This, the second of the Red Sparrow books, continues where the previous one left off, and offers more of the same. It’s written by a former CIA officer, so much of it has the ring…Read more…

Jason Matthews writes with such authority about the CIA that I kept thinking as I read this book — he’s either got a great imagination, or he was a player. It turns out to be…Read more…

This is normally the kind of book I love. A gritty, serial-killer crime novel set in today’s London. Having read a very favourable review, I thought I’d give it a chance. I have to say…Read more…

This books tells the tragic story of a group of young Georgian men (and one woman) who chose to hijack a Soviet airliner in November 1983 in an attempt to escape to the West. As…Read more…

Ian Kershaw’s book aims to answer just one question: why did the Germans continue to fight even after the second world war was clearly lost? He reviews a number of explanations given, ranging…Read more…

In this 290 page book, Donald Trump does not make an appearance until page 210. This is not what you’d have expected, given the media focus on the sacked FBI director’s account of his…Read more…

I first learned about this book because of the fact that in the BBC television series based on it, the creators decided to use the Georgian alphabet for one of the two cities — because…Read more…

To be honest, I bought this book in a small, independent bookshop in San Francisco, where I spotted it while browsing a few days earlier, and not on Amazon. I read it as a paperback,…Read more…

Rob Eagar’s book is actually a very good introduction to the subject of book marketing for authors. Though lacking in specifics on some things (like how to get speaking gigs), his emphasis is…Read more…

Having recently read a dystopian novel ruined by a poor ending (The Power), this book works all the way through, from the unforgettable opening scene to an ending that seems, in retrospect,…Read more…

It’s an appealing title, and the book was cited in a rather good article I read recently, so I thought I’d give it a chance. Tim Grahl has some good ideas, and some opinions which…Read more…

The central plot idea for this book is terrific. I won’t be giving much away as this appears in the first few pages. A CIA analyst specialising in tracking down Russian sleeper agents in the…Read more…

I first learned of this book because Ethel Snowden was one of the European socialist and labour leaders who visited independent Georgia in 1920. Georgia was at that time ruled by the Mensheviks,…Read more…

I bought this book when it first came out and when I began reading it, for some reason it didn’t grab me and I put it aside. Having just read it now, years later, I…Read more…

This book has been so hyped, so much written about it, that there are probably few surprises in it for the reader. However, there’s quite a difference between spending five minutes reading the…Read more…

Imagine a world in which one gender has all the power, controlling the economy, society, politics, and so on. A world in which members of one gender can exploit and abuse members of the other…Read more…

Andy Weir’s first book, The Martian, was nearly perfect. As I read it, I remember thinking: This is why I used to love reading science fiction. The film version starring Matt Damon, while…Read more…

This is the first major biography of the Soviet leader to appear in two decades, and comes as the world marks the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. It is a tremendous achievement….Read more…