Suspenseful historical fiction is I MUST BETRAY YOU. Ruth Sepetys has a talent for making her readers feel like they know the characters! The opening chapters delve into the mystery of why Cristian must work as a spy in 1980s Romania under the Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Immeasurably the pain of the poverty and spying is felt in Cristian’s family, his parents and his sick grandfather and his poor sister, who are trapped in an awful country. The motivation for Cristian is a compelling hook to draw in the reader and ask what would you do in this circumstance? I loved her description of the bleak architecture and school buildings without electricity or Hope. I think this historical fiction must be a wonderful and intellectual novel. Her characters are well developed and have empathy for each other.