Eric Van Lustbader https://www.ericvanlustbader.com is the author of more than 50 novels. The novel The Nemesis Manifesto was published in 2020. This is the first novel in his Evan Ryder thriller series.

Due to violence and mature language, I categorize this book/novel as R. The primary character is DOD agent Evan Ryder. Western intelligence agents are being targeted and killed. Ryder is paired with another US agent Brenda Meyers to investigate. As they follow one thin lead after another, they uncover a secret organization known only as Nemesis. It has targeted the US for destruction.

Ryder is certain that it won’t be long before her name comes up on the Nemesis hit list. She must discover who is behind Nemesis before it is too late. The journey also begins to unlock some of her deeply hidden memories.

I enjoyed the 11+ hours I spent reading this 343-page spy thriller. Over the past few decades, I have read more than a dozen novels by Lustbader. I have enjoyed all of the novels, but the earlier ones stand out as better than the more recent ones. This novel struck me as having unnecessary ‘color’ phrases included. The chosen cover art is a bit bland. I give this novel a rating of 3.7 (rounded up to a 4) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Absolutely brilliant thriller with a fabulous plot which I could not put down. Brilliant characters, and twists and turns. Highly recommend to other fans of this genre!!

A thriller with fairly obvious ingredients - spies, beautiful women, international politics, America, Russia, the inevitable neo-Nazi milieu - well cooked and with some non-trivial ideas. Despite the constant references to the recent American presidency and to the strong suspicions of Russian meddling in the administration's politics, and despite the fact that the level of madness of a certain type of political fanaticism is well known and equally well described, the novel, completely lacking in surprises, fails to rise above the level of a pleasant entertainment for a sleepless night.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge and the author, Eric Van Lustbader, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of The Nemesis Manifesto in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I thought this book provided a really good read.
The storyline was well written with compelling characters. I especially liked the central character, Evan.
I was hooked from the start.
Well worth a read.

"The Nemesis Manifesto" is one of those thrillers that gives you so much more than a surface story. This smart and complex narrative engages and keeps you captivated by the storytelling. Lustbader truly knows how to craft a superb spy novel.

A new Character and looks like a new series. Evan Ryder is DOD black ops and is trying to find out who eliminated her colleagues before she too is eliminated. Lustbader's books are fast actions thrillers

THE NEMESIS MANIFESTO is the first novel in the Evan Ryder thriller series. (Interestingly, Goodreads suggests this was originally intended to be set in the Jason Bourne universe, but ended up being a completely separate entity.)

This novel fits firmly into the political action/thriller genre that Lustbader has been writing for years. It's got a black ops protagonist, plenty of international intrigue and hopping about, and some great action sequences. The plot taps into contemporary, real-world unease at the erosion of international (and especially American) democracy, as well as growing tensions between the United States and its adversaries.

It's a fun read. It evoked, in some ways, the modern James Bond movies, too. Lustbader has managed to carve out for himself a niche in fast-paced, accessible thrillers. They're not the best on the market, but it's hard to deny that they're entertaining. I enjoyed this more than Lustbader's Jack McClure novels. Looking forward to reading the next book.

As much as I love thrillers this book did not make for a good read.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for my review copy but unfortunately not going to recommend this particular book.
P.s Too many characters in a just make it messy.

Eric Van Lustbader writes wild and woolly international thrillers, often with mystical elements. Now, in The Nemesis Manifesto, he introduces a new secret agent heroine, Evan Ryder, whose exploits made me think of Wonder Woman.

The story moves back and forth between Moscow and Washington politicking and violent action involving Evan and fellow agents - with frequent, serious injuries, none of which slow her down in the least!

The Nemesis Manifesto is an entertaining read, centered on cyber-hacking by the Russians, something that we know is happening in real life - I hope not nearly as successfully as is depicted here!

