Print List Price: | $18.00 |
Kindle Price: | $9.99 Save $8.01 (45%) |
Sold by: | Simon and Schuster Digital Sales LLC Price set by seller. |
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample Sample
Red Sparrow: A Novel (The Red Sparrow Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition
From the New York Times bestselling author and veteran CIA officer Jason Matthews comes the electrifying modern spy thriller Red Sparrow.
In contemporary Russia, state intelligence officer Dominika Egorova has been drafted to become a “Sparrow”—a spy trained in the art of seduction to elicit information from their marks. She’s been assigned to Nathaniel Nash, a CIA officer who handles the organization’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.
For fans of John le Carré and Ian Fleming and featuring “high-level espionage, pulse-pounding danger, sex, double agents, and double crosses” (Nelson DeMille), Red Sparrow is a timely and electrifying thriller that is impossible to put down.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherScribner
- Publication dateJune 4, 2013
- File size3534 KB
Editorial Reviews
Review
"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 )
“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 )
"Jason Matthews, who became an authority on the Kremlin during his 33 years as a CIA operations officer, has written an espionage novel, Red Sparrow, in which Putin makes a cameo read it and you too may conclude that no one on the planet knows the Russian president better. You too may also conclude that Red Sparrow is the best espionage novel you've ever read." (Keith Thomson Huffington Post)
“Veteran CIA operative turned novelist Matthews keeps the trouble popping in Red Sparrow, but relentless drama is just one of the high points of this sublime and sophisticated debut… Red Sparrow isn’t just a fast paced thriller — it’s a first rate novel as noteworthy for its superior style as for its gripping depiction of a secretive world. While many former CIA agents and MI6 operatives have turned to writing fiction in retirement, Matthews joins a select few who seem as strong at their second careers as at their first.” (Art Taylor The Washington Post)
"A primer in 21st century spying. Matthews' former foes in Moscow will be choking on their blinis when they read how much has been revealed about their tradecraft...terrifically good." (The New York Times Book Review)
"A smart, intriguing tale rooted in his own experience...Fans of the genre's masters including John Le Carre and Ian Fleming will happily embrace Matthews' central spy." (USA Today)
"This debut novel from a 33 year CIA veteran delivers action as pulse pounding as it is authentic." (New York Post)
“Matthews’s exceptional first novel will please fans of classic spy fiction…The author’s 33 year career in the CIA allows him to showcase all the tradecraft and authenticity that readers in this genre demand…[a] complex, high stakes plot.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
“The author, a veteran CIA field agent, liberally salts his thriller with realistic tradecraft, horrific villainy, and stunning plot twists as the opponents vie for control…An intense descent into a vortex of carnal passion, career brutality, and smart tradecraft, this thriller evokes the great Cold War era of espionage…Readers of bloodthirsty spy and suspense will welcome this debut from a writer who supersizes his spies.” (Library Journal, starred review)
“Many spy novelists, including Ian Fleming and John le Carré, actually worked as intelligence agents. Add to that list Jason Matthews, whose 33 years as a CIA field operative enriches his first novel with startling verisimilitude…That sense of authenticity, along with vividly drawn characters, much detail about tradecraft, and an appropriately convoluted plot make this a compelling and propulsive tale of spy versus spy…Red Sparrow is greater than the sum of its fine parts. Espionage aficionados will love this one.” (Booklist, starred review)
“I read till eleven and woke up at five a.m. to finish this book. If it doesn’t supplant The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as the next mammoth read, ad if it doesn’t take its place alongside le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the love of literature and jaw dropping thrills really is dead. I learned more about the former Soviets and the new Russians, and about our US of A, than I ever gleaned from the hardest working journalists today. Halfway through, I was afraid Vladimir Putin would find out I was reading Red Sparrow and have me arrested. I have not read a more exciting, gripping novel in a long time.” (Doug Stanton author of Horse Soldiers)
"All the tradecraft and cat and mouse tension of a classic spy thriller— a terrific read." (Joseph Kanon author of Istanbul)
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Amazon.com Review
Doug Stanton on Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews
Doug Stanton is a teacher, lecturer, and author of the New York Times bestsellers In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers. His writing has appeared in Esquire, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, TIME, the Washington Post, Men’s Journal, Outside, The Daily Beast/Newsweek. Stanton has appeared multiple times on the Today Show, CNN, Imus In The Morning, Discovery, A&E, Fox News, NPR, MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and NBC Nightly News. Horse Soldiers is in development as a movie by Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Stanton reads and lectures nationally to business, civic groups, libraries, writing & book clubs, and universities, including the United States Air Force Academy, University of Michigan, and The Union League Club. Stanton attended Interlochen Arts Academy, Hampshire College, and received an MFA from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he graduated with coursework in both fiction and poetry workshops. He founded the National Writers Series, a book festival; and the Front Street Writers Studio, a free writing workshop for public high school students.
