---
product_id: 9357528
title: "Red Sparrow: A Novel"
brand: "jason matthews"
price: "€ 27.78"
currency: EUR
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 7
url: https://www.desertcart.es/products/9357528-red-sparrow-a-novel
store_origin: ES
region: Spain
---

# Red Sparrow: A Novel

**Brand:** jason matthews
**Price:** € 27.78
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

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- **What is this?** Red Sparrow: A Novel by jason matthews
- **How much does it cost?** € 27.78 with free shipping
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## Description

Red Sparrow: A Novel

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Third time is a charm.
  

*by E***N on Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2023*

This was my third attempt at this book. The story gets interesting at about halfway through and it’s a little hard to get over the hump to that point. The context is necessary just not as relevant yet.I like how this story subtly switches perspectives between the characters even during group interactions. I actually really enjoyed the humor. The pages where they are giving Nash shit for sleeping with Dominika the first time had my busting out loud in laughter. These glimmers of humor were nice among a relatively dark natured story.The romance was there but not the forefront of the story. Dominka felt slightly unrealistic as PTSD is a thing and she likely would have some kind of trauma response kicking in at times. You don’t really ‘train’ PTSD out of someone like it’s insinuating her training does. However, I liked her independence and the fact that you didn’t always have to like her or her decisions. Why did she agree to even help her uncle in the first place? She even said she could get another job. She already spoke multiple languages and would be primed to be a translator. Her special ability to see colors is a nice detail I wish they would have left in the film. Nate on the other hand feels very real. His motivations and personal conflicts feel relatable and understandable. It did sometimes feel like Nate was easier to write since Matthews was a man himself. Even the sex scenes felt somewhat written with a man’s perspective. Dominika is the only female recruit, only female in the room, etc. If you weren’t being told she was an impossibly beautiful woman at every opportunity, she could essentially have been a male character. The film made some key plot changes which helped really sell the female perspective a bit better.The recipes are a little interesting but their value cheapens a little as you go. You never get ingredient amounts so it’s not like you could actually use the recipes. The necessity to add a meal into each chapter actually feels natural most times, but did feel a little more forced once the action picked up around the end.It was a good cliff hanger ended. One that made me actually ask myself, “That’s it?”. Looking forward to reading the next one.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Spies and more spies!
  

*by R***S on Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2015*

Who Is Spying On Whom?By Bob Gelms  Jason Mathews has joined a very exclusive club of former real-live-in-the-flesh-honest-to-God spies who have come to write about espionage as fiction just like John le Carre, Ian Fleming and Graham Greene, to name a few you might have heard of. Mathews is an ex CIA spy of some 33 years and you can tell he’s experienced in real live spy craft just by reading a few pages of his first novel, Red Sparrow. I became totally convinced while reading the novel that real spies acted just like Mr. Mathews’ characters in the book. He’s very, very good.  The book tells the story of the hauntingly beautiful Dominika Egorova. She starts out as the prima ballerina in a Russian dance company. Owing to an incident involving a jealous rival in the company, Dominika can no longer dance and she is set adrift until her beloved father passes away. It is then that her somewhat wicked uncle gets her involved with the Russian clandestine service. She is eventually enrolled in a school that teaches beautiful girls how to seduce vulnerable spies into becoming double agents for the Russians. The girls who graduate from this school are called Red Sparrows. The training is quite explicit.  Since there is a Russian high up on the food chain who is spying for the Americans, Dominika is sent to Helsinki to seduce an American spy named Nathaniel Nash to see if she can find out who the double agent is. Nash is the double agent’s case officer. Not to be outdone, the Russians have a double agent high up on the political food chain in America spying for them. You almost need a scorecard to keep track on who is spying for whom.  The plot becomes very involved but Mr. Mathews keeps the reader informed and abreast of the situation so it’s not hard to follow what’s happening. The book is filled with tradecraft, as they call it in the spy biz, and there were a few things that surprised me. The spy agencies on both sides eventually identify the spies who are working against them.There is an unwritten understanding that death will not be visited upon the opposition. But the spies still have to go to unbelievable lengths to lose the people following them.  This can take up to 10 hours and is especially exhausting and exasperating when they often only get a few fleeting minutes with their contact. The spies on both sides are unusually good at their jobs. It is very much like a three-dimensional game of chess being played in the dark.I’m sure I wouldn’t want to be a spy but it sure is a lot of fun reading about them. You move to counter a move you think is three moves down the line happening in another part of the world. These spies need special brains to hold all the subplots apart in their minds. It’s thrilling.  Dominika, in addition to being very beautiful, is exceptionally smart and good at reading people. She has a leg up on this facility of hers because she has synesthesia, a real neurological condition that manifests itself in a variety of ways almost always involving colors. She can see the color of the aura surrounding everyone around her. Different colors mean different things and she uses this ability to great effect. Even to the point of saving her life. She also has, and I’m struggling with how to put this without revealing too much, a physically violent temper. When she gets angry sometimes people get hurt…a lot!  Vladimir Putin has been ruling Russia as president or prime minister for the last 16 years. It would seem he has a stranglehold, almost literally, on the office for as long as he wants it. Red Sparrow seems to indicate that modern Russia is not much of a communist state. It has, in fact, more in common with the czars in Russia’s past than with Lenin or Stalin. It is a modern version of an old fashion oligarchy with the rich ruling as they see fit and the Russian mobsters acting as their enforcement arm. It is in this milieu that the novel lives and breathes.  Red Sparrow is the first installment of a series featuring the exploits of Dominika Egorova and Nate Nash. If you like novels of espionage don’t miss this one. It is a must read. The second installment, Palace of Treason, is a humdinger.  I’ll write about that one in the next issue. Dasvidaniya!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A Superb & Quirky Spy Yarn
  

