Red Sparrow

Spying with extra senses on a post cold-war divide

Red Sparrow is a captivating spy story with many captivating twists and a splash of romance for flavor. It took me a whole to get into the story, but when I did, I eagerly dived into the complex but easy to grasp story and floated along for the ride. With the 3rd person narrator we get a glimpse into both sides of the post cold war, as well as the minds of the players, both small and large. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, except for the ones who straddle the line as double agents and their handlers. Dominika and Nate are agents on opposite sides of the divide. Their dance leads to a well paced adventure that had me eagerly listening at every free moment! There are some bad reviews (not sure why), but I really enjoyed the ride and look forward to reading more from this ex-CIA author.

One of the only issues I had with the story is that the main protagonist is a synesthete - 1 star removed. In the story she can see other people's feelings, intentions and moods - read their auras. Synesthesia is close to that but what the author is describing is more of a empath. A synesthete can not ‘feel' anything another is feeling, or sense what they are thinking. People effected by this perceptual phenomenon experience these ‘mis-mappings' only inside their own head - they do not sense other people's states or see auras as Dominika did. I have read a biography about this in the past. I am not a neuroscientist, but synesthesia is the condition where the person effected had biology that incorrect maps sensory inputs. So they experience feelings and emotions associated with colors, sounds, tactile and other responses to inputs like numbers, letters, words, colors, shapes and a whole list of other mappings. They literally see colors when counting numbers and can do math with those colors. For example they can only see a red colored 1 when they think about the number 1. Every number and letter is mapped to a color permanently. It is actually a lot more in-depth so do a google search to find out more about this fascinating condition.
None of this takes away from the story!

I am obsessed with this book!! If you like a solid thriller with some nice spy action here and there set in Russia, this is the book for you. I will be getting the next book ASAP.

What an ending! What an ending! Can't wait to start the second in the 3-book series.

Excellent read on espionage and surveillance, but no chemistry between the characters. The middle is so dull I nearly stopped reading but am glad I persisted.

The tradecraft details are fun. The main characters are ridiculous, the misogyny is out of control, and the superfluous recipes aren't even usable. I haven't seen the movie but I can't imagine it's worse than the book.

There are some aspects of the novel I found almost too hard to believe: the existence of Sparrow School and Dominika's ability to sense the trustworthiness of people based on the color of an aura chief among them. But the novel does a good job with tradecraft. Many of the supporting characters (Benford, Gable, Korchnoi) I found more interesting than the main protagonists. The ending of the novel is thrilling. Just outstanding. Great stuff for spy novel fans. If you can get past the implausibilities, you've got yourself a fantastic spy novel read. Highly recommended for thriller fans.

This book was a great read - the story grabbed me from the start and I didn't want to put it down. I love reading books that make me want to ignore my responsibilities and read. Having started my career at a defense contractor in the 80s, this story felt plausible with familiar cold war era themes. There is an added level of depth given the current news with Russia's cyber attacks and interference in the US elections and government. Great read - can't wait to start the second book in the series and see the movie!

An exceptional spy novel. I could have done without the romance, but other than that, the book was riveting.

Over 17 hours of an audiobook later, I am finally done.

This was not good.

The romance was weird, Dominika's described sexuality was weird, and the book itself got very boring very quickly. I will not be continuing this series.

Very compelling and entertaining story. Ends in a cliffhanger than leaves you screaming for more. Certain parts seemed campy at first (recipes at the end of chapters), but began looking forward to the meals Mr. Matthews described. I have to assume the tradecraft is pretty accurate and the CIA even has a public review on its website.

This book was incredible.

I read spy novels like Michael Jordan scores points. Rarely am I this impressed by a spy story. It retained all the elements you expect from good espionage fiction but this book adds things to that list almost unseen anywhere else.

I cannot say enough good things about the characters, the storyline or the writing style. I would write more in this short review, but I can't, because I already have book two and I'm busy.