Brand new to the CIA Operations Directorate, Talia Inger is desperate to cut her teeth on a real spy mission. Moscow Station is her dream, but after messing up on her final exam, she’s instead assigned to the purgatory of the Other Europe desk and sent to Moldova to babysit a businessman. When things suddenly turn unexpectedly lethal and Talia realises there’s a highly-placed mole in CIA feeding information to her enemies, she has to put together a team of independents to pull off one of the most daring heists the spy world has ever seen… to save the lives of everyone in Washington, D.C.
It’s Mission: Impossible meets Oceans 11, and it’s honestly great, rip-roaring fun. Eddie, Talia’s techie sidekick who she went through CIA training with, is the only person she’s 100% sure she can trust. Everyone else’s loyalty and motivations are in question, and there are several times in the book where Talia has to make choices between the lesser of two evils, learning that things aren’t necessarily black and white.
One thing I will mention, because it might put some readers off, is that there’s a degree of overt Christianity in the book. A principal character who is eventually revealed to be a ‘good guy’ (mostly) because of his conversion to Christianity after an incident which capped off a very shady past. If that bothers you, you might want to give this one a miss, but if you’re a fan of action-adventure stories with a diverse cast of characters and a really unusual heist at the climax, it’s a terrific read. Five stars.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.