The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal – A Riveting Biography of Betty Pack: The American Spy Whose Secrets Changed History

by Howard Blum

The New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Dark Invasion, channels Erik Larson and Ben Macintyre in this riveting biography of Betty Pack, the dazzling American debutante who became an Allied spy during WWII and was hailed by OSS chief General “Wild Bill" Donovan as “the greatest unsung heroine of the war.”

Betty Pack was charming, beautiful, and intelligent—and she knew it. As an agent for Britain’s MI-6 and then America’s OSS during World War II, these qualities proved crucial to her success. This is the remarkable story of this “Mata Hari from Minnesota” (Time) and the passions that ruled her tempestuous life—a life filled with dangerous liaisons and death-defying missions vital to the Allied victory.

For decades, much of Betty’s career working for MI-6 and the OSS remained classified. Through access to recently unclassified files, Howard Blum discovers the truth about the attractive blond, codenamed “Cynthia,” who seduced diplomats and military attachés across the globe in exchange for ciphers and secrets; cracked embassy safes to steal codes; and obtained the Polish notebooks that proved key to Alan Turing’s success with Operation Ultra.

Beneath Betty’s cool, professional determination, Blum reveals a troubled woman conflicted by the very traits that made her successful: her lack of deep emotional connections and her readiness to risk everything. The Last Goodnight is a mesmerizing, provocative, and moving portrait of an exceptional heroine whose undaunted courage helped to save the world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Biography, Espionage, War, Historical

506 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 16, 2016

About the author

Howard Blum is the author of New York Times bestsellers including Dark Invasion, the Edgar Award–winner American Lightning, as well as Wanted!, The Gold Exodus, Gangland, and The Floor of Heaven. Blum is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. While at the New York Times, he was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He is the father of three children, and lives in Connecticut.

Get in touch!
Website: www.HowardBlum.com
Email: Howard@HowardBlum.com
Facebook: Like Howard Blum on Facebook
Twitter: @HowardBlum and @FloorOfHeaven

Reviews

[Brandon Forsyth · Rating 1 out of 5]

"This is a true story," Howard Blum writes in the foreword to his biography of Betty Pack, a spy in World War II. I should have trusted my tingling Spidey-sense and just put the book down right then. What follows over the next 500 pages is a regrettable attempt to tell the reader what people were thinking and tell a history through absolutes. Ms. Pack is a fascinating (and often despicable) character, but there is a discernible lack of critical analysis of the source materials on display here. Mr. Blum writes for Vanity Fair, and this book displays the kind of breathless reporting that publication is sometimes raked over the coals for. But even if this book was classified as fiction, it still suffers from some odd storytelling choices. The book goes back and forth between Betty's spy adventures and her reliving them to an author friend of hers, and the payoff for this framing device feels obligatory and unearned. Only amateur historians and die-hard espionage enthusiasts need apply - Ben Macintyre this ain't.

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 4 out of 5]

The “Mata Hari from Minnesota

If you’ve never heard of Betty Pack, then neither had I until I read this book.

It’s a fascinating story of an American born British diplomat’s wife who was hailed by OSS chief General “Wild Bill" Donovan as “the greatest unsung heroine of the war.”

She seduced and at times fell in love with her targets as she obtained secrets from Polish Officers, Italian Officers and Vichy French diplomats.

Howard Blum, through access to recently unclassified files discovers the truth about the attractive blond, codenamed “Cynthia,” whose missions ranged from the Spanish Civil War to obtaining Polish notebooks that proved key to Alan Turing’s success in breaking the enigma codes. His writing reads like a novel, but he backs up his work with extensive references.

Blum’s book is also the sad tale of a troubled woman unable to form deep emotional connections, resulting in estrangement from her children and her immediate family.

A fascinating read and a great tribute to a brave and amazing woman whose work alone may well have shortened World War 2.

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot vouch for the veracity of this book. The author certainly takes interpretive liberties. But it is a fascinating read. Now I must take other reviewers to task. Many reviews are making a big deal about Betty's morals and her willingness to use men and use sex to further her own ends. They like to point out that she was not very involved with her children. This is just blatant sexism. In almost all of her trysts she was a mistress. Men back then had mistresses. Also, many men abandoned their families for the sake of their intelligence and military careers. And men left their families to throw their bodies at Nazi and Japanese fire. So what if Betty used her sexual powers? It's not as if men were not using deception on a mass basis to con young soldiers into signing up and subjecting themselves to enemy fire. Criticizing Betty for her choices without criticizing the men who handled her is like criticizing sex workers without taking into account all of their male customers.

