This is a very well written book with an intricate and interesting plot, excellent characters and a very good pace. Despite a lot of jumping around in places, the book is easy to read.

Caspian Anderson book #1

What a breathless game of cat and mouse this turned out to be and what an exciting read. It opens in Switzerland with Caspian, code name “Elias” a black operative working for the Department of Homeland Security is sent on a killing mission to take out a banker by the name of Leonard Alrich who has deep ties to human trafficking. While Caspian’s girlfriend Liesel an accountant with ties to intelligence agency does her thing. Both love birds have no knowledge that they are working on different sides of the same problem nor do they know of each true identity....The story immerses us in both character’s worlds and along the way gives us a thrilling ride.

When Caspian unearths a conspiracy implicating political figures his mission takes a turn sideways....but for us.... step aside Jason Bourne we are into one of those high-flying story that gives us pulse and heart-pounding action sequences one can wish for. Along the way we are taken through a web of lies and secrets while the sweet and tender moments between Caspian and Liesel give us a well needed break.

This story is a joy to read even if there is a lot to unpack spy vs spy vs spy and back and forth, trust and mistrust at every corner what a way to keep you tuned in. The multiple characters that cross the pages just add to the complexity of this well-said and well-plotted drama.

This is my first experience reading this author and definitely will not be the last.
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Filled with secrets, shootouts and spies, The Elias Network is an absorbing edge-of-your-seat espionage thriller that increases your heart rate, makes you sweat and gives you one hell of a ride. Simon Gervais delivers yet again…and this one might be his best novel to date.

Caspian Anderson, code name Elias, is an elite assassin for a clandestine organization deep within the Department of Homeland Security. While on a mission to prosecute a target tied to a human trafficking ring, he identifies another team of operators in play and is further confused when they try to abduct the wife and daughters of his target. What he learns from that point onward will make Caspian question everything he thought he knew about the organization he works for, the people he interacts with in his cover job as a UN translator, and even if his girlfriend is who he thought she was. But one thing is certain. Caspian’s lethal skillset will be put to the test and result in the death of anyone who gets in his way.

Gervais has crafted an intricate and engaging story that puts multiple spies and operators in the same theater and watches them gorge themselves on a smorgasbord of violence. From Switzerland to Italy to France to the US, bodies drop and blood spills at a high rate. Which is awesome and entertaining if you’re into that kind of thing (in the pages of a novel at least). However, this book has much more going for it, traversing a tangled web of relationships, operations and organizations that keeps everyone on their toes trying to figure out who’s in cahoots with who and ultimately how everything is going to play out. Plus, there’s a love story wrapped inside it all with career spies seemingly willing to give it all up to live happily ever after. What more could you possibly want?

The Elias Network is coming in hot this fall! Don’t miss out on this entertaining, spicy, fast-paced thriller that kicks off the next great series by the fabulous Simon Gervais.

Simon Gervais is one of the best authors out there. He doesn't write long series, instead he makes up new characters all the time. Was The Elias Network good? Well I started it in the evening and stayed awake until the en at ten miutes past two in the morning. That should answer the question. It was pure joy reading and impossible to put down. What a great set of characters and the plot was to die for. Caspian Anderson is not only a translator at the UN he also kills people! But something is not right and he has to figure it out quickly or he may be next in line to die. I discovered Gervais a few years ago after he had written his first series and I fell in love with his phenomenal style of writing, he has a great flow in his books and I believe that due to the fact that he constantly starts new series he doesn't stagnate but feels fresh in every new book. I strongly recommend that you start reading his work. I also would like to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for letting me read this advance copy.

The Elias Network by Simon Gervais is the first in a new series featuring Caspian Anderson, a translator at the United Nations; except that is only a part of Caspian's portfolio. He is also an assassin for Homeland Security. At least, that is what he believes.
The truth: the Onyx group has been disbanded, and Caspian's handler had no intention of notifying Caspian of the groups demise as she continues to have use for him.

As his current assignment takes place in Switzerland, Caspian begins to discover that the situation isn't exactly what it seems. He doesn't follow protocol and instead rescues the family of his target.

The plot is full of action, his girlfriend is also a spy, a female colleague is off her meds (and off her head), and his rival assassin has also been misled about his mission.

Fast-paced and entertaining even if spy thrillers are not my usual choice.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley

Read in April. 349 pages. Publication date: Sept. 17, 2024

In Simon Gervais's taut thriller "The Elias Network," nothing is as it seems. Caspian Anderson's mundane life as a UN translator masks his true identity as "Elias," a lethal assassin working for the covert organization Onyx. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Liesel Bergmann's accounting job is a cover for her real role as a deep undercover spy investigating corporate espionage.
Gervais deftly weaves a tangled web of deception, where trust is a luxury and the stakes are life and death. As Caspian and Liesel's clandestine worlds collide, the tension ratchets up to fever pitch until the final explosive conclusion.
Definitely recommended for a tion spy thriller fans. My thanks to Netgalley for providing me an advance copy of the book for my unbiased review.

