mountie9 's review for:

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

4.0

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Intriguing debut spy novel. This usually isn't my bag but I thoroughly enjoyed it and cannot wait for its sequel. Incredible world building and likeable characters keep you interested even though it is often very slow paced (works though cuz you have feeling author is setting you up for a series of books & wants you to fall in love with the characters) Found the torture scenes very uncomfortable and it was at odds with the novels strong female character. Loved addition of the recipes and found myself often very hungry while reading. Cannot tell you how much I loved some of the secondary characters. Fascinating look into the CIA and Russian way of life and you can really tell the author had plenty of inside information.