Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

Another amazing book by Eric Van Lustbader! The characters are very well written and flushed out. The location descriptions add to the story and help immerse you in the book. The storyline weaves in and out to a wonderful ending!

Lustbader has the inate quality to take a simple story and create a intricate novel, full of twists and unexpected elements that is very engaging and entertaining. He is at his absolute best with this book, his characters are rich and complex; and his storytelling is first rate as always. It seems the more we find out about the cast of characters involved in this series the less we know for sure, he has the ability to meander through the plot and inject subtle mysteries, giving his cast of characters intimate secrets which we, the readers, are only partially party to. It is a fascinating ride, it helps to keep your attention squarely in the moment while breathlessly awaiting the next big reveal. With the ending of each book I instantly want to begin the next chapter of this delightful series, the characters inhabiting them are real in their humanity and the fact that they live Byzantine lives with differing faces exposed to the varied people with whom they interact. The highest compliment that I can pay to an author is to say that I cannot wait to read their next book, and for a great many years I've been lucky to be able to say that about the novels of this particular writer.

Evan Ryder is back in , the stunning follow-up to The Nemesis Manifesto from New York Times bestselling author Eric Van Lustbader.

After thwarting the violent, international, fascist syndicate known as Nemesis, Evan Ryder returns to Washington, D.C., to find her secret division of the DOD shut down and her deceased sister’s children missing. Now the target of a cabal of American billionaires who were among Nemesis’s supporters, Evan and her former boss, Ben Butler, must learn to work together as partners – and navigate their intricate past.

Their search will take them from Istanbul to Odessa to an ancient church deep within the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. And all along the way, an unimaginable enemy stalks in the shadows, an adversary whose secretive past will upend Evan’s entire world and everything she holds dear.

Evan & her sister Bobbi decided to chose two different governments to believe in and this split the family apart as Evan thought that her sister was dead not a Russian spy. Evan has no choice but to find her nephew and niece after they have been kidnapped but she isn't going alone. Her former boss Ben is going along for the crazy ride that is about to take place. Bobbi knows that Evan is going to be disappointed in her choices but she did what she thought was right unfortunately her own people want to make sure that she stays dead but she is too resourceful. She needs to find her children before it us too late as she knows that they are in extreme danger. Will Evan be able to move on from the past and concentrate on the future? A great read full of action. I was lucky enough to receive a copy from Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for my honest review

This is the second book in the Evan Rider series, and just as good as the first. Continuing development of great characters, and non-stop action (and great pacing). Family drama mixed with world wide intrigue. Couldn't wait to start each new chapter, to see where it was going. Can't wait for the next installment. #TheKobaltDossier #NetGalley

I wanted to like this book but started and restarted it several times. However, I usually like Van Lust barrels books.

What a ride this author gives you. Evan Ryder, a world class agent has come home to find her dead sisters kids missing. Fresh from an assignment that nearly cost her everything,this hits close too close. Knowing what she’s uncovered could be behind the kidnapping she reluctantly enlists her boss and sometimes partner Ben Butler. The writing is so taut you can’t read fast enough. The detail will have you dialing the airlines. The action jumps the page and makes your heart stutter. Happy reading

The Kobalt Dossier is the second installment in author Eric Van Lustbader's Evan Ryder series. After taking down a group known as Nemesis, which had connections in both Russia and the US, Benjamin Butler finds out just how much loyalty is worth when his secretive unit is forced to shut down and all of his agents are reassigned to desk jobs. Benjamin knows that he and Evan Ryder, his lone remaining agent who is told to accept her demotion or resign, have extremely dangerous enemies with access to the President. It really hits home when Evan lands in D.C. and is immediately taken hostage but escapes thanks to a near fatal crash.

It becomes clear that a new enemy has risen and they know everything about Evan. That point becomes even more clearer when her brother in law Paul is murdered, and his children Wendy and Michael are kidnapped. The abductors seem to have disappeared, but not before stuffing a message in the father's mouth. Evan and Ben learn they were also on the list to be eliminated. Even and Ben team up to find out who took the kids and uncover that a group known as Omega may be responsible. Her search leads her across the continents and calling on her old friends to help her but also leads her on a parallel tangent, one which will shed light on a stunning revelation.

3 1/2 years ago, Evan Ryder's younger sister Bobbi Ryder Fisher was allegedly killed. At the end of the previous installment, Evan got a shocking awakening thanks to her supposed friend Lyudmilla Shokova. Evan's sister was a Russian sleeper agent likely recruited at a young age who was part of a group known as Directorate 52123. *Spoilers* Kobalt aka Bobbi, has found a home within the Russian SVR black ops operation. She is as deadly as her older sister who she has hated for a very long time. Kobalt is sent to clean up a mess that she left behind, and finds that there are those within her own organization that want her dead because she refuses to sleep her way to the top.

