Red Sparrow

A Novel

By: Jason Matthews

Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb

Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

The start of a major career! A gripping, highly commercial espionage thriller written with the delicious insider detail and up-to-the-minute insight only known to a veteran CIA spook.

In today's Russia, dominated by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, 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 valuable mole in Moscow.

Seeking revenge against her soulless masters, Dominika begins a fatal double life, recruited by the CIA to ferret out a high-level traitor in Washington - hunt down a Russian illegal buried deep in the U.S. military and, against all odds, to return to Moscow as the new-generation penetration of Putin's intelligence service. Dominika and Nathaniel's impossible love affair and twisted spy game come to a deadly conclusion in the shocking climax of this electrifying, up-to-the minute spy thriller.

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©2013 Jason Matthews (P)2013 Simon & Schuster Audio

Outstanding. Exciting. Great reader

Story is convoluted with action and good guys, bad guys, like a Russian novel. Spy craft, manipulation, just like current events. Compelling.

cold war spy story

listened to the audio book. Good read for the most part but the Russian language parts were so poorly pronounced to be understood at times. Reader needed a language coach.

Great book

This is not my usual genre, but I liked this one a lot.

There are some odd quirks. The characters are great. The writing is superb. The narration is solid.

The recipes to end the chapters is weird and distracting. The abilities the title character have really don't influence the story in any way, and again, are just sort of distracting. The title character is also something of a supporting character throughout much of the book. I thought that was odd. She's this wonderfully developed character that spends much of the book being talked about, rather than doing herself.

Despite the oddities, it's an entertaining listen and a very good story. Recommended. Jason Matthews has some serious writing chops.

Masterful

Very well done. Great story from an author who fully knew his subject. Highly recommend.

Great book

Great book !!! Love it
Even better narrative
Narrator was great - he made me want to listen to the other 2 books in this trilogy

6 stars - intelligent and very well crafted

Summary- solid writing, interesting characters, captivating story, but not appropriate for everyone due to sometimes violent situations

Well researched, concise yet rich writing, and intriguing characters make this one of my favorite audio books. Nearly 18 hours long, I expected to get impatient before reaching the end; but, the pace of this spy thriller kept me invested until the last word. Matthews does a beautiful job providing details without 'data dumps'. In other words, the reader learns about the characters, situations, and locales naturally through dialog and action rather than monotonous descriptions. This writer reminds me of Ken Follett.

The plot takes absorbing turns. I won't say anymore on that to avoid spoilers - but it was exceptional. Some might not enjoy this sometimes grim story of hard people who survive by telling lies and remaining emotionally distant.

The narrator's voice and speaking style fits the story. His Russian was convincing, a real professional.

Solid,slick,up-to-date spyfare devoid of suprises

Jason Matthews is a very competent story teller, maintaining tension and interest throughout this very contemporary treatment of the nearly century old Russo/American espionage tango. He very effectively ushers us into the world of spying trade craft and introduces us to the grey scale palette of motivation and ethical rationalization which goes with it. I had no problem relaxing and letting his developing plot carry me along for eighteen hours. I believed the story; I liked the characters I was supposed to like and I detested those I was meant to despise. All very neat and effective.

Still, when I reached the end, I realized that I had never been either surprised or intensely engaged. Nor was I ever challenged or unsettled in the way I have come to expect from Greene or le Carre. This is story telling as diversion, and even though it spends a lot of effort explaining the emotional turmoil of the protagonists, it never really managed to bring me closer than arms length to the characters. This in spite of consistently expert reading by Jeremy Bobb.

I suspect we will be hearing more from these characters, and I will probably read the next installment if there is one. There are not that many espionage authors out there who write with this level of command, and this is a beginning. Who knows where it may lead.

There's a reason why 'commercial' novels sell

They're entertaining, as is this novel. The twist is that the author apparently was a covert agent in 'real life,' lending the details a level of credibility that makes the novel more-than-average. (Do the Russians really use that spy dust to uncover clandestine meetings with the CIA? Who knew?)

The Russians are definitely the bad guys here, except for the ones that are working with 'us.' Dominika, the beautiful (of course) trained spy who is tired of being used by everyone and decides to take revenge. She is sent to trap but ends up working with the handsome (of course) trained CIA guy who is also the handler of the #1 Russian mole in history. From there, the story takes off, with a lot of fun twists and turns and coming to a great climax. Read particularly well by Jeremy Bobb.

If you're looking for an entertaining read, look no further.

Really good Putin era espionage novel

Very with the times espionage tale, very believable IMHO, not many far fetched moments in this book. The first book of his I've found and was a pleasant surprise, wasn't expecting too much going into it. Highly recommend for contemporary espionage fans.

Very well written!

I really enjoyed listening to The Red Sparrow. While I usually listen to audiobooks while doing chores, the book called to me to pay more attention to it; often, I'd just lie down on the couch and relish the prose. It wasn't so much that I needed to concentrate on the action taking place, but I wanted to focus on the narrative, which was full of evocative imagery.

The Red Sparrow doesn't fit into the rubric of generic spy novel. There is no boiler plate here and that's why I'm looking forward to the sequel... a door which the writer clearly left wide open.

My only disappointment with the audiobook is that the regional food recipes included at the end of each chapter are not made available to Audible customers in print. This type of offering was available to listeners before Amazon owned the company. Now, one has to purchase a hard copy or Kindle book just to get the recipes in print. So, if you like to try new exotic recipes, listen with a pad and pencil handy.