Download Red Sparrow Photographer Jason Matthews Books
Download Red Sparrow Photographer Jason Matthews Books
Download As PDF : Red Sparrow Photographer Jason Matthews Books
A Russian agent targets a CIA operative to uncover a mole at the heart of the Russian intelligence service. Dominika Egorova, former prima ballerina, is sucked into the heart of Putin's Russia, the country she loved, and spat out as the twists and turns of betrayal unravel.
Download Red Sparrow Photographer Jason Matthews Books
"This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Why?
Matthews’ facility with language is amazing and precise. His writing paints images rich in color and emotion. The world-building is excellent.
The humor. Hero Nate Nash has two bosses, Marty Gable and Tom Forsythe. Gable’s sarcastic remarks, belied by his supportive actions, are truly funny. Heroine Dominika Egarova also thinks of her cruel superiors in hilariously rude terms. And the Sparrow School of seductive spycraft they blackmail her into attending (“training for ‘prostitutkas’, not staff officers,†she protests) teaches a list of techniques expressed in amusing metaphorical terms.
The characters are extremely well developed. There are many, but I never got confused because each has a distinct personality.
Complex plotting. Matthews skillfully conveys the conflict that arises when those who give orders have different priorities than those who put their lives on the line. The intriguing plot includes plenty of violence, tricky spycraft, and suspense.
I felt neutral about:
Nate and Dominika’s relationship. As they are mostly separated by thousands of miles, disparate governments, and secrecy, it’s minor.
The short recipes at chapter ends. I skipped over them.
While not exactly abrupt, the ending is an obvious segue into the second novel, but getting there was such a pleasure, I wasn’t upset."
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Tags : Red Sparrow (9781471112607) Photographer Jason Matthews Books,Photographer Jason Matthews,Red Sparrow,Simon Schuster Ltd,1471112608,Espionage spy thriller,Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense,Fiction/Thrillers - Espionage
Red Sparrow Photographer Jason Matthews Books Reviews :
Red Sparrow Photographer Jason Matthews Books Reviews
- Very good book. Fast moving and exciting, interesting characters with some depth. A fair amount of action, but still reasonably cerebral. I am surprised by how many people seemed bothered by the recipes at the end of each chapter. I liked that touch, but, even if I didn't, I would just move on and not read the recipe, and it would not bother me in the least. I do agree to some extent with the criticism of how stereotypically bad and ugly most of the Russians are. On the other hand, it seems like many authors go out of their way these days to make everyone ambiguous, and there ends up being no characters that the reader really likes. So, in a way, it was refreshing to me to have some characters who were really really good and some who were really really bad. All in all, very entertaining, and I think I will read the next in the series.
- As I draft this review of Jason Matthews' novel, Red Sparrow, a film based on the book is showing in theaters nationwide. I've decided not to view the movie. I can't imagine that any screen adaptation, however skillful, could possibly do justice to this extraordinary tale of espionage.
Authentic detail of espionage
Red Sparrow is not a conventional spy story. True enough, it's well-written, ingeniously plotted, and endlessly suspenseful. On that account alone, fans of John le Carré, Joseph Kanon, or Alan Furst should appreciate it. But the book rises above the level of the genre because the author has infused it with detailed, intimate knowledge of authentic espionage tradecraft employed both by the CIA and by Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR. Red Sparrow also reveals a great deal about the SVR's structure and practices. I was so taken aback by the level of detail that I checked a number of details at random; they all proved accurate. I can easily imagine this novel being passed around at the CIA training center known as the Farm as a fictionalized (if no doubt exaggerated) account of what an officer might encounter in the field.
Two central characters in a cat-and-cat game
The Red Sparrow of the title is Dominika Egorova, a niece of the First Deputy Director of the SVR. When an injury ends her promising career in the ballet, her uncle presses her into the intelligence service, sending her first to the standard officer training and then to "Sparrow School," where she is taught seduce enemy agents. Her assignment is to entrap and recruit Nathaniel Nash, the young CIA officer who is known to be the handler of MARBLE, a high-level mole in the SVR. "Nate was one of a small group of CIA 'internal ops' officers trained to operate under surveillance on the opposition's home ground." His assignment is to recruit her once she has managed to enter his life. The result can't be described as a cat-and-mouse game. It's a cat-and-cat game, and it's fascinating.
The supporting cast on the American side includes a pair of veteran CIA officers who assist and guide Nate as he maneuvers through his relationship with Dominika. There are also a sociopathic US Senator and a number of FBI agents who wander in and out of the background, all of them coming across as incompetent. (This no doubt reflects the ages-old suspicion between the CIA and the FBI.) On the Russian side, the leading characters include Dominika's uncle and several members of his staff at the SVR. One key figure there is a "poisonous dwarf" who serves as his counterintelligence chief. (He appears to be modeled on the five-foot-tall Nikolai Yezhov, a sadistic murderer who served for a year as head of Stalin's secret police. He was known as "The Poison Dwarf.") Vladimir Putin himself makes several cameo appearances.
About the author
Author Jason Matthews' official bio on his publisher's web site is worth quoting at length "Jason Matthews is a retired officer of the CIA’s Operations Directorate. Over a thirty-three-year career he served in multiple overseas locations and engaged in clandestine collection of national security intelliÂgence, 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." In other words, it should be no surprise that Jason Matthews could write a book that exhibits authentic espionage tradecraft. Red Sparrow is the first novel in a trilogy of the same name. - This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Why?
Matthews’ facility with language is amazing and precise. His writing paints images rich in color and emotion. The world-building is excellent.
The humor. Hero Nate Nash has two bosses, Marty Gable and Tom Forsythe. Gable’s sarcastic remarks, belied by his supportive actions, are truly funny. Heroine Dominika Egarova also thinks of her cruel superiors in hilariously rude terms. And the Sparrow School of seductive spycraft they blackmail her into attending (“training for ‘prostitutkas’, not staff officers,†she protests) teaches a list of techniques expressed in amusing metaphorical terms.
The characters are extremely well developed. There are many, but I never got confused because each has a distinct personality.
Complex plotting. Matthews skillfully conveys the conflict that arises when those who give orders have different priorities than those who put their lives on the line. The intriguing plot includes plenty of violence, tricky spycraft, and suspense.
I felt neutral about
Nate and Dominika’s relationship. As they are mostly separated by thousands of miles, disparate governments, and secrecy, it’s minor.
The short recipes at chapter ends. I skipped over them.
While not exactly abrupt, the ending is an obvious segue into the second novel, but getting there was such a pleasure, I wasn’t upset.
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