I agree that this book could have taken on a more critical stance. But that was not the book the author set out to write. It's a book that straddles the line between fiction and non-fiction. It's a book that attempts to re-set our perspective on who the heroes of WWII were. It does its job well.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I struggled through this book thinking with such a decent Goodreads rating it must be me. This wasn't a biography so much as a tabloid recounting of a woman who jumped in bed with pretty much anyone and was constantly finding herself pregnant.
Don't waste your time with this one, there are too many great books out there on WW 2 that aren't this one!

[Jeff Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to give this book two stars. The writing got better as it went but it started off as if the author had never seen an adjective he didn't like. After reading the book I read several reviews most of them really good. I don't agree with them. Sorry, I don't think she's a hero. Much of the complicated world of espionage goes beyond pretty girl meets important diplomat, seduces him in the afternoon, sleeps with him in the evening, he gives her the important information she needs. That's pretty much how the book reads. On only two occasions did she receive information that she acquired through not sleeping with someone and even then she slept with someone to get access. Sorry, I'm really struggling to believe it was that easy. We should have sent this woman over to meet Hitler, she could of stopped the war by the next morning! I read a lot of WWII history and a lot of espionage and this book makes it seem that Bletchley Park, the Polish enigma mathemeticians and several other important code breakers were unnecessary.
The list of spy heroics attributed to Betty are simply unbelievable. The way she easily manipulated each and every man she came into contact who had information she needed is even more unbelievable. On only one occasion does she experience regret for sleeping with someone. I agree with others that there are many regretful incidences in her life--constant infidelity, child abandonment, and many others and the things that are attributed to her to justify it seem to me to be a stretch. I hope I'm wrong and she was responsible for all the informational coups that are attributed to her but I don't think even they can justify her actions.
Having said that, I wish I would have skipped this book. There are many more heroic and credible stories to tell about the war.

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always seen espionage as a compelling picture of spiritual warfare, the Christian's position by grace being that of "agents" of the coming order, poking here and there to expose the limits of the current power structure and its assumptions.

In that vein, this was really enjoyable. The book was especially enjoyable for me when the offer would pause his narrative of the heroine's experience and points to the principles of espionage. Conversely, the actual heroin caused me a healthy discomfort.

In my flesh, I would still prefer God didn't use people flawed in ways I especially disapprove of to accomplish His purposes. I would prefer You leave me complacent, history major though I may be, in my generational assumptions that because those who lived through World War II talked better and dressed better that they were not subject to common temptations.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story of Betty Pack, who worked for British Intelligence during the Second World War and was apparently instrumental in achieving important intelligence coups, is notable mostly because Mrs. Pack was so immoral--she was the ultimate Honey Trap, with no scruples and no inhibitions about the manner of or men with whom she plyed her trade. The author thinks the war could have been lost without her, and perhaps that is true, but it is difficult and perhaps not worthwhile to read of her repeated seductions of weak men, even though she was brave and smart about it. While motivated in part by patriotism, she seems to have been motivated mostly by the boredom of life without constant excitement and danger, and seems to have gone beyond the point where she could not rationalize any immoral choice at a very early age. The author's use of a frame for the story seems like an unnecessary device. The book is thoroughly researched and has extensive notes. I can only guess what the title has to do with the book. Again, even though I finished the book, I cannot recommend it as a worthwhile or enlightening read for anyone.

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Betty Pack was another Mata Hari during WWII. She was an American who spied for the British government and used her womanly wiles and bed to gain secrets.

Blum follows Betty's life from early days until her death. All her various seductions and love interests. Her passionate personality, need for intrigue and adrenaline is what drove her to complete her missions. She slept so many men and ended up pregnant and having numerous abortions all to help complete her mission. Whatever it took.

This reads as a sensational biography and fiction.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hello, fun summer read.

Putting aside my quibbles about this book – let’s just say Mr. Blum’s note in the beginning about the thin line between fact and fiction is an understatement – this is a flat-out fun book to read. I mean, come on! It’s about a socialite who becomes a spy during World War II! And she’s totally cool with using sex as a way to gather intelligence! And there’s a wonderful lack of preachy morals about the ethics of what she’s doing! She loves what she does, doesn’t see the problem with it, and let’s move on with the story.