This super spy thriller is set in both the US and Russia, centers around Evan, super spy/wonder woman who is ruthless and will stop at nothing to get the job done-and she never fails. From the beginning car bomb to the ending, I was on the edge of my seat this entire book, questioning each character’s motives and allegiances with twist and turns ending in utter shock! this is by far my favorite book of 2020!!

I really enjoyed The Nemesis Manifesto. This is a spy/thriller, which I don't always read. The first part, setting up all the characters, was a little confusing, but it all came together perfectly. It is hard for this part not to be a little confusing, because you don't want to give too much away, and the fast paced ending part wouldn't have been as satisfying. Will definitely need to check out future books in this world.

It’s war—cyber war with the Russians! In the Russian corner, it’s a new AI netbot code named Soul Searcher spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories online about Benjamin Butler. Why Benjamin, you ask? He is the head of the Department of Defense’s black ops division. But the real reason is because of his friendship with the Russian’s true target, uber spy Evan Ryder. Evan is fighting in the US’ corner, of course. Currently, she is trying to discover the Nemesis Manifesto and why they are killing both American and British agents.

The book’s fictional POTUS and his staff look very similar to our current President. We can only hope that there are not as many games and counter-intelligence going on in the real world as there are in this fictitious one.

I loved the idea of a female superspy. It’s a nice twist on the Bourne movies. However, the complexity of the plot is somewhat overwhelming at the beginning. But stick with it and you will be rewarded with an exciting, powerful and unexpected conclusion. Nemesis Manifesto is an enjoyable read for political fiction and espionage fans. 4 stars!

Thanks to Forge Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I usually wait until the end of my reviews to thank NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. But in this case, I'm sorry to report, the only honest review I can give is devastating, so I want to apologize in advance for having to be this brutally honest.

Super-agent Evan Ryder is indestructible, expert with every weapon from her hands to throwing knives to splashing hot soup to the most sophisticated of firearms, blessed with eidetic memory -- yes, I just described every super-agent ever, they always have eidetic memory -- and suffers from partial amnesia like Jason Bourne (guess who wrote some of the latter Bourne entries?). She is being targeted by an evil super-secret organization called, quite imaginatively, Nemesis. Why? Because she's, um, indestructible and has an eidetic memory.

This being the inaugural installment in a planned series starring Evan Ryder, it struck me as odd that there was no background on how and why Evan became so deadly that she had to be so specifically targeted by Nemesis, and b) there was no background on how Evan's black ops cell learned that the super-secret unaffiliated Nemesis even existed let alone that they were targeting Evan.

There has to be a thing, that something the good guys are trying to find out or the bad guys are trying to acquire, something us readers have to believe is important enough for them to go to such lengths to get it. That thing Hitchcock called the McGuffin. There is no McGuffin in this book. In the end there are some vague conspiracy theories that appear out of nowhere, but it's too little, too late, too too farfetched to count. With so many spy thrillers on the market, it's the McGuffin that makes a book stand out, and there is nothing here.

No, in Eric Van Lustbader's world, espionage agents exists for the sole purpose of killing other espionage agents, even their own agents as often as not (and their friends and family). Whatever causes they believe in have long been forgotten. All they care about is killing each other in the worst way possible. Why would anyone sign up to be an agent in this world? How can there be any agents left alive if they've spent the past 75 years killing each other (and their friends and family)?

Either Evan Ryder is a terrible agent or Eric Van Lustbader is a terrible writer. She finds the bomber who just bombed her car with her in it (which she survived because she is indestructible) and doesn't cuff her or subdue her, she lets her walk unhindered, pretext enough for a major and fight to ensue (guess who wins). Either she's a terrible agent for letting her walk free, or the author is a bad writer for allowing that to happen just so that he can then write a chase and fight.

Ditto when Evan tries to ID the motorcycle riding assassin she just shot (motorcycle riding assassin, that's original) and he's still alive enough to start another major fight -- either she's a bad agent for not making sure he was dead or he's a terrible writer for signalling so blatantly that a fight was about to ensue. And when she lets a guy she's interrogating have a bottle of water -- is she a bad agent for letting him have it or is EVL such a bad writer for so obviously giving the guy a chance to poison himself?

