The Fall of Moscow Station

December 21, 2015
In Henshaw’s fine third spy thriller featuring CIA officers Jon Burke and Kyra Stryker (after 2014’s Cold Shot), disgruntled CIA agent Alden Maines decides to offer his services as a double agent to Russia, but rather than paying him money, the Russians simply kidnap him in Berlin and extract information the old-fashioned way, by smashing the bones of his hand into tiny bits with a hammer. Meanwhile, Gen. Arkady Lavrov, the chairman of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, is attempting to sell electromagnetic-pulse weapons to Syria. The CIA needs to stop this sale and retrieve Maines so he can no longer divulge U.S. secrets. With Jon out of commission after a botched mission, Kyra shows she’s a real force by coming up with crazy, dangerous plans to achieve these objectives, despite resistance from her CIA bosses. Readers will hope the appealing Kyra will continue to play as active a role in future installments. Agent: Jason Yarn, Paradigm Agency.

January 1, 2016
Seemingly angered by a station chief appointed primarily because of his contributions to political campaigns, CIA agent Alden Maines goes over to the Russians. He's expecting to become rich, but the Russians stiff him. But they also mystify the CIA by informing them of his defection, thereby limiting Maines' longer-term intelligence value. Still, Maines has identified every CIA agent and asset in Russia, and they are all instantly expelled. Moscow station has been gutted. Intrepid CIA agent Kyra Stryker (Cold Shot, 2014) thinks Russia is selling advanced technology to U.S. enemies, and if she is to thwart the plan, she must enter Russia without a single ally. Even worse, Arkady Lavrov, the brutal merchant of high-tech weapons for Russia's GRU, thinks Kyra is a prize worth taking. Henshaw's 11 years as a CIA analyst make parts of this novel gripping and plausible for spy fans. But he also throws in a U.S. naval engagement with China, the Battle of the Taiwan Strait, and an air strike on Venezuela (to erase an Iranian nuke-building lab) that seem to belong in an altogether different, less-realistic thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)