"We had no food or freedom.
Because of them.
We were surrounded by spies and torturers.
Because of them.
We had no trust.
Because of them."

I waited to post this review for a while because of the subject matter of the book. But I feel like this book could help give some people insight into the strength of people fighting for freedom for themselves, their families, and their country.

Cristian lives in Romania which is under a communist dictatorship in 1989, but that all could be changing soon. With people growing more and more tired of the secret police, the dictator living a lavish lifestyle, and always struggling for food, and other basic supplies a rebellion just might happen.

"Better to die in battle, in full glory. Then to once again be slaves upon our ancient ground."

Cristian ends up getting recruited by the secret police to try and find out information about an American diplomat in Romania through befriending his son. Cristian doesn't really want to do this, but he doesn't really have a choice and in exchange for doing this he gets to live, and someone in his family gets the medicine they desperately need.

"Agents. Informers. Rats. This country is full of them. We're infested. And they keep multiplying. They're in our streets, in our schools, crawling in the workplace, and now they've chewed through the walls."

He has to keep it a secret that he is doing this from everyone. But he also knows that anyone around him could also be an informant. Romania at this time is full of everyone spying on each other in hopes to get something for themselves and their families and to also stay alive. The government is one that is full of people who are afraid of the people having access to the outside world, and because of that, you can see the lengths they go to with the number of informants and the lengths they go to try and control the situations not only in Cristian life but in everyone's life.

"Libertarte.
Liberty.
It was happening.
It was really happening!
Romanians were joining in hand and heart. And together we were finally calling-
For freedom."

Overall I loved this book and could not read it fast enough. Ruta Sepeteys always has a way with her writing to transport you to the time period and the place and make you feel what that characters are going through. I love how she again went with a topic that is rarely focused on in history.

I Must Betray You is a heartbreaking story because you see this young man Cristian do something that he doesn't want to do to try and help his sick grandpa who is very close. You also see him doing normal everyday teenage things with dating and spending time with his family. But you also see him doing what he has to with befriending the diplomat's kid. Then we see him take the biggest risk of all with leaving something in plain sight for an American to find and hopefully use to save the Romanian people. He doesn't know if this could get him caught before the truth is known to the world, or that something could happen to his family, but he does it because he has to, because the truth deserves to be known.
The revolution itself is one that is of course extremely tense, and heartbreaking, because of all that happened. It's something that did happen in real life, and Sepety's captured that through Cristians perspective where he was in the middle of all of it.

I could go on but I don't want to spoil too much. Just know that this is going to be one of my top books of the year. Please read this book!

"Together, we can shine a light in dark covers of the past. 
Together, we can give history a voice."