Book Review: Red Widow by Alma Katsu

 

Red Widow by Alma Katsu

 Hardcover, 352 pages
Published March  2021 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

I am overdue to check out the work of Alma Katsu, her horror novels have been on my list for a long time but I started with the spy thriller because it was available at the library at the right time. I was interested because I like novels written by authors who have a unique point of view that they bring to a topic. Something that only they could write.

I read something funny in a negative review of this novel. Random Goodreads reviewer seems unconvinced that the characters in this novel act like spies. While the reviewer has read plenty of spy novels, he seems to know better than the author Alma Katsu what spies act like. I mean she only actually worked in the CIA.  But the dude who read a lifetime of spy novels knows better right?

The Red Widow is not a thriller in the sense of gun battles and murders. This is more in the Le’Carre style spy thriller that seems closer to reality. There is a heavyweight of secrets, betrayals, and psychological suspense that elevates the story. In many ways, this could feel like a workplace drama but the stakes are so high.

The story opens with the poisoning death of a Russian man on an American flight. The death of this man is a mystery, he was a CIA asset but hadn’t appeared to be exposed. The Russian division is suddenly worried that they have a spy working in their midst.

The investigation centers on two characters Lynsey Duncan and the title character Theresa Warner.  Fresh off an embarrassing demotion over a romance with a British agent in Lebanon Lynsey returns to D.C. expecting to be fired. She is surprised when she is given the case of the dead Russian, but when she learns the details it was an asset she recruited when she worked in Moscow.

Theresa works in the CIA even after her husband was killed in Russia trying to extract an agent he recruited. The two women strike up a friendship even as Lynsey has the job to investigate their division of the agency.  I can see why some readers found this to be a very un-thrilling thriller.

I disagree but I understand how that happened, but it cuts to the very theme Katsu is trying to get across. The people in these agencies are human beings. They make sacrifices to do these jobs and they have real fears. Set aside for the moment my personal and political feelings about the CIA I just expressing what the author is trying to say.

Lynsey Duncan is a perfect character to be at the center of this message. Her flaws almost got her fired, and she did it for love so when she finds the traitor at the center of the story it is not as Black and white as she expected.  

Lynsey gets a bit more set-up than is ultimately paid off in this story. On her second page we are given a little bit of info about her, she considers herself more accurate than a polygraph. This tidbit of her skills gets tested in several moments through the novel where she wants desperately to not accept someone is betraying her or the country.

Is she a series character? We will see the reception of Red Widow, as much as I enjoyed this novel, she as a character didn’t knock my socks off. The dynamic between the two leads worked for me. Like any novel, a thriller doesn’t work if you don’t put yourself in the shoes of the characters. The tension is built on dynamics and relationships, more dialogue than gunfire. I can dig that.

My biggest problem is a feeling that the characters got thinned out in editing to get the book down to 340 pages. That is just a guess. There are twists and betrayals for everyone. Overall I liked Red Widow quite a bit, but I am not sure it will work for everyone. I am however sure that I have to read Katsu’s horror novels.