But this is one of those non-fiction reads that will probably be best enjoyed (especially by history nerds) if viewed more as fiction heavily influenced by actual events. Parts of feel too slick, doubly so in cases when the only sources are those involved in the events, to leave me confident the events as told are not heavily embellished.

Overall, though, this is pretty close to my idea of a perfect summer non-fiction read: it seems serious but reads like a breeze and is just the right amount of sensationalist. Recommended.

[Katelynn Rhoton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof. What should have been a really interesting story was turned into a complete bore. There are two reasons for this: 1.) the author essentially copy and pasted this story from previously published and unpublished books, so it kind of felt like reading a book report, and 2.) the author left out just about anything that would humanize Betty and instead decided to focus on her bedroom exploits.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that her sexual escapades played a big part in her role within the world of intelligence and that, ultimately, Betty Pack was a pretty selfish person who thought solely of what would please her. I don't think any writer could have turned her into a wholly sympathetic character. However, she was an intelligent woman with more to offer than can be found in this book. This story probably would've been better off left in the hands of a writer (preferably female-identifying) who would've had a bit more interest in the reasoning behind her actions rather than a guy who pretty much just chalked it up to "girls just wanna have fun".

[Terry Pechner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard Blum, a New York Times Bestselling author and an Edgar Award recipient, has written several nonfiction works, his latest being “The Last Goodnight”. Blum has that rare gift of writing that takes a memoir or biography and creates a story that reads with the enjoyment of a fictional novel. There are just too many reasons to recommend this book. It was a pleasure to read on many levels; it was engaging, historically revealing, and full of intrigue. Our heroine, Betty Thorpe Pack, is as unlikely a spy as ever there was, and yet she is not. Over time it becomes clear that some spies do not choose their craft, it chooses them. She has all the assets that allow her to flourish in her missions – a keen mind, steely nerves, a finely tuned power of observation, and the uncanny ability to identify a valuable asset for mining. She travels in all the right circles as a British ambassador’s wife, she is beautiful, and very adept at using her charm to her advantage – a bit like a female James Bond.

Betty Thorpe Pack, the spy and hero you never heard of, provided invaluable information to both Britain's MI6 and America's OSS during World War II. She undoubtedly risked her life for her country and Britain, because surprisingly, she is an American citizen. It is the beginning of WWII, and America is not involved in the war yet, and would definitely frown on her spying for a foreign government. Her recruitment started out innocent enough, she provided information she overheard to the British embassy staff. She is asked to continue to provide whatever info she might hear, no matter how small or insignificant. She is patiently watched. Not only does she continue to provide valuable Intel, she exceeds all expectations and is meticulous in her reports. She realizes that this is just what her staid life needs - a cause, a “Raison d’Etre”, and the excitement it provides.

There is no doubt about it, Betty is a complicated person. On the one hand she will do anything to provide information to Britain that can save lives and shorten the war effort. On the other hand, she ignores her personal responsibilities to her husband, children, and parents. She is treacherously unfaithful in her marriage, and manipulates others to her own end. Sometimes I was left wondering if Betty pursued this life because of the adventures or because of her loyalty to her country. It is left to the reader to decide about their feelings for Betty… The saving grace is that this is war time, and ignoring her own personal safety, Betty truly does prove herself to be a heroine. She provided information that resulted in Britain obtaining an Enigma machine, information that saved valuable war time assets from being scuttled, and information that saved thousands of lives in Britain and America’s war campaign in Africa.

This book made an impact on me, not just carried me away to a different place and time. It made me realize the sacrifices that some made during the war so that we can live a democratic way of life. In the end, I am thankful to men and women like Betty who took the risk, and grateful to read a book that reveals some hidden history about a daring and patriotic woman, Betty Thorpe Pack. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Blum’s other books…

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of World War II spy, Betty Pack, codenamed Cynthia. Betty was born Amy Elizabeth Thorpe on November 22, 1910, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Betty was meant to be a spy. She was certainly masterful in the art of deception, and had no compunction about using people to gain the information she was after.

Betty’s father was a distinguished U.S. Marine Corps officer and her mother’s life mission was to further the family, and her children, in society. She entertained lavishly, and her dinner guests included the vice president. Betty, however, wasn’t having any of that. She was pregnant by one man, but chose another, Arthur Pack, to be her husband. Pack was with the British embassy, and perhaps Betty saw marriage to him as a way to travel the world. They never loved each other, and she seemed to barely tolerate him later in life. Betty’s son was born, and it was determined to be best that a foster family raise him as Arthur was being sent to Spain. Once in Spain, Betty is still presumably sleeping with her husband, she has a lover, and is also sleeping with a priest who is helping her convert to Catholicism! That’s right. You can’t make this stuff up. Her lover is imprisoned, and she leaves her husband and a second child, Denise, to try and free her lover. Well, she frees a marquis along the way, and ends up being recruited as a spy for MI6.

