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    Red Sparrow
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    Red Sparrow
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    Red Sparrow
    Ebook600 pages11 hours

    Red Sparrow

    By Jason Matthews

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton and Jeremy Irons.

    Dominika Egorov, former prima ballerina, is sucked into the heart of Putin's Russia, the country she loved, as the twists and turns of a betrayal and counter-betrayal unravel.

    American Nate Nash, idealistic and ambitious, handles the double agent, codenamed MARBLE, considered one of CIA's biggest assets. He needs to keep his identity secret for as long as the mole can keep supplying golden information.

    Will Dominika be able to unmask MARBLE, or will the mission see her faith destroyed in the country she has always passionately defended?

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

    'Not since the good old days of the Cold War has a classic spy thriller like Red Sparrow come along. Jason Matthews is not making it up; he has lived this life and this story, and it shows on every page. High-level espionage, pulse-pounding danger, sex, double agents and double crosses. What more can any reader want?' Nelson DeMille
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster UK
    Release dateJun 4, 2013
    ISBN9781471112614
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    Red Sparrow
    Author

    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.   

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    Reviews for Red Sparrow

    4/5

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    • 2/5
      A terrible book that took me several weeks to read. My wife got me the book because the author was a LeCarre clone. He is not. The book begins with a story about Nate, who is in the CIA, and a lusty young Russian, Domenika; Nate is a jerk; he should want to fuck the Russian all the time but he doesnt. Finally, the ending is totally wrong. A sniper is hired by a Soviiet functionary with orders to kill Domenika but shoots a general who did 14 years of spying for the US inside Russia, and was handled by Nate.
    • 5/5
      One of the best espionage novels in recent memory, Red Sparrow is long on tradecraft and realistic details and short on unlikely nonsense, for the most part. The writing is sharp, the characters and most of the scenarios are believable, and the chapters are appended with recipes lifted from the plot – and the food sounds great. (The Austrian espionage writer Johannes Mario Simmel also incorporated recipes into at least one of his novels to great effect). I already have the sequel, Palace of Treason, and am looking forward to reading it.
    • 5/5
      A stunning thriller, first of a trilogy although the third will not be out until January 2018--perhaps because political life in the US is getting too close to the fictional life that Jason Matthews creates. Matthews is an ex-CIA agent, a field operative, and every word, right down to the commas he says, are checked over by the CIA. The two main characters are Russian (Dominika Egorova in the FSB) and Nathanial Nash, an American CIA agent. Putin plays a central role--especially in the second part of the trilogy Palace of Treason and should play an even more major role in the projected third, The Kremlin's Candidate). This is a book that I could not put down and which I urge everyone to read.
    • 3/5
      Fine, but not something I'd recommend to anyone who doesn't love this genre. Not fast-moving or well-written enough to grab the general reader, I think. But since the book is written by a former CIA agent, at least you get the sense of authenticity.Unfortunately the blurb on the back cover comparing this to a John le Carré falls short of the mark, and only sets up a reader for disappointment.
    • 5/5
      Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews is probably the best novel I have read this year. The story revolves around the CIA and Russia's SVR services and their efforts to spy on each other. Two agents are trying to recruit each other as spies for the other side. The fall in love with each other over time as the dance takes place in their attempts to recruit each other.The story starts with the CIA agent running a long-term mole in the SVR while is the latest handler in the US embassy in Moscow. The female SVR agent story starts with her schooling and how she is recruited to work for the SVR through her uncle.The story starts slowly with the background on each of the major characters in the story and getting you used to the spy techniques being used with meetings between the spies and their controllers. The story slowly builds until you are engrossed in the story and start caring for the characters. There are so many twists and turns to the plot that it is impossible to begin laying out the plot line. I also don't want to spoil the story for any potential readers. You will certainly enjoy this novel if you enjoy masterful story telling. I can't wait for another novel by this author.The author is a retired CIA agent who worked in operations. I assume that he learned most of the street work in the course of his career.
    • 5/5
      I'm always on the lookout for a good spy novel. Well, this is a great one that I can't praise highly enough. Intricately plotted with solid writing and tons of 'tradecraft', Red Sparrow will hook you and keep you up all night if you let it.The author, Jason Matthews, is a former long-time CIA spook and brings realism and excellent pacing to a current day story of spy vs. spy between Russia and the US. I won't go into details on the plot, but it's a tricky one. I did have a bit of a problem with the resolution of the main Russian spy and the whole 'aura' thing with the 'sparrow' character was a little strange, but otherwise it's a great read.If you're a spy novel fan, you really need to check this one out.