The spy-thriller is back in full force thanks to newcomer and CIA insider Jason Matthews.
Set in unnervingly accurate present-day Russia, where Putin’s influence is omnipresent, Red Sparrow follows two intelligence officers who are targeted against each other: Nate Nash, a young, ambitious, sometimes naive CIA officer, and Dominika Egorova, a willful, beautiful Russian ballerina turned spy due to unfortunate circumstances. When we first meet Nate he is beginning the most important job of his fledgling career—handling MARBLE, a high-ranking Russian intelligence officer who is giving information to the Americans, largely considered to be the CIA’s most valuable asset—while Dominika’s first foray in the field is off to a more tenuous start. After being injured and thus forced to leave her beloved ballet, her uncle, a high ranking state intelligence official lures her in, eventually forcing her to attend “Sparrow School” to train as an espionage courtesan. After successfully finishing her training, Dominika is sent to Helsinki where the young Nate has taken up residence after a near disaster in Moscow. The Russians had discovered that he was gaining inside information, tipping them off to the existence of a high-level mole. Dominika is charged with the task of discovering the mole’s identity by getting close to Nash—a delectable honey trap for the brash American. What begins as a relatively simple assignment leads to a development of fatal double lives, dangerous spy games, and treacherous secrets. As the two face-off, tentatively making moves, Dominika begins to learn the true nature of those who control her, and suddenly Nate and the people he works for begin to look more and more attractive. Disappointed and humiliated by her handlers, and with nowhere to turn, Dominika is recruited by Nate (or is she?). Against the rules, the two fall in and out of bed in various cities, and come close to falling dangerously in love. They struggle mightily to trust each other, and to trust themselves.
I read till 11 and woke up at 5 a.m. three days in a row to finish this book as fast as I possibly could. If it doesn't supplant The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo as the next mammoth read, and if it doesn't take its place alongside le Carre's The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, the love of literature and jaw-dropping thrills really is dead. When I finished the book the day was just dawning, as it always is in this novel, only in the novel the fated characters, filled with melancholy, romance, venom, and belly-aching humor (this book can be laugh out loud funny), are usually eating well and wondering when it'll be lights out for them. Jason Matthews has "reported" this book for 30 years, working it all out in the "real world," and one wonders who he is, mostly: the young, "naive" Nate Nash; the knock-out, petulant heroine Dominika, whom Quentin Tarantino and Doctor Zhivago both might've loved; or the Gus Grissom-like Gable, a CIA chief who dispenses life-lessons to the young Nate—a muscled hen clucking and stirring a bubbling sauce over a stove. There is not a false note in the amazing ventriloquisms that are the conjurer's art we call literature. There are sentences as exciting to read as Eliot's "The Wasteland" (cf. the description of a moist, pale toadie scuttling along a hall; downright spooky, an image I cannot get rid of); or the majestic, floor-board creaking opening of Cormac McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses. The granular sweep of the authorial vision is a telescope still warm from Tolstoy's hands. There's a scene in here better by ten than Bogart looking down at Ingrid. I learned as much about the former Soviets and the new Russians, and our U.S. of A., as I have ever gleaned from the hardest working journalists writing today. Halfway through, I was afraid Vladimir Putin would find out I was reading Red Sparrow and have me arrested. With its ripped-from-the headlines appeal, real life spy craft details, and thrilling international action that takes us to Helsinki, Moscow, Athens, Rome, and Washington, D.C., I have to say that I have not read a more exciting, gripping novel in a long time. And the best part is this: the ending of this novel makes it clear that this isn’t the last we’ll be hearing from Jason Matthews.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.Product details
- ASIN : B008J4PK86
- Publisher : Scribner; Media Tie-In edition (June 4, 2013)
- Publication date : June 4, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 3534 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 449 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #77,563 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #58 in Movie Tie-In Fiction
- #335 in Political Thrillers & Suspense
- #551 in Espionage Thrillers (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Jason Matthews is a retired officer of the CIA’s Operations Directorate. Over a thirty-three-year career he served in multiple overseas locations and engaged in clandestine collection of national security intelli-gence, 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. He lives in Southern California.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
By Bob Gelms
Jason Mathews has joined a very exclusive club of former real-live-in-the-flesh-honest-to-God spies who have come to write about espionage as fiction just like John le Carre, Ian Fleming and Graham Greene, to name a few you might have heard of. Mathews is an ex CIA spy of some 33 years and you can tell he’s experienced in real live spy craft just by reading a few pages of his first novel, Red Sparrow. I became totally convinced while reading the novel that real spies acted just like Mr. Mathews’ characters in the book. He’s very, very good.