Betty loved the intrigue. She would seduce men, become their lover, and elicit all manner of secrets. She was quite effective at her job, and even after some men found out they had been played and she didn’t love them, they were heartbroken that the relationship ended. They weren’t heartbroken over the fact that she didn’t love them and just used them. They would have waited the remainder of their lives for her.

Betty was credited with obtaining valuable ciphers, codes and secrets that helped the Allies immensely and changed the course of the war. Betty was never troubled by her actions, until later in life when she was facing her own mortality and examining her life. Like I said, she was meant to be a spy.

https://candysplanet.wordpress.com

[Katie Osborne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bored with the narrative and irritated by her emotionless prowess, I found Betty's story to be prolonged and unengaging. Initially the concept of this story intrigued me, but I was soon disappointed by underwhelming character development and writing. I discovered a few interesting historical tidbits here and there, but it was not enough to save this story.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this non-fiction spy story is that the protagonist who "changed the course of WW2" is not a familiar character to most of us. Betty Pack? Who?

I primarily read fiction, so it may be unfair of me to judge this dynamic woman's story by the same standards I would a novel. But, as much of a page-turner as it was at points, and as fascinating as it was to learn of this daring woman's exploits (on behalf of Great Britain), I found the stories repetitious. Target man; exploit man; move on.

Betty Pack was apparently "a stunner." And, to accomplish the feats that Howard Blum attributes to her, she must have been a show-stopper. I have met many beautiful women in my life, and many very smart women, but I can't think of a soul whom I've encountered who could have managed to captivate and deceive so many men. Thus, my fascination with the story.

It would be very interesting to hear some first hand reports about Betty Pack from men and women who knew her (not a single female friend is ever mentioned in this book---nor any other friends who were not work-related). The book really attempted to sort out the psychology of the woman who could use other people with such alacrity and have virtually no regard for her

[Kara Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting from a psychological viewpoint. While reading, I did my best to understand what would compel this woman to make the choices she did. Although in my opinion it read more like historical fiction than nonfiction, I like historical fiction well enough, and was intrigued by this real person whom I'd never heard of before. Some of the accounts seem quite farfetched. Frankly, this book was morally offensive. Unsung heroine of the war?! Readers, this woman was a shameless hussy, always looking to fill her own longing for adventure. At times it may have served her own or her adopted country's political interests, but her actions seemed to me to be mostly self-serving. This book seemed more fictional bodice-ripper than serious nonfiction due to the inclusion of far more graphic details than I consider necessary. Mata Hari of Minnesota? More like the town pump!

[Carolyn Wagner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I nearly didn't finish this book. It wasn't until the middle of the book that the story really started to move, but prior to that, we were introduced to a very self-centered, self-serving female. Yes, she helped the Allied cause, but it wasn't for a sense of duty to her country, because it wasn't until much later that she became an American agent. It was for the adventure and the sex and the thrill of manipulating men. The writer made sure we new that no man was immune to her beauty and charm - not even her priest! Within minutes of meeting her, every man she came into contact with was apparently ready to divorce their wives and/or quit their jobs and/or move across the world for her. She tossed aside her children, her husband, and her country for thrill and adventure. If this book was meant to garnish admiration for her, it failed miserably, at least for me.

[Peggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a biography of a femme fatale whose natural inclinations to take the moral low ground fitted her perfectly for a life of between-the-sheets espionage. A lifetime of wooings and betrayals, even of her best beloveds and her own children, is chronicled here. As the subject of a biography, I suppose she is a captivating character, and she really did deliver indispensable material to the British government during WWII. But I got a little tired of reading tale after tale of her too-predictable manipulations of nearly every man in her life. Why did I keep reading? Maybe in her engrossing way, she also charmed me into trying to figure her out. In the end, the story was well told, but the book could have been much shorter.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title of this book intrigued me more than the actual read of the book. While I understand that being a spy to the years leading up to WWII was an exciting and dangerous job, the details of the life Betty Pack lived are mainly the author's imagined account of how Betty lived her life. While no doubt exciting to her, it was also so heartbreaking as she left behind a husband, abandoned her daughter, and gave a son up as well. While she may have considered her life exciting, to me it was sad what she gave up to be one of WWII's Allied spies.

