"Bloodmoney", by David Ignatius

A Novel of Espionage

This spy novel is one of the best Mr. Ignatius has written so far. What makes this author stand out is we never know where the plotting will lead us. Deception is the theme of this captivating thriller, it is based on actual CIA operations and only someone with experience in the field can guess where fact crosses into fiction. 

The central character is Sophie Marx who works at the ''Hit parade LLP' office in a Los Angeles, it is a secret branch within the CIA that works under the radar and deploys agents around the world. 

The story starts when Howard Egan whose cover is a hedge fund manager for Alphabet Capital in London goes missing on a mission in Pakistan. Alarm bells are triggered when other operatives also deep under cover are eliminated one by one. Sophie Marx must find out who is killing them and how their lock-tight identities were compromised. The action and excitement begins when we are plunged into a game of deception and double-talk where each side has their own agenda while maintaining an artificial relationship with each other. 

The characterization, the dialogue and the interaction between the players skillfully displays the cultural differences and helps hype the suspense to another level. The pacing is brisk, the writing is clean and efficient and the plot is believable and free of melodrama found in many thrillers of this genre and as the plot unfolds it pulls us bit by bit into a world of upper level finance and the covert operations of world intelligence agencies.

This is an adrenaline packed adventure into the black hole of international diplomacies. The end result is an engaging page turner that will keep you intrigued for hours.