Moscow Sting

June 28, 2010
British author Dryden's poignant portrayal of Anna Resnikov, a KGB colonel who forsook her country to marry a former MI6 agent, Finn, powers this intense sequel to his 2009 debut, Red to Black. After a Russian assassin poisons Finn in Paris and delivers his body to the British embassy in Berlin three days later, Anna goes on the run with her young son by Finn. She becomes a pawn in a deadly game involving numerous intelligence agencies and contractors who recognize that only she knows the identity of Mikhail, a ghostlike double agent who's close to Vladimir Putin and possesses invaluable information about the "new" Russia—specifically its strategies to do with its substantial Siberian oil riches—that could dramatically affect the world's balance of power. While the breakneck pacing and serpentine plot will satisfy espionage fans, the ingenuity and insight that Anna displays in her desperate plight leave a more lasting impression than all the spy machinations.

Listening to Simon Vance read MOSCOW STING is a joy. The thriller, a sequel to RED TO BLACK, focuses on the search for Anna Resnikov, a former KGB officer who defected and married an MI6 agent named Finn, whom she was assigned to seduce but fell in love with. Now the Russians have killed Finn, and Anna is in hiding to protect herself and her son, but the British government wants her to ferret out Finn's source of information on Putin's plan to control Europe's access to oil and natural gas. Because the novel is told from the viewpoints of various characters, Vance has a lot of opportunity to display his versatility, especially in his portrayals of the well-defined central characters. All the better, MOSCOW STING is a gripping story, filled with political and human insights and highlighted by a surprising ending. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine