The Kremlin's Candidate

The Red Sparrow Trilogy, Book 3

By: Jason Matthews

Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb

Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Russian counterintelligence chief Colonel Dominika Egorova has been a recruited asset of the CIA, stealing Kremlin secrets for her CIA handler, Nate Nash, for over seven years. In the dazzling finale to the Red Sparrow Trilogy - which will be published right before the release of Red Sparrow, a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton - their forbidden and tumultuous love affair continues, mortally dangerous for them both but irresistible.

In Washington, a newly installed US administration is selecting its cabinet members. Dominika hears a whisper of a closely held Kremlin operation to place a mole inside a high intelligence position. But it's worse than that: One of the three candidates under consideration has been a paid Russian spy for a decade, selling precious US secrets. If the Kremlin's candidate for the position is confirmed, the Russians will have access to all the names of assets spying for CIA in Moscow, including Dominika's. But which of the three individuals is the mole?

Dominika's report triggers a desperate mole hunt before she's exposed and arrested. Resisting all suggestions to defect and save herself, Dominika recklessly immerses herself in the palace intrigues of the Kremlin, searching for the mole's name, and stealing as many of President Putin's secrets for her CIA handlers before her time runs out - even as Putin's dangerous interest in her grows. The treasure trove of her intelligence reporting sends Nate Nash and colleagues on desperate missions to Sevastopol, Istanbul, Khartoum, and Hong Kong.

With a plot ripped from tomorrow's headlines, The Kremlin's Candidate is a riveting story if you've never listened to Jason Matthews and a thrilling conclusion to the trilogy begun with Red Sparrow and Palace of Treason, which The New York Times Book Review called "a primer in 21st-century spying...terrifically good".

©2017 Jason Matthews (P)2017 S&S Audio

If you are invested in the characters of the story....

Spoilers warning...........




If you are invested in the characters do yourself a favor, and don’t listen to book 3. The ending of this story was terrible and almost seemed like the writer was just ready to be done with this trilogy.

So, the story ends

An excellent story, even if it does end on a downer, with Nate possibly dead, his girl trapped in Putin's Russia. Hope more can be written about them.

Great trilogy!

Enjoyed this trilogy immensely. Look forward to his next one. Loved the recipes. Tried several of them.

Have run out of superlatives

Matthews had already written two fantastic books about Diva and Nash so what superlatives can be used to summarise this one?
It is arguably one of the best trilogies ever made. And again we are provided plenty mouth watering recepies :-)

The Kremlin’s Candidate is a Thriller

I couldn’t help thinking the reality of this story. The story had so many different aspects-political, thrilling, counter intelligence.
That kept me on the edge of my sest . I couldn’t put it down.

Masterpiece!

Jeremy Mathews is a brilliant writer and Jeremy Bobby fits his his story hand-in-glove. Great character development and an addictive story. Mr. Mathews makes the world of espionage captivating and scary. Incorporating Putin into the story added a real world chilling element into the book. Nate, Diva et al will stay with me for quite a while.

Inconsistencies abound, but it's a fun story

If you could sum up The Kremlin's Candidate in three words, what would they be?

Very likely accurate.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I halfway saw it coming, but I also kind of didn't. It's hard to explain.

Did Jeremy Bobb do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

He did an alright job. All of the American men kind of sound like... your standard white American man.Then again, I just listened to a book narrated by R.C. Bray, so perhaps I'm spoiled.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"I can't believe we greenlit a second and third after the first movie was so God-awful."

Interesting to the ending ...

Rambling stories of various characters. Not as good as Red Sparrow. There is no reason for another.

Disappointed

Are you kidding me? This is how you choose to end this trilogy! Not cool

Excellent

All three of the books have been enjoyed as audio books. The story line, the characters and the narration are all top shelf. In my humble opinion, there is no Hollywood movie that comes close to the entertainment value of anyone of these excellent books.