I picked up this book and pretty much didn’t put it down until I was done. I was drawn so deeply into this world. I don’t think I had ever read anything set in Romania during their communist regime or the revolution. I love when a story can tell me about a time period/place that I wasn’t really aware of before. There have been so many dark periods that we try to hide from so I love a fresh voice that sheds light on our mistakes and helps to prevent their being repeated. I also really loved that the main character in this story is a 17 year old who is trying to figure himself out while being blackmailed into being a spy. It really helped drive home just how scary and awful it was there. Cristian is 17 and is requested after school one day to stay and meet with an agent of the government and was blackmailed into informing on the son of the US ambassador since his mother worked there cleaning their home and he would go to collect her to walk her home sometimes. This story started slow in the beginning but the end zoomed with the pure chaos of the times. This was my first book by Ruta Sepetys but it will definitely not be my last!