A review by thecaffeinatedreader
The Fourth Courier by Timothy Jay Smith

medium-paced

3.0

Despite having a very intriguing premise, espionage, and an amazing political timeline and location (Warsaw Poland, 1990s) this book did not hit the mark for me.

I did not care for Jay (the protagonist not the author lol) at all. All the characters were shallow which can happen in a plot-driven novel but the problem was that this was NOT a plot-driven novel as much as I thought it would be. There were also so many explicit scenes which just seemed like not useful to the book. It just felt so weird...

There is some LGBTQIA representation but not exactly in the best of lights. You have a suppressed soldier who feels guilty about his desire for men, a CIA man who uses his own sexuality on the job because he says 'being gay is a tool' and the women are just pure stereotypes.

I'm not saying there wasn't anything enjoyable about the book, because it was to a degree, I just would hope for more. Such a neat idea, just not executed to my tastes I would have liked to see more about the actual plot.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.