And so it goes...

Evan's sidekick Brenda gets blown up three times, kidnapped three times, tortured, terrorized, threatened, and her boyfriend cheats on her -- with a rival espionage agency. But she takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. Brenda's boyfriend turns out to be exactly who you thought he'd be -- so much the big reveal (there was never any other possibility). Nemesis turns out to be this massive evil global conspiracy that is no different that our current real world autocracy, kelptocracy, and corporate oligarchy, but working overtime to make it all explicitly Nazi -- literally, not figuratively or inspirationally (trying to avoid spoilers, but there's nothing to spoil here, it comes pretty much pre-spoiled).

Here's one example of how convoluted it all is: the bad guy had a chance to kill Brenda while she was in a hospital being treated for serious injuries -- simple, clean, we've seen it many times before. "It was the perfect place" to execute the, uh, execution, she says, quite reasonably. No, that would have been untenable, too public. Instead, he has to trick her into traveling to the Bavarian Alps to a remote castle where the most tenable way to kill her is to hang her upside down and have his German Shepherd rip her throat out. (Cue Dr. Evil demanding his one. Million. Dollars -- actually, no joke, there are several times where bad guys cackle evilly in this book.)

That little colloquy comes as part of a long extended talking villain segment, you know, where instead of just killing his enemies and moving on to complete his dastardly deeds, the villain explains his plan in excruciating detail (in this case for about 15% of the book's word count). Usually just long enough for the good guys to escape and thwart it, but in this case even after they escape and thwart it. Can you say discredited literary device? It may as well have happened on a dark and stormy night (actually, it was a dark and stormy night).

OMG, I could go on and on and on. On a granular level, not necessarily having much to do with the story or characters, there are just mistakes upon mistakes that are as distracting as they are unnecessary -- unforced errors. "Poisonous wolf spiders" -- no, wolf spiders are not poisonous, which is lucky for us humans since they are large and live in every single corner of the world. "His moods seemed as unpredictable as they were mercurial" -- uh, anyone look up the definition of mercurial? "Unpredictable mood swings." Gothic architecture that is as ignominious as the country's history (Austria -- what exactly was ignominious about gothic architecture or Austrian history?).

And the scintillating dialogue! "'Don't worry.' -- 'I'm not worried.'" "Why do you answer a question with another question?" "You had to have your arm twisted. -- Figuratively speaking, yes." "He went through money like water through a sieve." Coffee strong enough to put hair on your chest -- I shit you not. "Some looker you are, schatzi!" "ID! Here's my ID. Evan grabbed his head and slammed it down onto the sill." Yes indeedy do. "A penitent on the dusty road to Calgary." Autocorrect typo is a major publication? "Basilisk eyes" or "basilisk stare" -- eight times! Not even the same character's snake eyes.

And the similes! "Snow lay in the gutters like the huddled masses around church fronts." "A face as furrowed as a plot of land ready to be seeded." "His tanned leathery face reminiscent of any number of cowboy actors out of the 40s and 50s." Mixed with abandon, and not purposely for effect.

I'm not being nitpicky here -- these are just random samples of similar errors and cliches and nonsense that appear regularly throughout the text. Totally distracting -- although as I said the story really has nothing worthwhile going for it anyway, so the distractions are merely annoying.

I really wanted to like this book -- the author has ties to the school my daughters went to and I wanted to support a fellow C&C alum. But there is nothing here worth reading. I can't imagine that this will actually turn into a series, as planned. Who's going to want to read any more volumes of this... this... I don't know what else to say.