In fact, Kobalt is the only proof that the program actually existed. It appears as though Lyudmilla is playing a long game, and Kobalt has become a dangerous player who is a product of Lyudmilla's desire for revenge on those who forced her out. Why Lyudmilla is keeping the sisters away from each other, and guiding them in opposite directions is unknown at this time. Sad to say, but the struggle for power within Russian intelligence agencies was the most interesting aspect of this story. Especially once you put Kobalt in the picture and she ends up exactly where Lyudmilla hoped she would with a little push.

I honestly think that Evan needs to know the truth about her sister being alive. Especially now that she's found out she has yet another one out there who may become her next target to get rid of. Will it change anything? Probably. I think that Lyudmilla is playing a dirty game when it comes to keeping the truth from Evan and Bobbi. Even when Lyudmilla ends up giving up a bit of shocking information about Evan's parents, it's not enough to say that these two women will never meet on the field of battle. I truly believe that EVL is a conspiracy theorist who see's Nazi's on every street corner. Omega is a cult that is convinced that there is a need for a ‘global purge’ if mankind has to revert to the values and ideals propagated by Christianity. Putting even the dastardly eugenics of Nazism to utter shame.

If you have the inclination to listen to listen to music while you read, I highly recommend listening to the Bourne Identity score while reading the Kobalt Dossier. It added so much to my reading experience that I found I couldn't focus unless that was playing.
Just as the Bourne Identity has more twists and turns than a pretzel, so does the Kobalt Dossier.

It's got everything - the lead is Evan Ryder who doesn't play by anyone's rules but her own. It's got Russians - current secrets within the existing orgs, power plays, infiltration, long remits... and Ryder's sister Bobbi.
It's got car chases (which I'm assuming in the movie would come with big budget explosions), romance (which thankfully does not derail from the plot or turn the strong women into sniffling idiots who can't decide things for themselves), and unexpected allies in unexpected places.

It's fast paced, exciting, and like they finally wrote a spy thriller for women that wasn't condescending or pedantic.

While Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook might have moved away from the credo of ‘moving fast and breaking things’, characters in Eric Van Lustbader’ s latest edge of the seat thriller seem to possess no such inhibitions. Solely operating under the philosophy of ‘move fast, break bones and rip throats’, a deadly mix of downright dangerous human beings ranging from the bold to the barbarian combine to dish out a veritable feast for the afficionados of the genre of thrillers.

Evan Ryder, a field agent for a black-ops arm of the Department of Defense is taking a much deserved break in the islands of Sumatra after an exacting and deadly operation, when the world around her threatens to collapse with sudden intensity. She is forced to cut short her vacation after learning that her niece Wendy and nephew Michael have been abducted from the United States. There is absolutely no clue about the abductors since they seem to have disappeared like an evening mist. But not before neatly decapitating, the children’s father and stuffing a message inside his mouth. Evan realises with a sense of utter dread that this method of cold blooded killing is the calling card of a psychotic group calling itself Omega. Putting even the dastardly eugenics of Nazism to utter shame, Omega is a cult that is convinced that there is a need for a ‘global purge’ if mankind has to revert to the values and ideals propagated by Christianity. Ana, the demented head of Omega thinks herself as the contemporary Noah within whose Ark only the true believers would need to assemble while the rest ought to be put to the sword – literally.

In addition to contending with Omega, Evan also faces a new and extraordinarily dangerous predicament in the form of ‘Kobalt’ a ruthless and merciless cold blooded murderer under the employ of an ultra-secretive Russian intelligence arm. Deep within the bowels of the agency known as SVR of the FSB, there exists a Directorate termed ‘52123’. Embodying mythical hues and mystical colours, 52123 is a black hole even for a predominant part of the formidable Russian intelligence. Known only as ‘Zaslon’, the members of this outfit operate like the shadows of the night. Different from the spetsnaz, which is akin to the American Special Forces, Zaslon operatives are employed to execute ‘high-stealth’ operations.

As Evan and her longtime partner-in-crime, Benjamin Butler go about the arduous and deadly task of rescuing the kidnapped children, insurmountable obstacles manifest with a frequency that is discomfiting. The mission puts every single skill and technique gleaned and perfected by the duo over their professional career to the ultimate test. Every ally can be a suspect and a foe may yet turn out to be an unexpected, albeit welcome ally.
“The Kobalt Dossier” takes the reader on a roller coaster ride across continents. Beginning with a prosaic series of events that unfurl in South Dakota, the adventures of Evan Ryder and Kobalt pick up steam on the shady streets of Moscow, gather momentum in the teeming and throbbing markets of Istanbul, picking up vital pieces of the jigsaw puzzle in the verdant settings of Koln in Germany before finally culminating in a cataclysmic crescendo in the high mountains of Carpathia in Romania. As Benjamin Butler aptly reminisces in one of the passages in the book, the Carpathian mountains constitute the abode and haven of Dracula.