    • 5/5
      I don't read a lot of (OK, any) espionage fiction but decided to give this book a try and I'm glad I did. It's a great tale, extremely well told, with an enlightening take on post Cold War East-West relationship and spycraft. Our heroes, American Nate and Russian Dominika, are both entirely worth rooting for but I especially appreciated the other characters, from venal old bureaucrats to the canny field agents who know they can get screwed over by chance ... or the bungling of other people. It's such a good book that I've had a little post-book letdown since I finished it yesterday. Maybe I'll go look up some vintage Le Carre so I can return to spy-versus-spy world.
    • 2/5
      Great potential, lack of execution. I never connected to the characters on either side. Unfortunate, I was hoping for a good spy-vs-spy thriller and got a lot of not-much.
    • 5/5
      Has already been reviewed multiple times. The trailer, being broadcast everywhere, about the movie adaptation is very misleading about the focus of this spy thriller. The hero is a fascinating woman who thrives despite adversity while several of the surrounding older men are intriguing as well. Her nominal handler Nate is a bit of a cipher, but no novel is perfect. It's definitely a step up from some of the popcorn sci-fi I've been gobbling up, if not up to the caliber of Literature. As good as the Ernest DeMille's we used to read.
    • 4/5
      A really good spy thriller with ambiguity & interesting characters. More accessible than Le Carre & as fun as Fleming with more emotional depth if you like espionage you’ll love this.
    • 4/5
      Dominika Egorova, a Russian ballerina whose career was ruined - a fellow ballerina contrived "an accident" that destroyed her foot- also suffers the sudden loss of her academic, disillusioned professor father, her closest guide, who trusted in her enough to explain the corrupt Soviet system. Both parents were startled to discover their young daughter had a very rare sort of synethesia: she can "read" individuals' mental and emotional states in an invisible to all but her - colored halo: yellow for duplicity or conniving, purple for sincerity,etc. This unusual ability is something her parents instruct her never to reveal to anyone else. Her mother needs nursing care and treatments for a debilitating illness so, in order to care for her & keep their apartment, Dominika must depend on her ambitious & deceptive Uncle Vanya, Deputy Director of the Soviets' spy agency, SVR. He recruits her to seduce a greedy Russian oligarch whose life ends suddenly by SVR's top assassin, a sociopath named Sergey Matorin- one of the more digustingly graphic scenes in the book. Then Uncle Vanya recruits her for to be a part of the SVR, and even insists she get training at "Sparrow School", a secret institute run by SVR/KGB that trains men & women to understand every conceivable part of human sexuality and the sex act, in order to become cold blooded, ruthless seducers. This too was described in horrific detail - obviously the author is building a complex backround for Dominika's past, how cruelly she was used by those in power, in order to justify her choices in future chapters. But it was still distasteful. Then the book shifts back to Nathaniel Nash, briefly introduced in the opening chapters, and to Nate's involvement with a longtime, highly placed Soviet mole, nicknamed "MARBLE", who goes to ground when the local Soviet investigators shadowing Nate, a known CIA operative, get too close. He's reassigned to Helsinki, where he has the good fortune to fall in with experienced, thoughtful and dedicated CIA officers: Tom Forsyth, station chief and Marty Gable, a legend in the agency: "...loyal to his assets, then to his friends, then to the CIA, in that order" (70). Their assessment of Nate's struggles and eagerness to still prove himself, and how they work with him, was intriguing, unusual analysis type of details for the normal spy thriller genre; it's obvious that Matthews is former CIA and knows this world well, including recognizing the exhausting but persistent commitment and sense of honor some of the US agents maintain, in spite of the disappointments, defeats and political machinations. When Dominika is sent to Helsinki to initate contact w/the only known CIA operative to have probable knowledge of this infuriartingly longtime mole in their own gov't, Nate also recognizes her probable mission and convinces his COS to try and get close to HER in order to turn her - as they research what her past has been, he realizes she needs to get her own revenge for all the damage. The ins and outs of their developing relationship, and the discovery of a reckless U.S. Congresswoman, eager to give away top US military secrets to her contact, a Russian connected to the Wash DC embassy - heats up the importance of Dominika's cooperation & the careful re-connecting with MARBLE, still back in Moscow. Some will find this novel too dense with operational detail, acronyms, and back story on various characters - I did struggle to get through the first 100 pages, perhaps adjusting to Matthews' style?- but as the espionage subplots become clear, the action carried me forward. Not for most teen readers, and clocking in (with small print - Scribner's pb version) at 431 pages, it's not a quick read! Still, Dominika's character is a new, fascinating force in the short list of famous spy protagonists and deserves her sequels.
