"Leonard is a young British man who works for the British Post Office. He is sent to post World War II, pre-Wall Berlin to work on a top secret joint venture between the American and British military. They are digging a tunnel in order to enable them to tap into Russian phone lines for the purposes of spying. Leonard, who is a total innocent when he arrives in Berlin, is thrust into an unfamiliar world of secrecy and mistrust. Not only is he involved in a project to spy on the Russians, but the Americans and British, who are working together, are mistrustful of each other as well. Leonard works under a paranoid American named Bob Glass. Despite Glass's warnings, Leonard gets involved with a German woman named Maria who has a violent ex-husband that turns up occasionally. Through his relationship with Maria, Leonard loses every kind of innocence he had--sexual, moral, patriotic. The circumstances of their relationship lead Leonard not only to murder and covering up that crime, but also to betrayal of his job and country. "
Heather B., Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of The Innocent
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases - 20% Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40% How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- depressing/sad
Time/era of story:
- 1930's-1950's
Spying/Terrorism Thriller
Yes
Cloak & Dagger Plotlets:
- main char. spying/sabotage
- govt. doing secret bad things abroad
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
War-time military intelligence mission?
Yes
Who's the terrorist enemy here?
- commies!
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story?
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- engineer
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How much violence does he/she use?
- just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an organization
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- Germany
City?
Yes
City:
- dangerous
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies
How many deaths?
- 1
Sex
Yes
What kind of sex:
- actual description of sex
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
