My regular readers will recall that back in July I read The Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews and gave it a pretty good rating of 8 out 10, calling it a great spy thriller. Since that time as well as reading books, I have also had the opportunity to watch the film of the same name which was released back in early 2018 and compared to the book like a lot of films, it just did not compare and I was left very disappointed.
I did however promise to add to my reading list after my review of the Red Sparrow the two follow up books in the Sparrow series and I have just finished reading 'Palace of Treason'. This is the second in the series with our two main characters of Dominika, the Russian SVR operative and double agent, and Nate the CIA Spy and agent handler.
The story returns to the action a few months after the end of Red Sparrow, with Dominika in Paris on a mission to obtain information on the Iranian nuclear programme from an Iranian scientist who she has obtained compromising pictures of. Dominika is now reporting into Alexei Zyuganov who dislikes and distrusts Dominika and takes great pleasure out of torturing any of his prisoners, totally disregarding the rule book. Zyuganov only has two aims, one to expose Dominika as a spy and two to climb the political ladder to get as close to President Putin as he can by whatever means possible.
Whilst completing her successful mission in Paris, Dominika is set upon by some local henchman set up by Zyuganov however she has no hesitation in killing them, knowing full well she has been set up and she returns to Moscow, much to the satisfaction of President Putin who she gets to meet personally, but much to the dissatisfaction of Zyuganov.
Her CIA handler Nate is now stationed out in Athens, Greece and is taking on board another spy from the Russian military to obtain essential information on the development of the Russian military power. Still teamed up with Gable and Forsythe, he longs to hear from Dominika as his feelings for her still remain and when a message comes to say that she will meet him in Vienna he does not hesitate to go.
Reunited, the story explodes into another great spy thriller as Dominika provides the Nate and the CIA with regular information on the Iranian nuclear programme whilst trying to cover her tracks from Zyuganov and also forging a relationship with the president himself to obtain information. She also informs Nate that the CIA have another unknown double agent in their ranks who is working with a top Russian spy master in Washington obtaining important information. The double agent is also on the hunt internally at the CIA for the names of the moles providing information to the CIA as a way to earn extra credence with the Russian authorities. His main aim is to expose the real name of DIVA who is known to be the top Russian Mole and unbeknown but to only a few is Dominika.
With the story moving all over Europe, the Middle East and the US, the second instalment of the Sparrow triology is as good as the first one, Matthews is a great writer of espionage thrillers, with him himself having worked for the CIA for a number of years. The killings at times are brutal and necessary and as the story starts to unravel and identities start to get discovered there are killings all over the place. You actually wonder with Matthews’ time in the CIA whether there is actually a certain level of truth as to what really happens in the world of espionage.
My only minor question mark with this book and The Red Sparrow is whether Matthews is also a bit of a foodie at heart, because every chapter involves eating some food or another and at the end of each chapter comes a recipe for the dish eaten ! To me its just a bit strange for a top quality spy thriller ?!?
'The Palace of Treason' is yet another great holiday read and whilst again a long read, will be read relatively quickly on sea days as you will find you will not want to put it down and will be eager to find out what is happening next. Rating wise, I don't think I could give it any less or any more than an 8 out of 10 to match that of 'The Red Sparrow' and with the final book already loaded on to my kindle, I look forward to hopefully before Christmas to reading the final instalment in the triology.
More information on Jason Matthews and the Red Sparrow trilogy can be found at http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jason-Matthews/406807038
I hope that you have enjoyed my review and also end up enjoying the book. If you don't already follow my blog and are interested in keeping up to date on what I have to say and all of my book reviews then please click on the 'Follow' button on the top right hand side of this web page.
Happy Reading
Canberralover
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