I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

Plunge into fear, betrayal, and desperation alongside Christian in 1989 Romania in this thriller for teens.

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. Philomel, 2022. 336 pages.

Reading Level: Teens, Ages 15-18

Recommended For: Ages 14 and up

Do you see me?

Squinting beneath the half-light,

searching for a key to

the locked door of the world

lost within my own shadow

amidst an empire of fear.

~Christian, in his journal

1989 Romania, under Communist Dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, was a desperate place. In his tiny apartment, Christian struggles to hide his notebook, full of outlawed thoughts and writings. Bunu, his grandfather, seems to understand. But Bunu also tells him to trust no one, not even his family members living in their tiny apartment. A traitor is in their midst, reporting to the secret police. Christian knows this because somehow the secret police found out he had an American dollar in his possession. The trouble is, Christian himself has agreed to turn traitor—not to his family, but to the American family his mother serves as a housekeeper. He can hardly face Bunu. Who can he trust? How can they keep living with the lies, the lack of food, the knowledge that anyone they pass in the streets (or in their own home) might be an Informer?

Sepetys has written a masterful account of fear. Romania is the particular setting, but similar situations have played out across the world under every regime of terror that dominated its citizens through the use of fear. Although the bulk of the book is told through Christian’s limited perspective, the reader is also privy to secret informer documents from an unidentified source: we know Christian is being watched and which details are being reported, even before he does. Tense and terse, this is a nail biter to the end: readers will experience Christian’s fear and tension right along with him.

Sepetys writes beautifully and compellingly about hard times. Dictators still exist today, keeping their citizens paralyzed by fear. Ultimately, though, her books offer hope. The epilogue to this book will betray the reader as much as it betrays Christian, but we learn the full story many years after the book’s main events, after Christian has grown up and begun to live a full life. True hope is only in Christ, never in politics. And thankfully, Christ doesn’t govern His kingdom through fear but through love. What a counterpoint to so many earthly rulers!

Considerations:

• Language: I noted one use of d—, one of s—, and three of g– (lower case). All are in extreme situations and/or realistic given the situation.
• Sexuality: mention of feminine products and condoms. Some teenage kissing. One instance of a girl seen engaged in sexual activity in a car (the reader presumes this is what is going on; it’s not graphic).

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

• Worldview/Moral Rating: 4.5 out of 5
• Literary/Artistic Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Read more about our ratings here.

Related Reading From Redeemed Reader

• More Reviews of Ruta Sepetys’s books: Between Shades of Gray (my personal favorite), Salt to the Sea, The Fountains of Silence
• A Review: Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee (a memoir of escaping North Korea)
• A Resource: Browse all our historical fiction reviews!

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