The Fall of Moscow Station

In Henshaw’s fine third spy thriller featuring CIA officers Jon Burke and Kyra Stryker (after 2014’s Cold Shot), disgruntled CIA agent Alden Maines decides to offer his services as a double agent to Russia, but rather than paying him money, the Russians simply kidnap him in Berlin and extract information the old-fashioned way, by smashing the bones of his hand into tiny bits with a hammer. Meanwhile, Gen. Arkady Lavrov, the chairman of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, is attempting to sell electromagnetic-pulse weapons to Syria. The CIA needs to stop this sale and retrieve Maines so he can no longer divulge U.S. secrets. With Jon out of commission after a botched mission, Kyra shows she’s a real force by coming up with crazy, dangerous plans to achieve these objectives, despite resistance from her CIA bosses. Readers will hope the appealing Kyra will continue to play as active a role in future installments. [em]Agent: Jason Yarn, Paradigm Agency. (Feb.) [/em]