[Darla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A provocative look into the life of Betty Pack (code name Cynthia) and her service to the Allied cause in the late 30's and early 40's. Her ability to charm men into sharing their secrets and her dedication to the cause wreaked havoc in her personal life, but she maintained her fidelity to "the service." This well-researched volume gives us insights into her motivation while following her exploits. Reading this book made me ponder the plight of our espionage agents and the sacrifices they make to serve our country.

[Barbara Nudo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. My favorite genre is historical fiction. Esp. during WW1 and WW2 and involving those who fought in the Resistance. So I thought this book sounded amazing. It is written well enough, but the main character was such an annoying character I could not finish (and I rarely give up on a book). Her interest in espionage was completely self-serving, and she was constantly being pulled this way and that by the next shiny object. What a bore.

[Svriddick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried to read this. I love WW II stories and spy stories in general. This one was just so poorly written and the main real-life character so unlikeable that I didn't get very far.

[Becky Loader · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had read this book as a fictional accounting, I would have found it hard to believe. As non-fiction, it is also hard to believe.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose this book for the cover for a challenge task in a reading group I am in. I needed a cover with a photograph on it. This book came up on a list here on Goodreads. I purchased it and it had been sitting in my ebook library waiting for me to get to it. The time finally came to read it, and I really did not care all that much about the story at first. I put it down and a few weeks later, I really needed to get back to that task. I started reading again, but it was slow going. Unfortunately, I felt that I had overdosed on WWII stories and I really did not connect with the character. I put it back on my waiting to read shelf and read a couple of other stories.

Finally, I decided that I really needed to finish it because I did not want to search for another book and I had purchased it, so it was not going to slink away unless I deleted it. I just could not do it.

Once more, I picked up the book and started reading again. I do not know what happened, but finally, the story got more interesting, the plot more exciting and the characters, although not especially likeable, became more familiar. In the end, I am glad to have finally finished it. It really did become a good story about an unforgettable woman and what she did before and during the war. She was a spy. She was pretty amazing although it was really hard to comprehend what drove her and how she could do the things she did.

It is worth reading.

[Frances Whited · Rating 3 out of 5]

Howard Blum seems to have been quite conflicted about his subject. There is more than a little slut-shaming in his descriptions of Betty Pack's behavior. Towards the conclusion of the book, he musters up some grudging respect for her, but the overall finger-wagging tone of the book left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Sean Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this weren't a true story, it would seem like a contrived spy thriller where a special agent Betty Pack uses her feminine wiles, to charm, beguile, and seduce secrets from the enemy. Betty Pack, however, was a real person, who repeatedly put herself at risk, and proved instrumental in many successful MI6 missions during world war II. Granted, she often worked as a honeypot agent, but it just seems like the book really leaned into that aspect. It's all in the title, The Last Goodnight. That's not to say that this is a bad book. It seems to be researched pretty well and primary sources were used when possible. I guess I just didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping to.

[Jurij Fedorov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book parts

Part I STORMING THE CASTLE

Part II “A TERRIBLE RESTLESSNESS”

Part III “HIDDEN IN MY YESTERDAYS”

Part IV ENIGMA

Part V THE LONG WAY HOME

Part VI WASHINGTON

Part VII BIG BILL AND LITTLE BILL

Book review

It's weird that a book with such an engaging topic is so ... pointless. The audiobook narration is top-notch. The 1930's and WW2 setting is great in principle. The various countries make it more engaging. And there are some spy missions too. But it's probably the most dull spy book I have read. Obviously there a giant hole in the women during WW2 genre. And a giant hole in the female spies genre too. This is why most female spies in media are fully made up and often replacing a real life man who did the job. But the lack of books and real life stories about this makes sense, because this is one of the most important women during WW2 and yet she did very little and was not really great at anything.

The book is 90% about her love affairs. She was very beautiful and even from an early age used her looks to seduce men to do her bidding. At one point she got pregnant and then just walked into a bedroom of a seeming important diplomat to sleep with him. Then made him propose a marriage. But she was never faithful and it was clear that this British guy was faking importance and in reality his family was poor. And he figured her out and made her abort the fetus. Soon people started seeing him with his beautiful wife and he got promotion after promotion. His fake persona now worked. People felt he was important and therefore treated him as such. Betty meanwhile didn't like children and didn't want to be a mom. She slept with important men everywhere she went. And often men could just invite her into their bedroom or walk into hers and seduce her on the spot without even a single date prior to that. She just seemed to love sex and many men figured it out pretty fast and used her for that alone.