The book tells the story of the hauntingly beautiful Dominika Egorova. She starts out as the prima ballerina in a Russian dance company. Owing to an incident involving a jealous rival in the company, Dominika can no longer dance and she is set adrift until her beloved father passes away. It is then that her somewhat wicked uncle gets her involved with the Russian clandestine service. She is eventually enrolled in a school that teaches beautiful girls how to seduce vulnerable spies into becoming double agents for the Russians. The girls who graduate from this school are called Red Sparrows. The training is quite explicit.
Since there is a Russian high up on the food chain who is spying for the Americans, Dominika is sent to Helsinki to seduce an American spy named Nathaniel Nash to see if she can find out who the double agent is. Nash is the double agent’s case officer. Not to be outdone, the Russians have a double agent high up on the political food chain in America spying for them. You almost need a scorecard to keep track on who is spying for whom.
The plot becomes very involved but Mr. Mathews keeps the reader informed and abreast of the situation so it’s not hard to follow what’s happening. The book is filled with tradecraft, as they call it in the spy biz, and there were a few things that surprised me. The spy agencies on both sides eventually identify the spies who are working against them.
There is an unwritten understanding that death will not be visited upon the opposition. But the spies still have to go to unbelievable lengths to lose the people following them. This can take up to 10 hours and is especially exhausting and exasperating when they often only get a few fleeting minutes with their contact. The spies on both sides are unusually good at their jobs. It is very much like a three-dimensional game of chess being played in the dark.
I’m sure I wouldn’t want to be a spy but it sure is a lot of fun reading about them. You move to counter a move you think is three moves down the line happening in another part of the world. These spies need special brains to hold all the subplots apart in their minds. It’s thrilling.
Dominika, in addition to being very beautiful, is exceptionally smart and good at reading people. She has a leg up on this facility of hers because she has synesthesia, a real neurological condition that manifests itself in a variety of ways almost always involving colors. She can see the color of the aura surrounding everyone around her. Different colors mean different things and she uses this ability to great effect. Even to the point of saving her life. She also has, and I’m struggling with how to put this without revealing too much, a physically violent temper. When she gets angry sometimes people get hurt…a lot!
Vladimir Putin has been ruling Russia as president or prime minister for the last 16 years. It would seem he has a stranglehold, almost literally, on the office for as long as he wants it. Red Sparrow seems to indicate that modern Russia is not much of a communist state. It has, in fact, more in common with the czars in Russia’s past than with Lenin or Stalin. It is a modern version of an old fashion oligarchy with the rich ruling as they see fit and the Russian mobsters acting as their enforcement arm. It is in this milieu that the novel lives and breathes.
Red Sparrow is the first installment of a series featuring the exploits of Dominika Egorova and Nate Nash. If you like novels of espionage don’t miss this one. It is a must read. The second installment, Palace of Treason, is a humdinger. I’ll write about that one in the next issue. Dasvidaniya!
I like how this story subtly switches perspectives between the characters even during group interactions. I actually really enjoyed the humor. The pages where they are giving Nash shit for sleeping with Dominika the first time had my busting out loud in laughter. These glimmers of humor were nice among a relatively dark natured story.
The romance was there but not the forefront of the story. Dominka felt slightly unrealistic as PTSD is a thing and she likely would have some kind of trauma response kicking in at times. You don’t really ‘train’ PTSD out of someone like it’s insinuating her training does. However, I liked her independence and the fact that you didn’t always have to like her or her decisions. Why did she agree to even help her uncle in the first place? She even said she could get another job. She already spoke multiple languages and would be primed to be a translator. Her special ability to see colors is a nice detail I wish they would have left in the film. Nate on the other hand feels very real. His motivations and personal conflicts feel relatable and understandable. It did sometimes feel like Nate was easier to write since Matthews was a man himself. Even the sex scenes felt somewhat written with a man’s perspective. Dominika is the only female recruit, only female in the room, etc. If you weren’t being told she was an impossibly beautiful woman at every opportunity, she could essentially have been a male character. The film made some key plot changes which helped really sell the female perspective a bit better.
