A review by tommyro
Palace of Treason by Jason Matthews

3.0

Solid spy thriller. Not quite as good as Red Sparrow, the first in the series, but still a good second installment. Overall, it's very pro-CIA as Jason Matthews is an alum. While he depicts some baddies in the agency - mostly stupid bureaucrats - and one really bad spook, he never touches on all of the CIA's many failings over the years, particularly how they missed 9/11. He takes cheap shots at Snowden, but never mentions perhaps the greatest sin ever committed by an intelligence agency in modern times -- how the CIA participated in the Bush-Cheney effort to lie us into an unjustified war. He does do a good job in portraying how Putin is a thug and the threat Russia now poses. I'm sure I'll read the next installment, but I'd wish that he would be a bit more like Le Carre and not be so glowing about his service. Spooks turned intelligence into a one-word oxymoron.