    • 5/5
      Jason Matthews writes with such authority about the CIA that I kept thinking as I read this book -- he's either got a great imagination, or he was a player. It turns out to be the latter. A retired CIA officer, he has written Red Sparrow as the first of a trilogy. If I could sum up my thoughts on completing it, I'd have to say this: I can't wait to start reading the second volume. There are things I could have done without, such as the recipes that end each chapter (and the constant references to food in the text that seem to be placed there as an excuse for the recipes that follow) and the over-use of Russian phrases. That having been said, the book is wonderfully plotted, full of suspense, with memorable characters (most notably Dominika Egorova), violent and sexy and unputdownable. Matthews is a thriller writer of the first order, as good as le Carré and better than Fleming. Yes, that good.
    • 4/5
      Great spy read. Very well written, good characters and I liked the ending. Really a don’t want to put down novel. I have already ordered the sequel and plan to continue to read this author.
    • 5/5
      What an enthralling spy novel, involving a Russian, Dominika Igarova, and an American, Nathaniel (Nate) Nash. The plotting is very involved with there being "moles" on both the American and Russian sides, with much of the story concerning tracking down who they are, as well as setting up an international relationship between Dominika and Nate.Dominika is the "Red Sparrow" of the title and much of the early part of the book relates her translation from very promising ballerina to a highly rated intelligence operative. This includes her training, the description of which is not only fascinating, but also at times rather harrowing, particularly her time at what is described as "whore school", participants there learning the skills of honey traps and more. The background research is very detailed, probably due to the fact that the author worked for the CIA for a considerable length of time.Dominika also has the ability to discern coloured auras (halos) around people, enabling her to have a pretty good idea of whether or not she can trust them, if they are telling the truth or not, and so foresee devious planning. It is a skill which she uses to great effect, and one which enables the reader (or listener in my case) to understand the plotting better. This is very useful as it is a long and complicated novel.I thoroughly enjoyed the intricacy of the story, my only complaint would be that the end of each chapter is a recipe for something eaten or mentioned in that chapter. I was not sufficiently attracted to any of them to want to cook them!
    • 5/5
      Red Sparrow, Jason Matthews, author; Jeremy Bobb, narratorRed Sparrow shines a light on the methods used by the American Intelligence Services and the Russian Intelligence Services. Nathan Nash and Dominika Egorova are agents working for their government’s intelligence services in the interest of national security. Sometimes they are able to turn unsuspecting rubes into spies and traitors. Nate is American. Nate did not want to become part of the long list of lawyers in his family. He defied his father and went to work for the CIA. He became the handler of a Russian spy called Marble. Marble is a gentleman, soft-spoken and well mannered. He is a General, placed high up in the Russian government. He is part of the Russian Intelligence Service known as the SVR. He became disillusioned with his country when his wife was ill. When she was refused treatment outside of Russia, treatment that might have saved her life, he turned against his homeland and became a spy for the CIA. He did not like the direction his country was going in with Putin as its head. Putin is demanding and self absorbed. He expects his orders to be followed to the letter. Disobedience is not tolerated, nor is criticism or dissent. Dominika is Russian. She had adored her father, a professor. When he passed away, she and her mom had financial problems. Both her parents had encouraged her to think freely and follow her heart, but in Russia that was more easily said than done. In Russia, you followed the rules if you wanted to live. Her dad's brother, her Uncle Vanya, the Deputy Director of the SVR, offered her a job as his assistant. She had been a professional ballerina with a promising career. When she was deliberately injured, so severely that her ballet career was ended, she had no career, no financial support. Vanya was an evil man who was in charge of a branch of the Russian Intelligence Service that engaged in brutal methods of investigation and interrogation. Dominika had little choice, but to obey him. He said he would make sure her mother could stay in her home, receiving the same benefits as if her dad had not died. She told Vanya that she wanted to work in the service as an agent, not an administrative assistant. He was not happy; women were not recruited for that kind of job. Still, she convinced him to allow her to do so, and she did so well that she bested all of her competition. He plotted to betray her behind the scenes, and merely used her to his advantage. When her career was deliberately sabotaged again, Vanya forced her to go to Sparrow School, against her will. He promised to continue to take care of her mother if she went, otherwise, he could guarantee nothing. Sparrow School, however, was known by all to be a training ground for prostitutes. The women were looked down upon as they were trained to use their bodies and their wiles to set men up in honey traps in order to “persuade” them to be spies for Russia, or to get their secrets while they whispered in each other’s ears in intimate