“If Brian Freemantle isn’t the best writer of spy novels around, he’s certainly, along with John le Carré, in the top two. . . . It doesn’t get much better than this.” ---The Philadelphia Inquirer
In a botched escape from Russia, MI5 spy Charlie Muffin is seized by the FSB, Russia's intelligence-service successor to the infamous KGB. Charlie is Russia’s long-term target in British counter-intelligence, and Moscow is determined to extract, by whatever means necessary, every secret of British---and Western---espionage over Charlie’s thirty-year career.
Charlie’s determined not only to resist the interrogation but to learn from it if his Russian intelligence-officer wife and their daughter escaped the trap that snared him and have reached England. He embarks on a cat-and-mouse battle of deception to convince his interrogators that they’re learning what they want---or think they want---aware that one misspoken word could be fatal.
That’s not Charlie’s only problem. He’s also trying to work out how his escape was foiled. It could not have been only due to the FSB, or his wife and daughter would have been caught as well. His MI5 boss doesn’t think it was, either, and suspects treachery by Britain’s external intelligence organization, MI6. To help discover the truth, Natalia, Charlie’s wife, uses all the Russian tradecraft she’s ever learned to help save her husband.
*Red Star Falling---*the third in the Red Star trilogy---continues the acclaimed series that has established Brian Freemantle as one of the world’s most ingenious espionage writers.
From Booklist
In the climax of Red Star Burning (2012), maverick MI5 agent Charlie Muffin was captured by the FSB at the Moscow airport after being shot (by another British agent) while extracting his wife, Natalia, an FSB agent, and his daughter, Sasha, from Russia. Yes, it’s complicated. When it appeared that Charlie and Natalia’s secret marriage was about to be exposed, Charlie put together a plan to bring his family to the West. That part worked, but Charlie now lingers in a Russian prison, where he is being interrogated by the FSB. Meanwhile, much backroom drama ensues in Britain, where rival groups in MI5 and MI6 are struggling for control as Natalia and another Russian defector become pawns in the bureaucratic cat fight. Unlike Red Star Burning, an intelligent but action-packed espionage tale of the old school, this one is almost completely devoid of action, focusing on boardrooms, interrogation sessions, even pillow talk—the venues where real spies most often ply their trade. Your pulse won’t pound, but your mind will be thoroughly engaged in this le Carré-like exploration of how manipulative bureaucrats pose a greater threat to individual lives than the cloak-and-dagger crowd ever did. --Bill Ott
Review
Praise for Red Star Burning:
“This is le Carré territory, to be sure—think The Russia House (1989)—and Freemantle hits every note perfectly in dramatizing the fundamental conflict between individual values and institutional machinations. On top of that, he constructs an airtight plot, full of backpedaling twists, that leads to a stunning cliffhanger of a finale.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“A terrific story. … At least a double cross is on, if not a triple, and there’s genuine suspense in the unfolding origami.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Freemantle has written a tense and entertaining scramble.”
—Library Journal
Praise for Brian Freemantle:
“Freemantle, certainly one of the top espionage writers today, may very well be one of the best of all time.” ---Booklist
“Praised as more than a match for John le Carré, Freemantle will not disappoint readers.”
---Library Journal
“If Brian Freemantle isn’t the best writer of spy novels around, he’s certainly, along with John le Carré, in the top two. . . . It doesn’t get much better than this.”
---The Philadelphia Inquirer
“His thrillers . . . are both sleek and tough, filled with gritty characters and superb plotting.”
*---Chicago Tribune
“Impossible to put down . . . marvelous . . . real genius.”---The Washington Post
“Wonderful . . . Freemantle holds the reader in his thrall with masterful, insightful writing.”---Orlando Sentinel*
“If you like to read about a protagonist who, like a master chess player, seems to be think three or four moves ahead of everyone, then the Charlie M series is for you. It is deliciously complex.”
---Deadly Pleasures
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