additionally, I wish that Michael and Yulia were given slightly more time to develop as characters however this is not a major criticism as they still worked well in the way that they were written. Ik had het niet zo gemakkelijk om in het verhaal te komen. Reden hiervoor was dat ik van in het begin overstelpt werd door verschillende namen en hun achtergrond, plaatsen, settings waardoor ik precies mijn plaats in het boek niet kon vinden. Immersive, intriguing, and intelligent - incredibly impressive, up there with the best in the genre Lee ChildNote: My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

These are the players, who, along with a jolly KGB-fixer type, run around over the course of the story trying to... actually, trying to explain the plot is hard... It involves the girl's father trying to leak Russian nuclear game theory strategy to the West while a pedophile sociopath Russian intelligence bigwig tries to stop him. Meanwhile, the partisan woman pops in and out throughout, as the sociopath Russian is on her list of people to kill... There's quite a lot going on -- the young man's father is also a bigwig in British intelligence, the Russian girl's mother is in Krushchev's inner circle, and the jolly KGB guy and the sociopath have a lengthy shared history, etc... It could have done with some streamlining. A dazzlingly confident debut...Whether he's evoking the Spanish Civil War, the scheming and counter-scheming in Khrushchev's Kremlin or two brainy teenagers falling in love, Worrall rises impressively to every challenge The Sunday Times (Thriller of the Month) Greta, the Partisan of the title, is a merciless killer who learnt her trade in the forests of Lithuania during the Second World War. She is on a mission to avenge the atrocities carried out during and after the war, hunting down Nazi and Soviet war criminals, and a British traitor. Her search is deeply personal in nature and it is her need for revenge that is at the heart of the narrative. Immersive, intriguing, and intelligent - incredibly impressive, up there with the best in the genre' Lee Child I got this book right when Waterstones had it for sale, a bit earlier than elsewhere. It had sounded quite promising with strong female characters, espionage, chess and international politics set during the WWII and Cold War eras.The Partisan impresses with the breadth of its scope and its seemingly accurate depiction of the various historical events that it covers. There is also a great deal of poignancy and sadness in Worrall’s portrayal of the horrors of war and the brutality of the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The characters are fulsome and credible, and very engaging. Ook het gevoel van het beloofde spannende spionagespel blijft enigszins achterwege. Dat is mede te wijten aan het vele gespring tussen personages en tijden. Dit -en het verhaal uit de voorgaande alinea- geeft het verhaal een chaotisch tintje. Het roept de vraag op waar het plot heen gaat. Is er wel een richting? En waarom vertelt Greta haar verhaal in 2004 maar is de epiloog gesitueerd in 1966? Verwarring alom. De verwijzingen naar schaken en schaakpartijen komen regelmatig terug in De partizaan. Toch lijkt het schaaktoernooi waar Joelia en Michael elkaar ontmoeten naar verhouding van weinig belang. Het lijkt de bedoeling te zijn dat het verhaal gelijkenis heeft met het spelen van het middenspel en eindspel van een schaakpartij. Joelia’s vader leerde haar om in het middenspel zo snel mogelijk alle stukken uit te ruilen en te offeren. In het boek lijkt dit juist onderdeel van het eindspel uit te maken. Pas op het laatst vallen de meeste slachtoffers. This book was a completely unexpected find at the bookstore window shelf in Durham. The last copy in that store.

Lithuania was independent, was taken over by the Soviets, then by the Nazis. As the Nazis weakened, the Soviets moved in again, treating the country like just another pawn on their chessboard. The Cold War as a game of chess. You don’t need to know anything about how chess is played or how players sacrifice pieces to gain an advantage. That’s because you will see in real time how the Cold War players sacrifice their real players when necessary. The powers-that-be may even say Sorry, but you know why you have to go. You play the game, you take your chances.De flaptekst ( die ik normaal nooit lees) deed me uitkijken naar een spannend verhaal. Het liefdesverhaal van Yulia en Michael, twee tieners elk aan een andere zijde van het IJzeren Gordijn, die elkaar leren kennen via een schaaktornooi in Londen. Vasili, de grootste spion van de Sovjet-Unie blijkt één van hun trouwe bondgenoten, maar dat blijkt Greta een verzetstrijdster, die jaagt op heel wat gevaarlijke mannen, ook te zijn. Je wordt met deze historische spionagethriller meegesleept van Cambridge tot Moskou. Van het oostfront in de Tweede Wereldoorlog tot de Koude Oorlog. Wordt dit het dodelijkste potje schaken ooit? It was unlikely that the Russians would try any thuggery in a busy London thoroughfare in broad daylight, but you never knew. In the mid-1950s two agents from what was then the Ministry of Internal Affairs had attempted to snatch her in Paris while she was walking down a shopping street much like this one. Be bold again if you want to, my little friends, she thought. I splashed your blood all over the white paving stones that day, and I will do it again.” Overall, The Partisan is a very impressive debut that bodes well for Worrall future career as a spy novelist. De partizaan suist in een jachtig tempo, springt doordacht tussen tijdperken en oorlogsgebieden. Om meteen te herlezen. In 2004, ‘Greta’ is relating aspects of her life during World War II to Indrė Žukauskienė. Now elderly, Greta had been a resistance fighter. She, and two Jewish girls Riva and Vita, had hidden in the Lithuanian forests. Greta sought to avenge their deaths at the hands of German Nazis and has pursued and eliminated Nazis ever since. But Greta is also hunting an influential, elusive Russian she failed to kill during the war. Maxim Karpov, now holding a senior position in the Kremlin, was responsible for killing an entire village of Lithuanians whom he suspected of aiding the partisans.