Palace of Treason

Communist precepts all but forgotten, Putin’s Russia is ruled by greed and cruelty. “A Paris suit, London shoes, and undoubtedly, stained undershorts.” In this second book in Jason Matthew’s series, the CIA is still running Dominica Egorova of the SVR. She sees Putin and his sycophants as “usurpers of Russian patrimony,” destroying her nation with their corruption. It’s one reason she works for the Americans. Another is revenge. Another is her love for her CIA handler, Nate Nash. Matthews’ expertise in surveillance, counter-surveillance, and the handling of sources shows on every page. An intricately plotted and dynamic story. I’m looking forward to the next one, and judging by the recipes at the end of each chapter, show more if Matthews writes a cookbook I’ll buy that too. show less

Matthews gives us more great characters, fills in more on the existing ones, kills a bunch, and serves it all up with more recipes.

This is quickly becoming my favourite spy series ever. The writing is tight, the characterizations are good, the action is fantastic, and the spy work seems authentic.

Oh, and he gave Putin a tiny dick.

I mean, what more can you ask for?

Red Sparrow was a great debut for Jason Matthews, and Palace of Treason is even better. It's well-written, fast-paced, and the 'tradecraft' descriptions are fabulous. As a long-time spy novel aficionado, I've not been this excited about a new writer in the genre since I don't know when. Matthews is excellent and I cannot wait for the next installment in his series.

Although there's an incredible amount of action in this story, the characters are so well developed that it's not challenging to keep up. The plot, which involves most of the players on the US side introduced in the Red Sparrow book and various Russian nasties (including Putin in a more-than-a-cameo role), is intricate, as are the numerous sub-plots, political, personal, and show more espionage-related, encountered along the way. The dialogue is crisp and believable, and the fast pace of the action was matched with excellent writing.

I'd give 'Palace of Treason' 6 stars if I could, and that's even with docking it one since I have a little issue with the whole 'aura' thing, which to me veers into gimmick territory. This is the rare novel that I didn't want to end, even though the conclusion was very satisfactory and believable. show less

In this sequel to “Red Sparrow” Dominica is back in Mother Russia, trying to keep her head above water, spying for the Americans, while Nate Nash, her handler and former lover has no idea what has become of her. A new source is developed for the Russians, and suddenly, both Russian intelligence and the CIA are clambering to get their hands on the information about a secret nuclear program in the making.

This series is so amazingly written. The details and depth of knowledge in the spy craft is just top notch. You never doubt for a second that you are RIGHT THERE, making the drop, meeting the double agent... it’s impossible to put down. And of course, the romance between Nate and Dominica is this beautiful, tortured, dark Russian show more thing. Are they doomed? Maybe. But you can’t help but hope for these two.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

I received an ARC through Goodreads.
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Wow! This book is so intense and unexpectedly amazing! This is the first book in the series that I have read so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Now it took me a little while to get the swing of things, especially with the use of Russian and English scattered throughout. But man, esponiage is so dangerous, mysterious and not at all what we expected (yo Hollywood).

This book was written by someone who has actual insight into espionage and what actually goes on behind the scenes of the intelligence agencies. It's quite neat to read a story like this told through someone with the author's knowledge and background.

So back to the story. I love how bad ass Dominka is and does whatever it takes to get show more the mission done, no matter the risks and time. Honestly, I was on the edge of my seat and eagerly gobbled up the book. There is a lot of politics and double handed deals, which are a good reflection of the real world.

Some of the secondary characters. Oh my, some are downright psychotic and scary, others are harder to perceive since they are quite complex and harder to read (like Putin in this story). I would never ever want to cross Colonel Zyuganov, he's one scary and bad ass guy.

And the ending. OMG! I'm like I have to know what happened!!!!

It was surprising to find the recipes at the end of each chapter but I liked it cause some of the food mentioned sounded quite good.

Now for the criticism... OK, I got lost when some of the more technical terms were tossed around and some scenes (especially scenes involving complicated operational terminology and specific intelligence) the author didn't put as much attention or detail in kind of irked me. It seemed a little off putting compared to all the detail and attention he had put into every other scene involving Nate and Dominika. Also, the intimate scenes felt like it was lacking something... like with all that passion between Nate and Dominika, their intimate scenes are like...that's it?! It just feels like a let down, at least on paper.

I cannot wait to read what happens next and I know it's near impossible for them to be together, but I so want it to happen. show less

This is one of the better spy genre that I've come across in recent years. Technology is not too unimaginable and the protagonists are not too much bigger than life. I'll be buying his other books.

At the end of Red Sparrow, I wasn't where Dominika's relationship with Nate was going to go. It seems by the end Dominika has chosen to live in her head as far as that relationship goes. What I mean is that she talks with him and spends time with him only in her head. There is no real-time spent together. Fortunately for her, Nate has been doing the same thing. I'm glad there was the reality of both sleeping with other people, or I probably would have thrown the book aside. But I once again saw that people are pawns and that they are dispensable. For all my complaints, it drew me in and kept me there. I couldn't do anything but listen.