Library Journal
When Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin said, "Ukraine is not even a state," he expressed a view commonly held in his country. In Dryden's third espionage thriller (after Red to Black and Moscow Sting), an election is impending in the embattled country. With Putin's blessing, the patriotiy—a cadre of unreconciled Cold Warriors—sets out to undermine Ukraine's independence. Ex-KGB colonel Anna Resnikov, who now works for the private intelligence agency Cougar, takes on the near impossible task of stopping them. Lined up against her is Balthasar, a blind man who possesses a sixth sense for what others think. Anna and Balthasar share a tangled past: whose side will he join now? VERDICT With a plot as current as today's headlines, Dryden's latest is as good as her previous two novels, which is saying a lot. In a series like this, the backstory often smothers new exposition; that's not the case here. While Anna's past matters, this exceptional novel stands on its own. Aficionados of spy thrillers will want. [See Prepub Alert, 9/19/11.]—David Keymer, Modesto, CA