Thankyou to NetGalley, Head of Zeus and the author, Eric Van Lustbader, for the opportunity to read 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 a rather brilliant read. Our protagonist Evan Ryder is a lone wolf working for a black ops arm of the US government. Evan's agent colleagues are being eliminated as a result of the a mysterious group called Nemesis. The group are trying to flush out Evan - she is their next target. Who are they and what do they want and how far do their tentacles reach into the corridors of Washington? The pacing was fast, the Russian characters rather deliciously brutal and a fabulously strong protagonist. The ending was satisfyingly surprising too. A fast, dark, well plotted read.

This became harder to read, the further I read, in fact, it verged on the highly unlikely in parts. Yes, I know its fiction, but time and again, additional aspects were dropped into the tale which added little and actually detracted from the story. I enjoy reading a book that also teaches me new words. etymology and language, and every so often will pause to understand what has been written, However, with this book, it almost became the case that the author had decided to place an obscure word on every page, which became tedious. It became a predictable tale, and not one where I would be rushing out to find what happened next. Sorry.

I think I’m destined to never finish an Eric Van Lustbader book. I’ve been trying to since I first got a copy of The Ninja in the 80s. And had a box set of his Bourne novels that never got read more recently. His concepts always seem cool, but his writing just fails to grip me.

An old fashioned spy novel reformulated for modern times. I really enjoyed seeing three strong female characters, though perhaps at the cost of the male characters who came across as weak and two faced. It took me a while to get into this book as everyone seemed to be at least a double agent and it was hard to follow how it all fit together. In the end there were a lot of lose ends but I enjoyed the action and the suspense. Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy of this novel.

Politics in real life is a no-go area for me but in books - give me all you got. There is a definite comparison between this POTUS and a certain other one in real life, who I shall not name in case he takes a hissy fit LOL.

Evan Ryder is a damn good spy, not just for a woman, but against anyone. She takes patriotism and the protection of her country seriously. She is no Bond Girl, she'd kick James in the b&&ls and take over and do a fine job of it. Her Boss Ben, her former partner, is just as savvy but now bides his time behind a desk rather than in the field (BTW his daughter could teach classes in the manipulation of adults!!)

No one is safe in this book, I just got around to kind of understanding and liking someone and BLAMMO, dead. Evan's friend/mentor Ludymilia is like a chess Grandmaster - she's 12 steps ahead of everyone and Isobel is another fantastically strong, intelligent and cunning agent.

The females are by far the ringleaders in this book. As in real life overlook them or underestimate them at your peril!