I previously posted on how much I loved reading Red Sparrow.

Read my post on Red Sparrow here. 

And after reading the next two books in this trilogy by Jason Matthews, I have to tell you more about this series; it has been one of my favorite reading experiences ever!! The final installment, The Kremlin’s Candidate: A Novel (The Red Sparrow Trilogy)was published earlier this year.

These Sparrow books are not my usual genre, and I hadn’t even planned to read them this summer, but they honestly have been my favorite books so far this year considering pure entertainment value.
Why I loved this trilogy

First, I found the espionage thrilling. At the most basic levels, this includes how they walk down the street and take a certain route to make sure they are “black” with no “ticks” on them, meet people secretly, make “dead drops” of materials, and send messages. But these are the  most elementary example of the techniques and situations covered in this book; there is sooo much more!!! The author is retired from the CIA so it’s pretty accurate (although the book had to be approved by the CIA before publishing to make sure nothing classified was included.)

Second, the romance between Domininka (the Russian sparrow turned Captain of the Russian secret service) and Nate (an American CIA agent) is an impossible situation but one you just can’t help but root for.

Also, the books also take you all over the world, from Russia to Finland to Greece as well as the U.S.A.

I can’t tell much more about the plot, but it does involve uncovering spies at high levels of the U.S. government, and Putin appears in the books, especially the third book as taking an interest in Dominika.

Finally, each chapter ends with a recipe. This sounds weird I know, but it is done in such a clever way – it is always a recipe for something a character was eating. And the recipes actually look good. I plan to try several of them.

But be warned

Although I loved this series, I don’t think everyone can handle it. Know that it is racy and violent. There are lots of sexual scenes (Red sparrows are Russian sex spies.) But if these warning don’t faze you, check this trilogy out. They are the most entertaining books I have read in a long while!!!

The Red Sparrow Trilogy (3 Book Series)

 

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