An enjoyable read and an interesting spy story, not the best I have ever read though. It does seem to leave a number of sub-plots open for future use but most of the sub-plots/characters were ended abruptly. There is a lot of detail in housing, location and character but not enough detail in how the story progresses and then all of a sudden there is a fire-fight and some are dead. ( )

Alex Dryden's 'Moscow Sting' is a 'cat & mouse' spy thriller that's pretty well plotted but suffers from a couple unrealistic key characters and patches of stilted dialogue. It's a good novel, though, and the descriptions of the field work and trade craft seem solid.

The plot is complex and tough to describe without giving it all away, but the short explanation is that there's a beautiful female ex-KGB colonel living in hiding in rural France with her young son under the protection of the French intelligence service. Her husband, a spy for the Brits, had been poisoned by the Russians after having 'run' an agent who was close to Putin. Everybody wants to know who the agent was (the Russians, so they can kill him, the Americans, Brits, American contractors, etc. so they can continue to 'mine' him), so they're all searching for his murdered controller's widow. She's located by an American intelligence contractor and spirited away to the US, and the story continues as they try to extract information from her while others are attempting to find her. The detailed plot is much more complicated and fans of the genre will enjoy the chess-like moves by the various players.

My only real problem with 'Moscow Sting' was with the lead character, Burt, from the American contractor. He's larger-than-life, both literally and figuratively, seemingly omniscient, and connected to the 'official' intelligence offices in ways that I can't imagine being possible. His dialogue is full of God-like pronouncements and the size and power of his organization seems limitless. I may be totally off base, but I can't see interactions between state-based intelligence services and those of the private sector behaving as described. The 'damaged' ex-CIA operative, Logan, who is a central figure in the action is likewise a bit high on the unbelievability scale, but his failings are less obvious and more along the lines of behavior that's not consistent with someone of his reputation.

Other than that, I liked the way that Anna responded to the challenges thrown at her and I particularly liked the descriptions of her thought processes as she was plotting her movements. It was truly a 'cat & mouse' story, but the unique part is that the mouse seemed to call the shots in many ways.

'Moscow Sting' is certainly worth a read. Anna is a decent character that is a rarity in that she's ex-KGB but fairly likable. ( )

I really wish I knew this was not the first in the series as I would have liked to have gotten to know Finn, sounds like a good character. The book was ok as far as Russian spy novels go but nothing special. ( )

Goeie poging om de aloude spanningen tussen Rusland en het Westen te laten herleven in moderner tijden. Die blijken nu evenwel niet meer zo kritisch voor de wereldvrede als in de goede oude tijd.
Volledige bespreking via http://wraakvandedodo.blogspot.com/2010/09/alex-dryden-dubbelspel.html ( )