New Book Alert: Code Name Jane Doe: A Call to Action by Jane Darrcie; Modern Spy Novel Does Not Skimp on the Training and Education of the Spy

 

New Book Alert: Code Name Jane Doe: A Call to Action by Jane Darrcie; Modern Spy Novel Does Not Skimp on The Training and Education of The Spy

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Let's see. My biggest topics this year so far have been: Memoirs and Family Histories, Fantasies in which young women travel to enchanted worlds, and Dark Fantasy vampire romances. Now, we can add a carry over theme from last year: Action novels starring female spies. 

The female spy genre this year includes Kit Sergeant's Women Spies of World War II about the women spies like Didi Nearne, Odette Samsone, Mathilde Lily-Claire, Yvonne Rudellat, Andree Borell, Noor Inayat Khan, and Francine Agazarian who provided information and helped shaped the Allied victory during World War II.

Another spy novel takes a modern approach but is no less suspenseful, nail biting, and character driven. That is Jane Darrcie's Code Name Jane Doe: A Call to Action.

The spy that is called into action is named Jelena Prazich, a Sergeant in the U.S. Marines with a foul mouth and bad temper. She is well decorated and has earned respect in a mostly male dominated branch of the military. Now some high ranking officers have noticed her abilities, her fluency in Russian (thanks to her father who emigrated from there), and her inner strength and resilience, and they have the perfect assignment for her. They would like her to get involved with a certain target and retrieve a thumb drive for them. Oh yes, and she has to sign these forms which means that she won't reveal anything that was said about their meetings and that the organization won't be held responsible if she is seriously injured or killed in action. Also, that if she is killed, then they will tell her parents and brother whatever cause that they make up but not the truth. Well, that sounds pleasant and not at all suspicious! 

Jelena agrees to the terms after signing the forms and writing a letter to her parents to be released in the event of her death. Then she is ready for training and the well, I don't want to say fun but the suspense and terror definitely begins.

Code Name Jane Doe is one of those types of novels that takes the glamor and flash of espionage and leaves the brutal reality. Think less Ian Fleming and more John LeCarre. 

It does not skimp on the hardships that recruits go through. In fact, the book is one novel length training exercise for Jelena in which she gets imprisoned and is tortured in a mock interrogation scenario then is monitored as she and her handler gather information and end up betrayed.

The interrogation scenario is particularly notable because it covers almost a third of the book. Page after page, Jelena is subjected to beatings, water torture, shocks, and constant threats from her interrogator, Bruce. She shows a lot of strength in character and is able to transfer her mind into childhood memories to provide a mental escape. 

Jelena announces that they will never break her and even though they take the challenge, they give up before she does. 

While the interrogation chapters are a turning point for Jelena's character, there is intense graphic violence where she comes close to surrendering and wondering if this job is worth it. 

There were times when the torture transcends the pages and affects the Reader. I have Anxiety Disorder and sometimes the torture was so real and intense that it triggered panic attacks within me. I do not blame Darrcie for this. If anything, it shows what a gifted writer that she is to make someone picture a torture scene so realistically. I blame my own weak nerves for not being able to handle it. 

Even after the interrogation is over, Jelena is always "on." She is given a new name, Jane Doe. Many of her abilities like mentally escaping from imprisonment, resilience to traumatic situations, and withstand punishment longer than most recruits, makes her stand out so the name, Jane Doe, is designed to make her blend in. "It's noone and everyone at the same time," Bruce says.

Jane's time training under her handler, Kate, is an exercise in learning about deception, subterfuge, and sometimes making tough decisions. When Kate and Jelena question a potential double agent, Kate tells her to slip a drug in her drink just so they can sneak out while she is asleep. To Jelena's horror, the drug kills the woman instantly. 

As a military vet, Jelena is used to killing people but from a distance but not up close. She realizes that Kate, who was originally seen as a flighty feminine Southern Belle has a cold and callous side to her personality. Jelena also realizes that to succeed in this line of work, sometimes she has to be cold and callous as everyone else. She has to take lives and not think about the consequences.

Many spy books give the Reader the impression that even though the life of a spy is hard, the training grueling, and the decisions difficult, there is always a sense that they are doing this for the greater good. Their stories are filled with courage and self sacrifice and their training is greater because of that. 

What makes Code Name Jane Doe stand out is because of the emphasis is on the training and early assignments with minimal results, it makes one wonder if the stress, deceit, and decisions that spies go through is even worth it. There is still an admiration for their courage and sacrifice but that is augmented by the reality of their situation. They have to carry suspicion everywhere they go and purposely have to chisel away their humanity. 

There are some drawbacks to this book. Jelena gets into a pointless romance with one of her interrogators. I admit that I get irritated with action novels that have female protagonists that get thrown in a romance subplot and this one is no exception. Sometimes, it's fine but most of the time, it's unnecessary filler. The romance crosses several boundaries and is highly questionable for both Jelena and her potential love interest. They could work just as well as cohorts that work together and have each other's backs and the book wouldn't miss a beat. But as it is, the romance is anticlimactic and ends abruptly. 

More importantly, is the occupational closeness among Jelena, Kate, and Bruce. Bruce and Kate push Jelena through the training because they see the potential agent that she can be. Even though the three push one another to their limits, they see fellow soldiers that will defend and kill for one another if need be. Sometimes in the hardness, you cling to those who share that experience with you, even if they are partly responsible for that hardship. A bond is formed, one that transcends allieship to family.

Speaking of family, there are some possible questions and suspicions about Jelena's family. Her parents are loving wonderful people and she comes from an intriguing background of Native and Russian-American heritage ("You figure it out," she said.) Her parents gave her the right advice to survive her training and move forward. They guided her to transport her mind in times of trouble, how to use weapons, and survive any situation. 

Yes, they are wonderful people and it's the perfect advice. Is it almost too perfect? Could it be coincidence that Jelena's parents told her as a child exactly what she needed as an adult to survive in the espionage world? Were they just simple educators, as their daughter thought, or is Jelena's resilience a family trait? Could her parents have been spies themselves? These are questions that are unanswered by the first volume, concentrating solely on Jelena's training and first assignments, but they are there all the same.

Code Name Jane Doe: A Call to Action is a different female spy novel from Women Spies of World War II, but it is just as suspenseful, filled with tense situations and tough decisions, and is led by a strong independent lead to guide the Reader through this duplicitous dangerous world.