Some of you may have been to the cinema this year and watched the movie The Red Sparow starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton in the lead roles. I myself haven’t, despite having a limitless cinema pass, but if this book is anything to go by I will certainly look to watch it when it’s on one of the many premium tv channels.
But we are here to review books and not movie’s !!!
I’m pleased to say that ‘The Red Sparrow’ by Jason Matthews is a great spy thriller, not quite in the James Bond mould but nevertheless it delves into the world of espionage between Russia and the USA and how both countries look to recruit and identify their double agents, along with how they punish those who commit espionage against them.
Among the many characters that come and go in this book, the story mainly follows Dominika and Nate. Domininka is a young attractive woman who is a prima Donna ballet dancer who suffers an injury and is unable to continue her budding career. She is coerced into the Russian Secret Service by her uncle, who is a top level officer in Putin’s government. Dominika is put through Sparrow School, where woman and men are trained to seduce people and persuade them to give away secrets. Nate is a young budding CIA agent stationed in Moscow until he is nearly caught whilst meeting Marble, the CIA’s longest serving double agent in Russia.
Nate is sent to Helsinki after his close call in Moscow whilst the heat dies down, but Dominika is sent to follow him there to seduce him and find out who the double agent is. What she and Nate don’t plan for is to fall for each other as they play cat and mouse whilst trying to persuade each other to become double agents.
What follows is a brutal storyline as the Russian Secret service are desperate to identify who Marble is, the CIA attempt to protect him whilst trying to find there own double agent code named SWANN based upon information from Marble. They are also to trying to persuade Dominika to become MARBLE’s long term successor.
Red Sparrow is intense reading and whilst relatively long, it is a real page turner of a book as you get to know many of the characters in great detail before some meet their grisly demise. This is a greathttp://www.simonandschuster.co.uk holiday read for any lover of the spy thiller format and is definitely a good one to start your holiday off on, as it will really get you in the mood for reading and relaxing on your summer holidays.
Red Sparrow gets a whopping 8 out 10 from me and I understand that it is the first of a triology by Matthews, so I will look to follow up on those as and when I can. I will also watch the film but like many great books that are converted to the big screen, I wonder how much the Director will have kept to the original script and plot.
If you want more information on the author, Jason Matthews, it can be found at his publishers website
http://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/authors/Jason-Matthews/406807038
Hope you enjoyed the review. As ever please let’s have your thoughts and comments on your own findings of the book and if you haven’t already feel free to read my other reviews.
Happy Reading
Canberralover
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