This is a well written story that kept the pace from beginning to end.
More than once I hesitated to turn the page….and then I did, only to’
learn something beyond imagination had taken place. Simon’ is an
incredible force in the genre, This is going to be at the top of my
Best of 2024 list!
My thanks to Publisher Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley for the
download copy of this book for review purposes.

The Elias Network is a spy thriller where spies are constantly crawling out of the woodwork literally. Caspian Anderson is a hitman for Homeland Security or so he thinks. When he goes to kill a human trafficker, he finds another hit squad present and trying to abduct the family. Being the hero he believes himself to be, he rescues the mother and children. As it becomes more obvious that he isn’t working for the good guys anymore, he sets out on his own to uncover the truth. Almost everyone in this novel is working some kind of agenda or is a foreign agent. Caspian is tough guy with a good heart but a little bit of a sucker overall. The story was action-packed and fast paced with a degree of mystery for a good read. My voluntary, unbiased, and non mandatory review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

Another great read by Simon Gervais. The Elias Network is a new series introducing us to Caspian Anderson in a story that will remind you of Mr. and Mrs Smith. Lots of action! Different story lines that all tie together. The story takes twists and turns leading Caspian to try out the truth about ONYX, who we works for.

I highly recommend this book. The author is one of the ones that when I see he has a new book coming out it is a must get,

A stunning espionage-action adventure reminiscent of Mr and Mrs Smith but more dangerous and adrenaline-pumping. This is an excellent new series by Simon Gervais and there’s potential for so many stories just as action-packed and awesome if not more in this budding series. Gervais does a fantastic job of exploring a fresh new story with innovative characters and cool action.

Full review out on https://www.bestthrillerbooks.com/kashif-hussain

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review "The Elias Network", by Simon Gervais, the solid first book in what I'm sure will be a great new series.
It's spy vs spy vs spy meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this fast-moving, suspenseful series debut, and there's a lot to unpack here.
Caspian Anderson's day job, we're meant to believe, is as a translator for the United Nations. But actually, he's a paid assassin for a group called Onyx - his code name is "Elias".
Liesel Bergmann, Caspian's girlfriend works for a high profile accounting firm, but in actuality she's a foreign national and deep undercover spy working for her government and investigating unfriendly foreign ties to American companies.
She doesn't know what Caspian really does for a living (but she does know about Elias), And he doesn't know what Liesel does. But their paths are about to cross!
Elias's latest target is an international banker who is believed to be deeply involved in human trafficking/organ trafficking - but Caspian is not alone. It seems that another group is bent on abducting the banker and his family, with nefarious, horrendous plans for the wife and daughters. But Caspian manages to insert himself in the plot, subsequent to the elimination of the banker, and actually rescues the family.
Meanwhile Liesel is investigating a company that seems to be a puppet of the Chinese government, but there is duplicity in her life, too.
Don't want to give away any more of this intricate and engrossing book, but suffice to say that Caspian's and Liesel's double lives are about to intersect in the most interesting of ways, setting up the next book in the series. Which I sincerely hope will come very soon.
Highly recommended for fans of Mr. Gervais's other books and any fans of great suspense/thriller/international intrigue tales.

I've read a lot of Simon Gervais' work, and generally speaking I'm a fan. But a fan of THE ELIAS NETWORK? Not so much.

The narrative is incredibly confusing and frequently downright difficult to untangle. It's not just that some character is concealing something crucial that will impact how the entire plot plays out, it's that EVERY character seems to be concealing something different about their relationship to other characters. The book honestly made me think of one of those old television soap operas much beloved by my grandmother where every plot seemed to spin off in a wild direction when you discovered the characters were related in some unexpected way. 'You mean, you're really my uncle's third cousin on my sister's husband side and you were the lawyer for my bother's girlfriend when she had her snowboarding accident???' Yeah, like that.

The writing is solid, as you would expect coming from Gervais, but the narrative is so convoluted as a result of all these odd relationships that sometimes it felt like it was somewhere on a sliding scale between painful and laughable. That made reading the book considerably less than the sort of pleasure I've gotten from reading Gervais' work before this.

The Elias Network is a true thriller, brilliantly conceived and wonderfully written. I enjoyed the main characters and would be happy to see a sequel.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Love new characters that represent new agencies I havent previously read about. Great author and character development, can’t wait for the next Capsian thriller.