You’ve probably seen the previews for the Red Sparrow movie, and may be as surprised as I was to learn that it was a book first (and part of a trilogy, which is always a nice discovery)! I was able to borrow the book from a friend, with the promise that we’d go to the movie together and complain about all the parts they messed up 🙂
I’ve read a decent amount of the mystery and thriller genre, but this book (written by a former CIA officer) is incredibly detailed with historical case names, methods of communication, and a ton of CIA jargon and acronyms. I didn’t enjoy all that quite as much as the actual story, which was about two agents supposed to “recruit” the other into betraying their country but of course, they end up falling for each other. There’s A LOT more involved, with lots of action, travel, resisting interrogation techniques, and a creepy “executioner” guy with a milky white blind eye. If you are a fan of spy novels, check this one out!
From Goodreads:
“In the grand spy-tale tradition of John le Carré comes this shocking thriller written with insider detail known only to a veteran CIA officer.
In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the Agency’s most important Russian mole.
Packed with insider detail and written with brio, this tour-de-force novel brims with Matthews’s life experience, including his knowledge of espionage, counterintelligence, surveillance tradecraft, spy recruitment, cyber-warfare, the Russian use of “spy dust,” and covert communications.”