Good story. in the Series. the main character Mark Sava is interesting and convincing. Mr. Mayland has created a flawed but good man. A character that the reader can get invested in. The story was interesting and easy to read.

Non stop action and a real look at Asian politics and how spies operate in Central Asia. Four non stop days that will keep you up late, because you won’t be able to put it down.

Another great addition to the Mark Sava series. Sava is a happy man, until he learns that his old mentor has died. While dealing with the death Sava discovers something that will shock his world and send him off on another adventure.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Life has never been better for Mark Sava, the former CIA station chief of Azerbaijan. He's recently married, has a newborn daughter, and the launch of his spies-for-hire business in Central Asia has been a great success. Then he gets a call from the US Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia--one his employees, seventy-two-year-old Larry Bowlan, has died of a heart attack.
Bowlan was also Sava's first boss at the CIA, so Sava feels a responsibility to personally recover the remains of his friend. He hops on a flight to Tbilisi, visits the hotel room in which Bowlan died, and is shocked when he discovers an oil painting that depicts a woman he knows all too well...
So begins four of the most violent and blisteringly personal days of Sava's life as he struggles to protect his future, and the future of a country he loves, by fighting demons from his past.

*3.5 stars*

I grew up reading a lot of spy/espionage - Le Carre, Forsyth, Deighton, and early Follett. I held the first three in high regard and would find it very hard to find novels that reached the same peak for me.

Reading this, I was quietly confident that it would probably be up there as a great novel. All the ingredients that I like were there: a slow-burner opening, the building of tension and suspense throughout, excellent locations and some really good political manoeuvres. All very cool and stuff that had me thinking that this could be one of the really good ones...

So, why only 3.5 stars, I hear you ask? Well, it is pretty simple, really. All the characters were too hard to like. It was like their traits were TOO flawed, like they were created to be the 'anti-spy hero' - I just found it really hard to get invested in any of them...

Overall, a great read if you love spy stories set in exotic locations.


Paul
ARH