The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

Maggie Bird is retired and living a quiet life in Purity, Maine with a few chickens and a small group of friends nearby when she gets an unexpected and unwelcome visitor. A woman who calls herself Bianca wants Maggie’s help finding a colleague called Diana from her CIA past, last seen in Bangkok. 

Going Zero by Anthony McCarten - you have two hours to get off the grid!

Title: Going Zero
Author: Anthony McCarten
Narrator: Marin Ireland
Publication: Harper Audio, 2023
Genre: Suspense
Setting: United States

Description: Ten Americans – five skilled, five amateurs – have been chosen to test a new surveillance software in a partnership between the CIA and a no-holds-barred company called WorldShare, run by brilliant Cy Baxter and his girlfriend/co-founder Erika Coogan. Any contestant who can go off the grid and avoid being caught by Cy’s Fusion spyware and brilliant analysts for an entire month will win $3 million tax free.

The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak

Title: The Helsinki Affair
Author: Anna Pitoniak
Narrator: Amanda Dolan
Publication: Simon & Schuster, audiobook, 2023
Genre: Suspense/Espionage

Description: Amanda Cole is the CIA’s Deputy Station Chief in Rome and longs for a more exciting assignment. She gets her wish when a Russian comes to the embassy to share information on a plot to kill a prominent American senator.

Need to Know (Book Review)

Title: Need to Know
Author: Karen Cleveland
Publication: Ballantine, Hardcover, January 2018
Genre: Suspense

Plot: Vivian is a dedicated CIA analyst who has been working on an algorithm to identify Russian agents in sleeper cells in the US. Anticipating a breakthrough, her blood runs cold when she sees her husband’s name on the list of five names. In an instant, she sees terrible choices before her – to turn in Matt, the beloved father of her four children, or to betray her job and country? Even worse, what if neither choice will keep her or her family safe?

Audience: Fans of psychological suspense; authors such as David Baldacci, Jodi Picoult, Nora Roberts

My Impressions: I loved this fast paced debut thriller about a working mother every reader will find appealing. Vivian is dedicated to her job but finds it stressful, and worries she is shortchanging her children by working long hours. When she sees her husband’s name in an encrypted file, she can’t believe it, yet cannot dismiss it, and is worried about how to bring it up in conversation when she has scrupulously avoided talking about her job and recognizes that accusing your husband of being a Russian spy is - at the very least - a relationship-changer.

Vivian and Matt, their children, and a cast of supporting characters are vividly depicted, making this book impossible to put down. Told alternatively in the terrifying present and in flashbacks recounting how Vivian’s and Matt’s lives came together, this thriller begins with a heart-stopping dilemma and does not slow down until the final page. It is plausible, convincing, and terrifying. It was so nerve-wracking I wished it would end, then wished there had been another hundred pages! It will be great to see how this CIA analyst-turned author develops.

Source: I was provided a pre-publication copy of this book by NetGalley and the publisher for review purposes. This was one of my Best Books of 2017 and will be published this month.

The Swimmer (Book Review)

Title: The Swimmer
Author: Joakim Zander, @joakimzander

Publication Information: Harper Collins, 2015 (originally published in 2013 in Sweden)

Genre: Suspense

Setting:  Sweden, Syria, Brussels, United States 

Plot: Klara Walldéen, raised in a remote part of Sweden by loving grandparents, studied law at the university in Uppsala, where she fell in love with Mammoud Shammosh, a student with a dark past unknown to her.   He ends their romance when Klara is offered the chance to study at the London School of Economics, and when the story begins Klara is working as a legislative aide in Brussels for the EU Parliament.  When Mammoud comes to Brussels as a successful Ph.D. student to give a lecture, an old acquaintance reveals long-held secret that puts Mammoud in immediate danger.  Once he contacts Klara for help, she is also in risk of her life.   The only person who can help Klara is the American father she never knew.  He gave up all claim to her as a baby but has never stopped checking on her safety from afar.  When the past catches up to the present and he realizes she is in danger, he leaves his long-cherished anonymity to race across the word to her side but will he be in time to save her?

Audience: Fans of suspense; Swedish crime fiction

What I liked: I have not read any Swedish fiction since my childhood devotion to Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren and The Mysterious Schoolmaster books by Karin Anckarsvärd (both of which I recommend), and may be one of the few who never got around to reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I think that was one of the reasons I was interested in reading this book.   After a very slow start and initial difficulty in keeping the characters’ back stories straight, I found the plot unusual and compelling, although I still had some questions after it ended and thought there were a few too many coincidences.  

Klara is an interesting heroine, raised to hunt and fish (not that such skills better equip someone to flee from masked killers but I suppose it makes one more intrepid) but able to excel in the classroom and appreciative of vintage fashion and obscure music.   I especially liked her loyal friend from law school, Gabriella, about to make partner at a Swedish law firm who has a lot to lose by getting involved in an international scandal, yet doesn’t hesitate to come to Klara’s aid.  Although Klara gets drawn into the intrigue by accident, it is her involvement that makes the book compelling.  The reader might not care about the other figures in this drama.

Source: I received The Swimmer from the TLC Book Tours in return for an honest review, and invite you to visit other stops on the tour to read what others thought of this entertaining book.

Here's the tour schedule:

Tuesday, February 10th: Bibiotica

Wednesday, February 11th: Man of La Book

Friday, February 13th: Dreams, Etc.

Monday, February 16th: My Bookish Ways

Wednesday, February 18th: Jorie Loves a Story

Thursday, February 19th: Annabel & Alice

Friday, February 20th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, February 23rd: Stephany Writes

Tuesday, February 24th: A Dream Within a Dream

Wednesday, February 25th: Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

Thursday, February 26th: Ace and Hoser Blook

Monday, March 2nd: The Discerning Reader

Tuesday, March 3rd: Novel Escapes

Thursday, March 5th: From the TBR Pile

Friday, March 6th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Wednesday, March 11th: Many Hats