Red Cell: A Novel (a Jonathan Burke/Kyra Stryker Thriller)

This is a complex and very well-written novel that's very much in the Tom Clancy mould, and shows the same depth of research and ability to handle multiple plot strands. This was the first book by this author that I've read, but it certainly won't be the last. Highly recommended.

What a super book to be able to read and enjoy without profanity insulting your senses.

REASONABLE STORY. sERVICE VERY GOOD

Red Cell is as much an espionage as a military-political thriller which offers a good insight into the world of contemporary intelligence. Fans of spy stories get mainly exposed to the heroic times of cold war espionage, while only a few books focus on current reality (David Ignatius is probably the best in this area); Red Cell offers a very interesting deep-dive in modern times CIA, a gigantic, bureaucratic monster where the tension between the "operatives", the case officers and clandestine agents doing the "real work" on the field, and the "analysts", pen pushers devoted to produce tons of reports, is well described here.The author is a former analyst and we all know analysts love details: it takes 8 pages to describe the protagonist running away from a trap-meeting with a double agent; it takes 3 pages to describe how the same protagonist enters the CIA office buildings, how she shows her badge to the guards, how she parks her car, etc....you got the idea, right.The prose as well is as dry as an analyst report, and the story u folds in a pretty linear way, without many twist and turns.Having stipulated this, I must recognise the book gets better as it goes, the second half is better than the first one and the last part really picks up with a good pace; so, to be fair, being this is a debut novel, it's not bad at all.

I wish the author had made som effort with the actual plot, instead of moving the plot all over the world.