Red Cell – Mark Henshaw – Krya Stryker and Jonathan Burke Book 1
A week or so ago my wife and I completed watching the first five seasons of Homeland.So when I saw Mark Henshaw’s The Fall of Moscow Station among the new releases at my library I was intrigued. Looking at the book, I saw that it was the third book in Mark’s series that features CIA agents Kyra Stryker and Jonathan Burke. So rather than start with the third book in the series, I found and checked out Red Cell the first book in the series. Yesterday, Red Cell became the 32 book I have read in 2016. And now that I know Kyra and Jonathan I’m ready for their next assignment which is chronicled in Cold Shot.
About Red Cell
In addition to being the first book in the Stryker – Burke series Red Cell is also Mark Henshaw’s debut novel. And while Henshaw may be new to the world of books, he is not new to the world of the CIA. Henshaw was a CIA analyst for eleven years. He was a decorated analyst. His awards included the Director of National Intelligence Galileo Award for innovation in intelligence analysis, which he won in 2007. What does this mean for the reader, well, he knows what he is writing about!!
Here’s what some people in the know have written about Red Cell.….
“Red Cell is as smart as it is exciting, a thriller that makes you think from the edge of your seat. Mark Henshaw’s unique perspective from the inside makes it all feel terrifyingly real.”
– Howard Gordon, Co-Creator of Homeland and Author of Hard Target.
“Mark Henshaw clearly knows the terrain, from the geopolitical to the tradecraft in the shadows. I’ surprised this made it past the CIA censors. A rock-solid thriller as plausible as tomorrow’s headlines.”
-Brad Taylor author of One Rough Man and All Necessary Force
After Kyra Stryker’s first assignment in Venezuela goes bad she is assigned to the Red Cell where she will work with the brilliant but somewhat eccentric analyst Jonathan Burke. Soon Kyra and Jonathan are smack in the middle of an international firestorm.
The firestorm is centered off the coast of China and includes a potential invasion of Taiwan by Communist China, a top CIA asset who has been discovered by the China’s MSS and a potential Chinese weapon the Assassin’s Mace that may tip power toward China. And it’s Kyra and Jonathan’s job to figure it all out and make sure everything turns out ok!!
Bottom-Line
: Red Cell is a 3.5 star book for me. The technical details concerning the operation of the CIA are certainly five-star. But for me Henshaw the first part of the book dragged and i didn’t get to really know Kyra and Jonathan until the second half of the book.
There were also a couple of things that bothered me in the second half of the book. Things happened during Kyra’s assignment in Beijing that bordered on unbelievable.
Overall though I enjoyed the book and look forward to Stryker and Burke’s next assignment. I’m sure that as Henshaw improves as a writer the books in turn will improve. I also think that as the characters are more fully fleshed out I will enjoy the books more! Does anyone have any comments on Red Cell or Henshaw’s books in general?