moments. Sometimes they were unaware that they were betraying their own country. As time passed, the more that Russia betrayed her, the more she wanted to betray Russia. Marble, the double agent handled by Nash, becomes somewhat of a mentor for her, especially when she is assigned a job with him. Neither knows the other is a double agent, at first.Dominika has synesthesia and she sees Marble with a calm purple halo. She trusts him. Dominika is assigned to discover the name of the high level Russian spy that Nate is handling. She sees Nate with the same purple halo around him. It signifies his basic goodness, his honesty and lack of deception when he communicates with her. Her goals become conflicted. At this same time, Nate is assigned to try and turn her into a spy for America; so both of them are working each other without realizing it. Dominika is known as the Diva. Both Nate and Dominika are really attracted to each other, but their cat and mouse game, seeking to find out what each was doing, prevented them from fully realizing their feelings until Dominika grew truly disgusted with the way her country was treating her. To Nate's surprise, she reveals her job to him. She works with the Russian SVR, the feared secret intelligence arm of the government. The novel reveals the brutal nature of the Russian intelligentsia as well as the sometimes callous way the CIA treats its informants. Often, different branches of the services work against each other. The ends seems to justify their means.There are well placed influential spies in both Russia and America. There are no shortages of traitors on both sides. In Russia, though, the mere suspicion of guilt exposes the subject to torture until a confession is given. There is no presumption of innocence. The treatment of prisoners by sadistic guards and interrogators is barbaric. The book is long and sometimes there is too much dialogue, but overall, it is exciting, and it holds the reader's interest. It certainly kept me wanting more. Several of the characters really appreciated good food, and at the end of each chapter, a brief description of a delicious sounding recipe is provided.The narrator does a very good job delineating each character and the author , a former CIA agent, has identified each so well that recognizing them when they speak is not difficult. The part that is confusing is trying to keep track of them, because there are many. This was the first in a series of three books and I am looking forward to the second and third.
    • 4/5
      I enjoy good spy fiction; I read 8-10 spy novels each year. I think of spy fiction as represented by a spectrum with Vince Flynn and Lee Child at one end, and Le Carre at the other. Le Carre stories are very character driven with strong political opinions clearly stated. The prose is always excellent, very descriptive, the story builds very slowly, the climax is always satisfying but sometimes disappointing, the characters are often anti-heroes, and there is only one climax. At the opposing end (Flynn et al), the stories are very plot driven with lots of action and the protagonists are out to save the globe; there are multiple climaxes. Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews fits somewhere in the middle. It mostly feels authentic - Matthews is former CIA - and the book has been well researched. Whether the scenes take place in Athens or at a border crossing in Estonia, you feel that Matthews has been there and is describing what he has seen. The story revolves around a young CIA agent who has had some field successes but still has some maturing to do. We concurrently follow a young woman, Dominika, on the Russian side who is on a fast track up the spy ladder; she is very reminiscent of one of Flynn's and Child's superagents. Each is assigned the task of recruiting the other.The first half of the story is fairly slow and it gradually becomes more interesting. I often had the feeling I could see where this story was going but on occasion it turned in an unexpected direction. There were a few aspects of the plot and characters I didn't particularly care for. To avoid spoilers, I will list only a few. Domi has a special sense, not like a 6th sense, more like a 7th; the author makes the case that though rare it is real. Perhaps, but I thought it a bit silly and distracting. One of the characters speaks very insubordinately to officers in the military hierarchy and though this is explained I did not feel it credible. A "canary" trick is employed to fool the opposition; I would have thought that went out in the 60's. It seemed to be that the author, more than once, took advantage of this book, to take some heart felt shots at the FBI, even to the point of ridicule. And why are there recipes for a food item mentioned in the book at the end of everyone of the 40 or so chapters?? And finally, I thought the climax was a bit too much, no subtlety. Remember "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold"? One climax, a twist, all wrapped up in one. It felt real all the way; this didn't. I am sure there will be a series here. Will I read #2? Maybe, maybe not.
    • 4/5
      A great read. As a Russian speaker though, there are mistakes in the use of Russian words, and some of the Russian recipes are questionable, the syrnitki for example (soft great cheese?). Looking forward to the second book in the trilogy.
    • 4/5