It was a surprise to learn that an Eric Van Lustbader novel could be boring. But, The Nemesis Manifesto never took off for me. It was just lots of boring conversation and dull characters. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

If there is a wire review of this book, I would be inclined to include this book and will run in 11 newspapers and websites. If there is a wire review of this book, I would be inclined to include this book and will run in 11 newspapers and websites. If there is a wire review of this book, I would be inclined to include this book and will run in 11 newspapers and websites.

The Nemesis Manifesto is a complicated and preposterous spy thriller and the beginning of a new series about invincible American super-agent Evan Ryder.
This is my first read from this author although I’ve seen the name about.
I do like action novels with female main characters so liked the sound of this, but found it relatively hard word following the plot, although got there in the end I think.

Evan Ryder is a superspy working for a secret black ops program run by the unflappable Ben Butler. The Russian intelligence services hate her for foiling their nefarious plots, and especially for her friendship with one of their assets, Ludmylla, who they regard as a traitor to the Motherland, so they have hatched a plot to bring her down. Sent to interrogate another agent, the only survivor from an operation in Georgia, Evan and her colleague Brenda are nearly killed.
Who is behind the conspiracy to destroy the USA from within, and why does Evan keep having flashbacks of ravens and red bricks?

I found the first third of this so confusing, with a huge array of interconnected characters, most of whom seem to be double if not triple agents with dubious loyalties and conflicted motivations, that I had to go back to the beginning and speed-Read through it again to sort out who was who, especially as there were also a number of important but apparently dead characters too. Even so I found myself constantly using the search function to remind myself who they all were - if you’re going to read this in paperback I suggest taking notes.
By about halfway through this settles down and the plot begins to make sense.

While obviously a work of fiction, this was pretty close to the bone with it’s references to an incompetent US President and vainglorious Russian leader - known as the Sovereign, the role of internet disinformation, the increasing power of neonazi groups, and venal politicians who’ll backstab anyone to increase their own power. The spies aren’t much better, and both the strength but also the most exhausting feature of this book was never knowing who you can trust. I’m still in the dark as to who Isobel was actually working for! Not all the storylines were wrapped up as this is clearly heading for a sequel.

There’s plenty of action and globe-trotting, violent fight scenes and some gruesome deaths are implied rather than explicitly described. I liked Evan as a heroine, although she’s almost too good a warrior to be believable - although since that doesn’t bother me with Mitch Rapp or Evan Smoak, that didn’t bother me here either. Actually all the female characters, including the baddies, are tough as leather, which made a nice change. I definitely want to know what happens next! 3.5 rounded up for good storytelling & writing.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc which allowed me to give an honest review. The Nemesis Manifesto is published on July 21st.

loved the Nemesis Manifesto. It's a hard hitting political thriller chock full of spies, counter spies, politicians and deep state organizations that looks at the always volatile relationship between Russia and the United States. It's a complex and detailed story, akin to the best of Tom Clancy's techno-thrillers with strong heroes and heroines, ruthless villains and plot twists you won't see coming.
Great reading that's particularly relevant in today's political climate.

Spies, double agents, Nazi plot, Department of Defense secret training facilities.Big dogs. Dead agents, Russian generals and sleeper agents. Definitely a Lustbader novel.
A bit difficult to sort out who is who in the first few chapters, but it al comes together in the end.

The Nemesis Manifesto is page-turning drama for fans of the thriller genre. In the novel, female agent Evan Ryder is dedicated to solving the deaths of fellow agents and comes up against a group united in their determination to ruin the United States of America. The Russian power players have animosity and power struggles among themselves and use their positions of power to cheat on their wives with women who hope they will be the replacement. Eric Van Lustbader continues to provide his readers with well thought out action characters and scenes. Having female agents on both sides adds an interesting dynamic and allows the story to take some unusual twists and turns. Full of action and cat and mouse games, the book is an interesting read.

I understand the point of making low-budget movies, where quality is sacrificed in order to save money. But why do this in a book? This book is ridden with tactical and logical errors, and the plot isn't helped by being intricate, it's mostly nonsense.