Review: Red Widow by Alma Katsu

Red Widow by Alma Katsu

on March 2021
Genres: Adult Fiction
Pages: 352
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon Goodreads

An exhilarating spy thriller about two women CIA agents who become intertwined around a threat to the Russia Division--one that's coming from inside the agency.

Lyndsey Duncan worries her career with the CIA might be over. After lines are crossed with another intelligence agent during her most recent assignment, she is sent home to Washington on administrative leave. So when a former colleague, now Chief of the Russia Division, recruits her for an internal investigation, she jumps at the chance to prove herself once more. Lyndsey was once a top handler in the Moscow Field Station, known as the "human lie detector" and praised for recruiting some of the most senior Russian officials. But now, three Russian assets have been discovered--including one of her own--and the CIA is convinced there's a mole in the department. With years of work in question, and lives on the line, Lyndsey is thrown back into life at the agency, only this time tracing the steps of those closest to her.

Meanwhile, fellow agent Theresa Warner can't avoid the spotlight. She is the infamous "Red Widow," the wife of a former director killed in the field under mysterious circumstances. With her husband's legacy shadowing her every move, Theresa is a fixture of the Russia Division, and as she and Lyndsey strike up an unusual friendship, her knowledge proves invaluable. But as Lyndsey uncovers a surprising connection to Theresa that could answer all of her questions, she exposes a terrifying web of secrets within the department, if only she is willing to unravel it...

Red Widow starts slow but quickly picks up pace as the story unfolds. The story is told through Lyndsey Duncan, a CIA Russian handler who has returned while being investigated for some missteps while she was overseas. As her investigation deepens, she finds that no one I safe from her suspicion, even her new friend Theresa, the Red Widow.

The plot moves fast and I really liked how the reader could never be sure what was truly going on. From POV Lyndsey, and her investigation, it was easy to see how things weren’t adding up, but it was hard to put your finger on it. I like the alternating chapters where we flashback to Theresa and her story. It gave the story some needed personalization. Lyndsey is an okay protagonist, but I didn’t find her to be that interesting where Theresa is really the one that steals the show.

I had read that Katsu was an intelligence officer before I read Red Widow so it was very entertaining to me to read it with the knowledge the author had first hand knowledge of how the CIA and FBI agencies worked.

That said, some of the characters felt a little rushed to me. Lyndsey was okay and I liked Theresa, but Eric and mostly all of the secondary characters were a little thin. I wanted to be more emotionally invested in the story and outcome. That said, as the story moves faster and faster, while I was in it, it didn’t really bother me as much as I thought it would.

Overall I think Red Widow is a fun and fast paced spy novel for people looking to escape into an easy to read puzzling thriller. The summer is coming guys and it’s a good book to sink into for hours.