A one sitting read, as is the case with all the exciting novels emanating from the Lustbader stable, “The Kobalt Dossier” makes for a rousing read. Evan Ryder fans would not be one bit disappointed with their protagonist’s exploits and endeavours. What adds an extra element of ‘variety’ to the thriller is a dose of psychological mix. In addition to flexing her muscles, Evan is also required to bring the mental and psychical side of A game to the fore as her adversary is a master manipulator of the human mind. The passages involving this psychological interplay and subterfuge make for some extremely thought provoking reading.

(The Kobalt Dossier by Eric Van Lustbader is published by Macmillan-Tor/Forge Books and will be released on the 1st of June 2021).

Thankyou to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor Forge and the author, Eric Van Lustbader, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of The Kodaly Dossier in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
Well, this author has delivered yet another nail-biting novel with plenty of action to keep you entertained.
The storyline was well written with well drawn characters.
Well worth a read.

I've read several books by this author and have always enjoyed everything I've read, so I was looking forward to reading this book. I must say it didn't disappoint. This book was easy to read and fast paced and kept me wanting to read more. I highly recommend this book.

Evan Ryder returns to Washington, D.C. after a successful mission that shut down a violent international organization known as Nemesis. However, she finds that her highly secretive unit of the Department of Defense has been shut down, and at the same time, her sister’s two children have gone missing. She teams with her former boss, Ben Butler, as she seeks the children, as well as another international cabal knows as Omega. The story moves between Russia, Istanbul, Odessa, and Romania - what they find along the way are clues to Evan’s past as well as adversaries who will kill without any hesitation. And what Evan does not find will be the subject of the next book in the series. My thoughts on rating this book ranged from 1 star to 5 stars so I ended up picking a number in the middle. This is the 2nd book in the Evan Ryder series (there will be another as it says so right at the end of the book) and I often felt that I was lost not having read the 1st one. If you like complicated, this is a book for you. Keeping all the players straight was difficult (perhaps tedious) at times - many had more than one name! And the locations changed frequently making you wonder where you were. My thanks to Forge Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel in exchange for my review.

Evan Ryder is dealing with the loss of her sister Bobbi and her job at a now dismantled intel unit funded but not fronted by DOD. Then her sisters kids go missing, she's kidnapped, and the big global conspiracy is back. She teams up with Ben Butler, her former boss, to do a global run against evil. That's a simplistic way to described a fairly complicated plot. Not everything she took for granted is true. It's a little over the top at spots (many spots) but it's very entertaining. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Don't worry if you didn't read the first one, there's enough background to get you going. It would make a good beach or travel book.

The Kobalt Dossier continues the struggles Evan Ryder has with her sister who is dead? and with the new strange group called Omega. The first book in this series by Eric Van Lustbader was good but I think it got a bit crazy in this second one. How many siblings does Evan have and are her parents alive or not. The struggle for power within russian intelligence is on the other hand really well written and in my view the best part of the book. I must thank @forgereads @macmillanusa and @netgalley for giving me this advance copy and @evlust for writing it.

Evan Ryder is back and in full action form as she fights assassins sent to kill her who are trying to stop her search for her sisters kidnapped kids or are they part of the Nemesis’s group? Her search leads her across the continents and calling on her old friends to help her also leads her on a parallel tangent, one which is close to her family.

Action packed thriller with good twists and plots. This is a recommended read and I am thankful to Netgalley for providing me an advance copy of this book for my unbiased feedback.

The newest novel in the Evan Ryder series finds Evan and her boss' Ben's jobs being eliminated due to the toes the stepped on succeeding in their last mission. With Evan's niece and nephew having gone missing, someone attempting to kidnap Evan, and Ben on a kill list, this novel takes the main characters and the reader on an action packed journey to rescue the children and find out much more about themselves.

I adore this novel. This is officially my favorite ever spy series. Like any good spy novel, it is fast paced, slightly over the top, incredibly intelligent, and full of twists. Things that I love that are unique to this series include the writing. Eric Van Lustbader is a master at pulling all these desperate elements in to a cohesive plot, keeping characters distinct and interesting, and using words in a simple and powerful way. I also adore that the main character is a female, written by a man, but not written in any exaggerated ways that come across as uncomfortable to the female reader. As someone who loves to travel, I wish this book had been as descriptive about the various settings as the last one, but I still enjoyed the experience of reading about the different locations in the book. Thank you, Eric Van Lustbader for another exceptional and enjoyable read.

I just reviewed The Kobalt Dossier by Eric Van Lustbader. #TheKobaltDossier #NetGalley - The action is non-stop and it picks up nicely from where the story left off. The characters are well researched and they play well throughout the book. Looking forward to the series continuing.

As an early reader of EVL novels, I was disappointed when his stories ended and he wrote other people’s books. When he jumped back in to his own series, I wasn’t tremendously impressed, but the master storyteller has found his footing in this one. The characters, plot, and action don’t include the same violence as his earlier series, but the time is well spent in this addition to his new series.