Name: Lacy W's review of Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews
Item: Red Sparrow
Rating: 2
Author: Lacy W

Jason Matthews

Now a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton! From veteran CIA officer Jason Matthews, the electrifying, New York Times bestselling 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.

A Novel

Red Sparrow

Lacy W

Patricia Nelson

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!

Drafted against her will to serve the regime of Vladimir Putin as an intelligence seductress, Dominika Egorova engages in a charged effort of deception and tradecraft with first-tour CIA officer Nathaniel Nash before a forbidden attraction threatens their careers.

Loved this. Read a few John Le Carre books before this, and this continued the theme, with an upped ante. 

Philip Ledingham

A little background here, but I have never DNF. Maybe I stop for a while and come back, but I always try to finish a book. This book, however, I could not finish and don't see myself coming back to. I really wanted to like this book because I watched the movie and thought the movie was solid. But I was not a fan.

The head hopping in a single scene between characters is so jarring when I haven't had to deal with head hopping since I read fanfiction in the sixth grade. The author doesn't do breaks in chapters to switch POVs. He'll just switch in the next paragraph or line. It is really bizarre and makes the reading experience confusing. The best parts are Dominika's story, hands down. I couldn't stand the other POVs. The author does a poor job of 'show don't tell.' Instead of weaving Dominika's motivations and past into the story, the author info dumps everything in two pages in the beginning. The author clearly has the knowledge to write a spy thriller but that doesn't mean that he can actually write said story.

And the way the author writes women is just ugh. Are we not past this? Everyone thinks Dominika is crazy hot and the author reminds you. He describes an infant girl's butt as a 'bubble butt.' It really caught me off guard considering that verbiage seems too adult and it was being used for a CHILD. 

DNF. 

A little background here, but I have never DNF. Maybe I stop for a while and come back, but I always try to finish a book. This book, however, I could not finish and don't see myself coming back to. I really wanted to like this book because I watched the movie and thought the movie was solid. But I was not a fan.

The head hopping in a single scene between characters is so jarring when I haven't had to deal with head hopping since I read fanfiction in the sixth grade. The author doesn't do breaks in chapters to switch POVs. He'll just switch in the next paragraph or line. It is really bizarre and makes the reading experience confusing. The best parts are Dominika's story, hands down. I couldn't stand the other POVs. The author does a poor job of 'show don't tell.' Instead of weaving Dominika's motivations and past into the story, the author info dumps everything in two pages in the beginning. The author clearly has the knowledge to write a spy thriller but that doesn't mean that he can actually write said story.

And the way the author writes women is just ugh. Are we not past this? Everyone thinks Dominika is crazy hot and the author reminds you. He describes an infant girl's butt as a 'bubble butt.' It really caught me off guard considering that verbiage seems too adult and it was being used for a CHILD. 

You can find this review and others like it at aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com

tw: attempted rape, assault, murder, forced cohesion of sexual acts, torture, pedophilic comments

I really wanted to like this book. It had two very big criteria for me to like it: spies and Russia. So I should have loved it right? Wrong. I did not care for this book at all and it saddens me greatly. I still might watch the movie though because I love Jennifer Lawrence. And I have heard that the movie is slightly better than the book. 

One of the big issues that bothered me was how the author described women. It was borderline degrading. Oh, who am I kidding, it was incredibly degrading to read the descriptions. It felt like he was describing cattle. I know that the author used to be a journalist but that still doesn’t mean he can describe women in any way he likes. Chest size and looks were constantly mentioned. Chest size, especially, was remarked upon all. the. time. Dominka’s uncle would often comment on her looks frequently, which was just creepy. It wasn’t in a friendly uncle way but more of a “ I wanna sleep with you” kind of way. 

I think the author read a lot of Dan Brown and tried to copy Brown’s style of writing. There were so many info dumps of Russian spy things and the history of Russia’s spy ring but it wasn’t done well like with Brown’s books. It was just boring to read and I often had to force myself to read the huge blocks of paragraphs. 

I was also promised a passionate romance between Dominka and Nate. Yeah, I didn’t get that at all. A few sex scenes which weren’t anything and just a lot of angst. Like so much angst. There are grown adults and it was irritating to read about them lusting after each other. They easily could have been together but instead chose to be difficult. I hate that. 

Overall, I was pretty disappointed in case you couldn’t tell from the review above. I probably won’t continue with the series unless I am told it gets better and even though, I would have to really be convinced to pick this up again. It took a lot to read this and I don’t have the time to read books I’m not interested in.

Arturo Hernández

Russian spies and US research. This is an action novel that presents an attention grabbing storyline. I’m hooked enough to read the second installment. Here’s hoping the story transcends into more of what we find here.

Viktoria

Dana Kraft

I don't read many spy novels but I couldn't put this down. I like the Russian mixed in but the recipes didn't add much in my opinion.

Terry Thomas

A spy thriller written by someone who has walked the dark streets, and who's expertise in clandestine operations is matched by a passion for local delicacies - tonally appropriate little dishes that he has gently folded in to various scenes with care and delicacy. 

The book is written with a terseness that reminds me of Le Carre, and a mastery of the language that most spy thrillers these days simply don't show. What's not to love? 

4.5 stars, but only because nothing's perfect.

Thomas Pinder

I've read worse books, however, the storyline was very 1-dimensional and there was very little character development. I found the book to be quite a chore to finish.

Now a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton! 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.

Sheila

The author didn't know if he wanted his book to be a popcorn page-turner or a cerebral thriller, and this ended up being neither. His years of CIA experience bleed through in the mountain of minute details, at least 75% of which are unnecessary to the plot. This book could easily have been 200 pages shorter, and dear lords he does not know how to write women having sex like AT ALL. 

All that said, it picked up in the 2nd half as the intrigue began coming together, but I just couldn't help wishing it had reached that point sooner. I didn't like Nate but I did love Dominika (even if her extensive synesthesia made her overpowered) & MARBLE. I don't know, I think I'll read the 2nd book coming out later this year only because I want more Dominika but I'm not really sold on this.

Alice

نجمة لدومينيكا، نجمة لكروشنوي، نجمة لجايبل، و نجمة للأكل.

Tara King

Mostly this was just fun. I was hooked on the story pretty much the whole time.  I didn't even hate the ballet stuff, and I *always* hate the ballet stuff!  The synesthete as super spy thing sounds a bit....far fetched, but what do I know? The story was compelling; the characters interesting, the settings dramatic. What more can you ask from a spy novel?! 

I've read a fair number of like, mid-60s adventure novels, which I now realize are pretty similar to this book....so I guess I can say this book handled women better than those books, but that's basically the lowest possible bar to clear. There were definitely a few "hey there's a boob here!" moments (e.g. a woman is fighting for her life, but hey her boob is out! Or, a woman is dead, but hey her boob is out! Weird how it's never a man written that way...) 

I enjoyed the recipes at the end of each chapter at first, though by the end it felt gimmicky ("As he ran through the streets of Moscow, he also had a cucumber salad.")

Lacy W &
Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

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