Enjoyed this great spy thriller that is so much more than just the spy drama. Jack Smith's professional life was just one aspect and it was woven expertly into the fabric of his person life and the world's stage he found himself on.

The author has created interesting characters particularly the main three: Elon, Lara, and Jack, who is wonderfully portrayed as the conflicted spy. This personality, however, takes no prize when compared to the Russian duo, who bring a long history of Russian ethics, conflicts, and parallel desires to the story. As much as I enjoyed watching the characters progress through the novel, I was annoyed at the poor editing choices made, if indeed any were made. The book is simply too long. The narrative becomes tiresome even as the author adds more plots to keep it going. The sex scenes between Elon and Jack border on pornographic, but ultimately lose their charm. Elon's letters to his diary also suffer as they continue. His mother's diary might have added some interest, but it is only a bit player. Had the novel been 100 pages shorter, the story would have the benefit of a tighter narrative, and the suspense could still have been electric as we waited and read, hoping to find out how Jack resolves his dilemmas. But it is Elon who steals the very unsatisfying ending. After bearing with the author for so long, I felt as a reader that I had deserved a much better conclusion to the novel. Elon's ending behavior was not consistent with his pledges to Jack, and the sheer unbelievability of that song reaching Jack's ears in the huge and noisy crowd diminished the entire novel. Sorry, cowboy.
Thanks NetGalley, for the ARC.