IN THE GRAND SPY-TALE TRADITION OF JOHN LE CARRΓβ¦comes this shocking debut 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 βSparrow,β a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the Agencyβs most important Russian mole.
Spies have long relied on the βhoney trap,β whereby vulnerable men and women are intimately compromised. Dominika learns these techniques of βsexpionageβ in Russiaβs secret βSparrow School,β hidden outside of Moscow. As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, andβinevitablyβforbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nateβs game reaches a deadly crossroads. Soon one of them begins a dangerous double existence in a life-and-death operation that consumes intelligence agencies from Moscow to Washington, DC.
Page by page, veteran CIA officer Jason Matthewsβs Red Sparrow delights and terrifies and fascinates, all while delivering an unforgettable cast, from a sadistic Spetsnaz βmechanicβ who carries out Putinβs murderous schemes to the weary CIA Station Chief who resists Washington βcake-eatersβ to MARBLE, the priceless Russian mole. Packed with insider detail and written with brio, this tour-de-force novel brims with Matthewsβs life experience, including his knowledge of espionage, counterintelligence, surveillance tradecraft, spy recruitment, cyber-warfare, the Russian use of βspy dust,β and covert communications. Brilliantly composed and elegantly constructed, Red Sparrow is a masterful spy tale lifted from the dossiers of intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. Authentic, tense, and entertaining, this novel introduces Jason Matthews as a major new American talent.
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Diane Rehm Show - NPR - August 22, 2013 CBS This Morning - June 4, 2013
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