Because she refused to stay faithful or raise her kids, and was a diplomat's wife, she was soon asked to seduce top diplomats in other countries to make them spill secrets in bed. First in Poland then later in Spain and then in the French Vichy embassy in USA when Poland was invaded. And she had other jobs all over the world. Most men wanted to sleep with her and she even offered them money on top of that. Enough to convince many diplomats. Even older guys were pleased with the attention as they felt overlooked for promotions and underpaid. So her offering them company and money just made them feel like they were getting exactly what they deserved as is the case with many traitors. They feel like they were cheated by their country even if they have amazing and well-paid jobs. As they want and expect even more yet don't get it. And nothing ever makes them feel satisfied enough with a current status. So when offered a 20 year younger mistress and a ton of cash they just assume they finally have been seen. Even though she absolutely will not stay with them and they are just used and let go.

She slept with anyone she was asked to sleep with and easily fell in love. Then jumped from man to man to gain info or find a partner and always had both job lovers and real lovers even while being married. Largely the book is about affairs and her love life not really spy work. The only "real" spy work is described in the last 10% of the book with her actually doing more than just sleeping around. Prior to that it is just a personal biography about pointless romances leading nowhere. Even post the war she refused to live with or raise her kids and still kept sleeping around and jumping from man to man even sleeping with married men. Obviously her WW2 work is very important, but it's like she stumbled into it and then never even used it to get anywhere. She could have become rich and famous by publishing her life story. Or married a billionaire looking for a young wife. She did marry rich, but then never created a family for herself.

Most single person stories from WW2 are quite dull. The book the Pacific TV series is based on is similar and pointless too just like the TV show. A bunch of guys trying to avoid combat, avoid training, avoid doing work. And rather drink, date around, steal stuff everywhere. That's the single guy during WW2. Overall the army and spy agencies did amazing work collectively, but most of these people were grunt workers and actually liked drinking more than working. Betty was the same. She was young and attractive and that's it. At one point she was told to open a safe and take some photos of secret documents. That's pretty much her only expertise and was only used for one job. And lo and behold she even failed at that. Her only real job and she couldn't handle it. I think she knew she didn't really have any special skills. Which is fine, but it makes for a dull biography.

The book is just not focused. All the dating stories are boring and pointless yet there is not much else to tell here. I think a simple 150 page book focused on only the spy stuff would be a better idea. It has been done before. And everything past that is filler for women and men during WW2. Unless they were leaders. If they led a group somewhere they have more stories. And they also could tell a focused story about their patriotism. They felt important and felt they were doing important work. So they were extremely proud of themselves. They didn't have a need to steal anything or sleep around either. Their stories are engaging to a larger degree. Band of Brothers is just such a story. And while the book is not amazing either the TV show makes it work.

[Fred Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of a pedigreed Washington debutant, Elizabeth Thorpe, who became a spy. Without any training or handler, at least in the beginning, Betty Pack (her married name) stepped into the world of espionage using her greatest tools: beauty, guile and fearlessness. There will soon be a movie about the "blonde James Bond, who was in the words of Bill Donovan, "the greatest unsung hero of WW II."" By the way she probably had as many lovers as 007. You may find as I did, a struggle to stay engaged in the story. However, the last 700 pages made it worthwhile.

[Sarah]

Whew! Fascinating stuff here about Betty Pack, a real WWII spy. She slept her way through secrets, and did all sorts of things that were intriguing. Why is there not a movie here? Her story

screech!!!!!! (it's amazing what a Google search can do)

Jennifer Laurence might be playing Betty Pack in a movie--she'd be perfect!

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/betty-pack-j...

[Joyce Reynolds-Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at one of the unsung heroines of the WWII era. One reason Betty Pack probably has been less-known probably is tied to her pragmatic usage of men in the same manner that many men would use women to gain information. Pack herself is somewhat unsympathetic as the author chronicles her pragmatic hops from bed to bed in order to gather information for the British Secret Service. That said, no one says a hero or heroine has to be sympathetic.

[victor harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very entertaining and sometimes gripping story about the spy career of the itinerant Betty Pack. Maintains the pace and interest of a good novel. Soon to be converted to a motion picture with Jennifer Lawrence in the role of Pack.