      We are introduced first to Nate, a relatively new CIA operative in Moscow, who manages to elude a random counter-intelligence sweep while meeting with a very high level Russian source. Then comes Vanya, uncle to Dominika, chief of the counter-intelligence agency, devoid of any ethic other than devotion to his country who enlists (quasi blackmails) Dominika who sees the world in assorted colors - literally - into the SVR and for training at the Kon Institute (prostitutki school - I leave what that is to your imagination)in order to seduce Nate whom he had suspected as the contact for the mole in his government. Nate has been moved to Finland as punishment for almost getting his source revealed. Then it gets tricky as each tries to recruit the other. I will not reveal too much more except to suggest that two agents known to each other with the same handler, one of whom is a highly placed Soviet Mole, the other one in the U.S. and each side engaged in vigorous mole hunting. It makes for fun reading.Why the author included recipes at the end of each chapter is totally beyond me, however. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. It will be interesting to see whether the movie makes a mash out of the book.
    • 5/5
      It seems somewhat anachronistic that with the last decades consumed with Jihadist attacks on the West (and responses from the West against ISIS, Al Quaeda, and other groups) that Washington and Moscow are still playing spy vs. spy with a surprising vigor and commitment. The author, a spook for decades, writes of active and malevalent tit for tat spying initiatives between Russia and the U.S., and the Russians are given their old Stalinoid evil cloak. The Americans don't come off unscathed; many of their actions are odious as well. Yet, the book focuses on individual players and is extraordinarily authentic about the price paid by men and women in the respective spy services who are manipulated and discarded in the name of national interest. The author manages to create both action and interior characterization that move this work from a pure genre exercise into something more memorable. It is depressing to think that given the revelations of CIA blunders and its use of torture (which makes us like everyone else) that the author still takes pride in the agency's ability to capture information. Of course, in the real world, events such as the recent attempted coup in Turkey testify to the CIA's failure to do its job. But this is not a non-fiction work; it is one of the best espionage adventures you'll ever find, and probably also the start of a new series featuring the memorable characters who populate this claustrophobic world.
    • 3/5
      Honestly I'm not sure what to say about this. It wasn't terrible but Matthews certainly doesn't understand women or how they think! Also - I listened to this and the reader's Russian accent was painful!
    • 4/5
      More Tom Clancy than John Le Carre. It's a fun great and very polished for a first novel. Matthews is a former CIA employee, and knows whereof he speaks. Lots of tradecraft. But the characters are just a bit too perfect or one-dimensional. Nate is the earnest & naive young case officer, Dominika is the beautiful, large breasted former ballerina turned spy. They will of course fall in love. The Russians are all pretty one dimensional. The cameo appearances by Putin are pretty good.
    • 5/5
      Great book. Want to read more.
    • 3/5
      I wouldn't read a sequel -- too much detail about sexual violence against women -- but it made for an exciting night.
    • 4/5
      In this convoluted spy novel, Nate of the CIA and Dominika of the Russian SVR have parallel and interlocking stories involving counterespionage, secrets, and interpersonal relationships impacting their work. This was a slow-starter for me and the 547 pages seemed daunting at the beginning. Indeed , some editing to shorten the novel may have helped, but on the other hand the complexity of the plot twists and turns demanded a lot of narrative in order to make sense and provide motivation for the outcome. By mid-way through, this became a page-turner for me so that I wanted to hurry to the conclusion at the same time that I didn't want it to end. A sequel is forthcoming
    • 4/5
      well write with clear follows , that makes not to stop reading,
      the English is also not complicated to understand , except for Russian words
    • 5/5
      Totally gripping, excellent read for anyone intrigued by espionage. ?
    • 4/5
      The relationships between the characters. It’s a good read.
    • 5/5
      This was seriously good. Very believable with lots of plot ideas. And long.
    • 3/5
      I don't read many spy thrillers, but I liked this a lot. The author is, apparently, a spy or former spy and the story details do seem realistic. The sex and fights only resemble reality in some vague way, but I suppose most real spys don't spend a lot of time banging each other. It has recipes in it [!], and I think they added an extra dimension.
    • 3/5
      This is no Tom Clancy. Is it fair to compare every espionage thriller to Mr Clancy? Probably not. I love espionage thrillers. Many women love romance novels, I love spy stuff. Red Sparrow is a decent read but I probably won't remember the name of the book or author in a few months.

      The story is about a women's journey to become a spy, her handlers, the deception, and adventure. Dominika is a very good character. Nice back story. She has an interesting biological lie detector called synesthy... something. She can assess the motives of people and of course this is really handy when you're a spy.

      I got really confused with all the characters coming into and out of her life. I am glad Kindle lets you write notes.

      I see a problem with many writers not following through the whole book with the same enthusiasm for complete story. Mr Matthew's isn't the worst I have seen but the story gets lost about half way through. It does come back together about 80% into the book.