Red Sparrow

By Jason Matthews

Book Overview

Now a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton

"A great and dangerous spy-game is being played today between Russian intelligence and the CIA. Very few people know about it, but Jason Matthews does, and his thrilling Red Sparrow takes us deep inside this treacherous world. He's an insider's insider. And he is also a masterful storyteller. I loved this book and could not put it down. Neither will you." --Vince Flynn

In the grand spy-tale tradition of John le Carr ...comes this shocking 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 "Sparrow," a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the Agency's most important Russian mole.

As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, and--inevitably--forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nate's 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 Matthews's Red Sparrow delights, terrifies and fascinates, all while delivering an unforgettable cast, from a sadistic Spetsnaz "mechanic" who carries out Putin's murderous schemes to the weary CIA Station Chief who resists Washington "cake-eaters". Packed with insider detail, this novel brims with Matthews's life experience of espionage, counterintelligence, spy recruitment, and cyber-warfare. Brilliantly composed, Red Sparrow is a masterful spy tale. Authentic, tense, and entertaining, this novel introduces Jason Matthews as a major new American talent.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1476706123
• ISBN13: 9781476706122
• Release Date: June 2013
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Spectacular read!

This book was a slow burn but it was spectacular. Thrilling, deeply moving. I’d you like spies and suspense you will love it.

Couldn't get past the first few chapters

I couldn't get through the first few chapters. I felt like I was slogging through the words and needed to be an actual spy in order to understand or care about what was happening. It's rare that I don't finish a book.

Solid spy novel

Nate Nash is a young CIA agent running assets in Moscow, good at his job and highly motivated to get even better. When a chance encounter with the opposition, namely the Russian equivalent of the CIA (FSB for the most part but a few times referenced by other initials which was a little confusing) blows his cover and endangers his asset, he's pulled from the assignment. Pouting, he makes his way to Helsinki where he's given...