*by J***S on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2021*

"Red Sparrow" is the first book written by ex-Central Intelligence Agency operative, Jason Matthews who, I am told, is married to someone who is also an ex-operative. It is the first of a trilogy featuring the beautiful Russian ex-ballerina and spy, Dominika Egorov, detailing her relationship with American operative, Nathaniel Nash or "Nate". The book was made into a film of the same name released in 2018, it starred Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton however this review concerns the kindle edition of the book.'Red Sparrow' by Jason Matthews (2013)"Red Sparrow" is a classic spy yarn with authentic seeming tradecraft set against a continuation of the cold war which has continued, "business as usual" into the Putin era based, presumably, on the author's experience as a CIA operative. It is his attention to detail, his quirky use of language (including Russian) that raises this book above the bar. With a scope ranging across Russia, Sweden and the US, the book has a lot of fast paced action, from characters on foot trying to avoid roving patrols to car tails and chases. The book started slowly, quite difficult to get into, with the author's style hard to adapt to but, by a third of the way in, I was very glad I stuck it out.Although I was able to guess some of upcoming twists, I was generally only able to do so close to when they happened and, in general, the suspense in the book was good. There was a significant amount of violence in the book most notably when a particular Russian assassin is involved. The romance between the two lead characters, Egorov and Nash, was well handled.Nate Nash is a young, keen CIA operative working out of the US embassy in Moscow. He is idealistic, ambitious, calm in a crisis and fluent in Russian. He handles the Russian double agent, MARBLE, an asset who is high in the Russian Foreign Services, trying to keep him secret as he supplies information to the CIA. Nash's story starts in Moscow where we meet Nate and MARBLE. The Russians are aware that they have a mole but have yet to identify them so they set a trap is set from which Nash and MARBLE narrowly escape but Nash gets identified as a foreign agent. As a consequence Nash is posted to a remote CIA office in Helsinki where he meets his new no-nonsense boss, Forsyth, and his quick-witted and sarcastic colleague, Gable. It is in Helsinki, that Nash meets Egorov, someone they hope to make their asset and to whom they give the code name DIVA.Egorov, a beautiful ex-ballerina with a tragic background, is a synesthete; she sees the moods of others as coloured auras. Vibrant, sultry and independent by nature she is forced into a world where she becomes hard, unflinching and increasingly alone. Egorov is angry, resentful and conflicted; she still loves her country but feels exploited when "Uncle Vanya" enrols her in the Russian Foreign Services. Vanya gets her sent to "Sparrow School" where she is trained in the arts of seduction and blackmail but, "graduating" early, she is given her first mission, to unmask MARBLE. Sent to Helsinki, Egorov makes an unwilling spy but her synaesthesia is her big advantage. In Helsinki she meets Nate Nash and the two engage in a cat and mouse game with each trying to make the other an asset, both competing with each other to find their respective moles, but the ultimately the two realise that what they really want is each other and they fall into an affair. The affair is brutally ended and the lovers are parted.I enjoyed reading "Red Sparrow". It's a well plotted espionage thriller even if it's somewhat black and white, the US side mainly featuring flawed good guys, the Russian side featuring flawed baddies that seem almost set up to counterpoint the Americans.That I liked the book is fairly clear since I've already purchased the sequels, "Palace of Treason" and "The Kremlin's Candidate".

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*Product available on Desertcart Spain*
*Store origin: ES*
*Last updated: 2026-03-03*