This is a compelling exploration of a lesser-known aspect of World War II, delving into the use of sex as a tool for espionage by the Nazis. This was a thought-provoking and eye-opening read - I'd recommend it to history buffs.

Al Cimino is the author of more than 25 books. Nazi Sex Spies: True Stories of Seduction, Subterfuge and State Secrets was published in 2020.

Due to a few mature situations, I categorize this book as PG. The Nazis in WWII ran extensive intelligence operations. These included using women, and the occasional man, to seduce information sources. This book contains 21 chapters, each dealing with a different Nazi spy. Most were individuals operating on their own, but brothels were also occasionally used.

Seductive women were used to influence men in positions of importance. They also collected information that was of tactical advantage. At other times their goal was to discover or create embarrassing situations that could be used as blackmail.

The story I found most surprising is the romance between Inga Arvad, Miss Denmark 1931, and a young US Naval officer. Arvad had enjoyed a close relationship with Hitler in the 30s before she moved to the US in 1940. The FBI considered her a likely Nazi spy. As a reporter in 1941, she met and interviewed 24-year-old John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington DC. An affair followed, which caused Kennedy to be investigated. His father’s intervention and a transfer to the Pacific saved his career.

I enjoyed the 7.5 hours I spent reading this 279-page WWII history. This book takes a very different look at espionage in WWII. It is more a collection of short stories than a book. I was surprised at all of the documented attempts by the Nazis to use sex as leverage. The astonishing part is how they employed sex to spy on other German leaders. While the cover art is a bit bland, it is in keeping with the theme of the book. I give this novel a rating of 4 out of 5.

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The title is clearly intended to tantalize, but aside from a very few, most of the women portrayed have little to with sex and often even nothing to do with spying. It seems all you had to do to be in this book was be a woman.
I can't in good conscience recommend this book.

Nazi Sex Spies. I was so excited for a nonfiction WWII book and this one just wasn’t it. It fully delivered on information about known spies and their cohorts & the people they were... with, but it wasn’t quite what I had been looking for. I was really surprised how many spies were imbedded into our nation and how many known names played a part.

This was such an interesting read however parts of the book did seem to drag and it became dull in places. I would recommend to any history buffs.

Nai Sex Spies was so good and so different then other other spy books I read about this time period. A whole group of people that I got to learn about while doing so much for the war effort with little recognition and respect.

Highly recommend for history readers or people who just want to read something cool about WWII.

I had read the description and was looking forward to reading this book. Sadly it didn’t live up to my expectations. It was very dull. It did have parts that were enjoyable but sadly not enough to rate it well

This was a very interesting read, however, it was quite dull at times. I found it extremely interesting how deep our country was penetrated with spies even before the war had started. As far back as the early 1930's.

I'm sure this same type of thing still goes on now, but I hadn't thought about it before. It is pretty wild when you think about it.

Loose lips sink ships is a very true statement when the high ups are literally sleeping with the enemy.

Overall this was really interesting, just a slow read.

3 out of 5 Stars.

An interesting look into the role women played during WW2, somewhat seedy. Lots of detail and information. I feel like I have learned from it but I would have liked more depth in some areas.

I chose not to post this review to Goodreads. While the book contains interesting information on an intriguing topic, it reads too much like an extensively researched Wikipedia entry. That makes for a useful book if one needs source material on the topic but not for a particularly engaging recreational read. Out of respect for the author and the opportunity Net Gallery presents to get access to books I did not want to publicize my mixed feelings for the tome.

Could have been a lot better. It just didn’t live up to its promise, and didn’t compel me to continue.

Free ARC from Net Galley

I was disappointed

A lot of could have, might have, and innuendo

Very weak, I stopped at the halfway mark

Tried to finish the book.

The hook in the introduction is catching: however, I was bogged down by the information presented in the book. It felt like I was reading a textbook about the one Nazi spy after another.

From reading 1/3th of the book, I felt like the information was well researched. Execution of the information was okay.

Not impressed with this I was expecting an academic look into women’s roles in the war using their sex, however this felt like a vacuous look at the women in war and has no real depth or substance. I think this would have been good in the hands of someone with more experience of women in history as it didn’t give these women any justice to what they did.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

<b>NOPE!</b>

There was literally nothing about this book that I liked.

<b>👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎</b>

<u>Purpose</u>: Why was this book written? What are we supposed to learn from it? What did it mean to be a 'sex spy'? How did they affect the war effort? None of these questions are answered and the book suffers from it.

<u>Gossip</u>: This felt more like a gossip piece than an academic work.

<u>Sex spies?<u>: Apparently, being a 'sex spy' doesn't involve sex or even spying in many cases - the only prerequisite is simply being a woman. Barf.

This book blew mind mind. Literally. You will learn everything what has happened during WWII in Berlin. From La Jena (prostitute) to Salon Kitty (brothel). How German officers camouflaged those places and operated them on highly secret level on international scale. There is a lot if details about those issues in this book. This is one of those books, that will make you say.... Wow!😳

I often read about those who used sex in the resistance movements as a means to fight the Nazis, so this side of it seemed like an interesting read. It was informative, and while a little dry still made for an excellent read about how no matter what side, sex can be used as a weapon.

Certainly as salacious as its title, Nazi Sex Spies left me feeling conflicted. While certainly an interesting and engaging read, the subject matter might have been better suited in the hands of an author who covers female subjects with more regularity. 3.5 stars