The recipes are a little interesting but their value cheapens a little as you go. You never get ingredient amounts so it’s not like you could actually use the recipes. The necessity to add a meal into each chapter actually feels natural most times, but did feel a little more forced once the action picked up around the end.
It was a good cliff hanger ended. One that made me actually ask myself, “That’s it?”. Looking forward to reading the next one.
Top reviews from other countries
'Red Sparrow' by Jason Matthews (2013)"Red Sparrow" is a classic spy yarn with authentic seeming tradecraft set against a continuation of the cold war which has continued, "business as usual" into the Putin era based, presumably, on the author's experience as a CIA operative. It is his attention to detail, his quirky use of language (including Russian) that raises this book above the bar. With a scope ranging across Russia, Sweden and the US, the book has a lot of fast paced action, from characters on foot trying to avoid roving patrols to car tails and chases. The book started slowly, quite difficult to get into, with the author's style hard to adapt to but, by a third of the way in, I was very glad I stuck it out.
Although I was able to guess some of upcoming twists, I was generally only able to do so close to when they happened and, in general, the suspense in the book was good. There was a significant amount of violence in the book most notably when a particular Russian assassin is involved. The romance between the two lead characters, Egorov and Nash, was well handled.
Nate Nash is a young, keen CIA operative working out of the US embassy in Moscow. He is idealistic, ambitious, calm in a crisis and fluent in Russian. He handles the Russian double agent, MARBLE, an asset who is high in the Russian Foreign Services, trying to keep him secret as he supplies information to the CIA. Nash's story starts in Moscow where we meet Nate and MARBLE. The Russians are aware that they have a mole but have yet to identify them so they set a trap is set from which Nash and MARBLE narrowly escape but Nash gets identified as a foreign agent. As a consequence Nash is posted to a remote CIA office in Helsinki where he meets his new no-nonsense boss, Forsyth, and his quick-witted and sarcastic colleague, Gable. It is in Helsinki, that Nash meets Egorov, someone they hope to make their asset and to whom they give the code name DIVA.
Egorov, a beautiful ex-ballerina with a tragic background, is a synesthete; she sees the moods of others as coloured auras. Vibrant, sultry and independent by nature she is forced into a world where she becomes hard, unflinching and increasingly alone. Egorov is angry, resentful and conflicted; she still loves her country but feels exploited when "Uncle Vanya" enrols her in the Russian Foreign Services. Vanya gets her sent to "Sparrow School" where she is trained in the arts of seduction and blackmail but, "graduating" early, she is given her first mission, to unmask MARBLE. Sent to Helsinki, Egorov makes an unwilling spy but her synaesthesia is her big advantage. In Helsinki she meets Nate Nash and the two engage in a cat and mouse game with each trying to make the other an asset, both competing with each other to find their respective moles, but the ultimately the two realise that what they really want is each other and they fall into an affair. The affair is brutally ended and the lovers are parted.
I enjoyed reading "Red Sparrow". It's a well plotted espionage thriller even if it's somewhat black and white, the US side mainly featuring flawed good guys, the Russian side featuring flawed baddies that seem almost set up to counterpoint the Americans.
That I liked the book is fairly clear since I've already purchased the sequels, "Palace of Treason" and "The Kremlin's Candidate".
Jason Mathews is a great writer and has given fantastic insights into how recruitment & counter intelligence operates in the world of espionage.
As others have noted, Matthews employs an expansive vocabulary, but it was easy to check definitions in the Kindle app and I learned many new words along the way. And, yes, he sprinkles the narrative with Russian words and translations to inject a sense of authenticity, I guess, but I just skipped over them. I did find the frequent food references to be forced at times, but they didn't distract from the storytelling. And some of the chapter-ending recipes actually look pretty good, though I doubt I'll try any of them.
Finally, I disagree completely with some reviewers who felt the third installment wasn't as compelling or well-written. I enjoyed it just as much as the first two books, and Matthews did a great job of wrapping up a number of storylines without leaving readers hanging.