Red Sparrow
State intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the cast-iron bureaucracy of post-Soviet intelligence. Drafted against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress in the service, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a first-tour CIA officer who handles the CIA’s most sensitive penetration of Russian intelligence. The two young intelligence officers, trained in their respective spy schools, collide in a charged atmosphere of tradecraft, deception, and, inevitably, a forbidden spiral of carnal attraction that threatens their careers and the security of America’s most valuable mole in Moscow. Seeking revenge against her soulless masters, Dominika begins a fateful double life, recruited by the CIA to ferret out a high-level traitor in Washington; hunt down a Russian illegal buried deep in the US military and, against all odds, to return to Moscow as the new-generation penetration of Putin’s intelligence service.
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Jason Matthews
Jason Matthews was an officer of the CIA’s Operations Directorate. Over a thirty-three-year career he served in multiple overseas locations, spoke six foreign languages, and engaged in clandestine collection of national security intelligence, specializing in denied-area operations. Matthews conducted recruitment operations against Soviet–East European, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and Caribbean targets. As Chief in various CIA Stations, he collaborated with foreign partners in counterproliferation and counterterrorism operations. His first novel, Red Sparrow, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was made into a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence. He continued the Red Sparrow trilogy with Palace of Treason and The Kremlin’s Candidate. Jason Matthews passed away in 2021.
The Red Sparrow Trilogy
The Red Sparrow Trilogy consists of three books and considered as a complete series. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Reviews and Comments
I really liked this book. I think too much sex detracted from the story and I reduced my rating because of it. However, the story was great. I liked that the heroine had synethetic capability, was an interesting twist. The story had lots of tension and twists and turns. The heroine turning the tables on her bosses/tormentors was great. I don’t see any point of the recipes after each chapter but you don’t have to read them. I didn’t see the movie, but sight unseen, you may want to see it over reading the book. I expect that the sex will be toned down a lot. I recommend this book though and plan to read the other books in the trilogy.