The CIA pokes the Russian bear, and thriller fans win.
America and Russia don’t play nice in a tale that mixes spies, horses, and gold bullion.
Moscow X is a secret CIA operation designed to cause migraines for the Russian government, especially for Vladimir Putin. “Access to Putin’s money would give us beautiful opportunities for fuckery and general mayhem,” declares Artemis Aphrodite Procter, formerly the CIA’s Chief of Station in Tajikistan. Her hands already “wet with Russian blood,” she jumps at the chance to join Moscow X. At about the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Chernov of the Federal Security Service (FSB) illegally transfers 221 bars of gold from Bank Rossiya, although it’s theft on Putin’s behalf. “What is to be done when the police are robbing you?” wonders a bemused banker. Chernov demonstrates that “the law is nothing but ritual, it is a glorious gesture of subjugation to our leader.” Anyway, the gold belongs to Russia, which in turn belongs to God. Therefore, it’s God’s gold, so the “withdrawal” is ultimately legitimate. (Nice reasoning!) Putin has a financial stake in RusFarm, a Thoroughbred horse operation. Anna Agapova has deep ties to the Russian establishment, but she meets sub rosa with the CIA. She is a complex character who has troubled relationships with her husband and her country, but whether she becomes a traitor to her homeland remains to be seen. A nice detail: She carries a lipstick gun, the “Kiss of Death,” which plays an unexpected role in the story. The cast of well-developed characters also includes Hortensia “Sia” Fox, a “hot-shit NOC” (non-official cover) who wants a Russian scalp, and there are nasty villains like Anna’s husband. The story builds a bit slowly at first, but the tension grows as well. There’s a reference to overthrowing Putin, but that doesn’t seem like the point. Procter has it right that the best analogy for U.S.-Russia relations is of “two individuals punching each other in a fight without end.” Human life and horseflesh are at risk, and the blood that eventually flows won’t tilt the balance of power in either direction. The author researched his subject deeply, and it shows.
The CIA pokes the Russian bear, and thriller fans win.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781324050759
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.
A medical student is assigned an overnight shift to observe a Long Island hospital’s psychiatric ward and help with emergencies. You’d never guess what happens next.
Amy Brenner isn’t even interested in psychiatry, the one medical specialty she’s never considered for her own career. Nor is she interested any more in Cameron Berger, the classmate who ended their relationship so that he could spend more time studying, and she’s not pleased to learn that he’s switched his rotation with another student so he can spend some of the next 13 hours persuading Amy to rekindle their romance. Predictably, Cam will be the least of Amy’s troubles. Apart from Dr. Richard Beck and nurse Ramona Dutton, everyone else on Ward D is much more dangerous, from elderly Mary Cummings, whose knitting needles aren’t plastic but sharpened steel, to William Schoenfeld, who’s stopped taking the medications that were supposed to silence the voices telling him to kill people, to Damon Sawyer, who’s confined in Seclusion One and can’t possibly escape, unless a power outage neutralizes the locks. Most threatening of all is Jade Carpenter, whose close friendship with Amy ended eight years ago when Amy turned her in for what ended up being only one of a whole series of thrill crimes. McFadden measures out the complications, revelations, and betrayals with such an expert hand that readers anxiously trying to figure out whom Amy can trust as her goal shifts from ticking off a toilsome requirement to surviving the night may well end up wondering whom they can trust themselves. And isn’t provoking that kind of paranoia what medical thrillers are all about?
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227271
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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