CIA operatives Sia and Max enter Russia to recruit Vladimir Putin’s moneyman. Sia works for a London firm that conceals the wealth of the super-rich. Max’s family business in Mexico – a CIA front since the 1960s – is a farm that breeds high-end racehorses. They pose as a couple, and their targets are Vadim, Putin’s private banker, and his wife Anna, who is both a banker and an intelligence officer herself…
It is such a pleasure to be hosting the blog tour for Moscow X today. Many thanks to David McCloskey and to Rachel Nobilo from Swift Press for inviting me and for sending me an advance copy of the novel.
David McCloskey's first novel, Damascus Station has been widely lauded and he has been called the next John Le Carré. I've not yet read his debut but although Moscow X features at least one returning character, it is a standalone thriller – although also a firm reminder that I must read Damascus Station because I really loved this.
The games of chess that Anna Agapova plays during the course of the novel are a fitting metaphor for this intelligent, intricately plotted thriller. This is not a fast paced read – at least not until later in the book – but it rewards its readers with an involving, intense storyline which is complemented by the excellent characterisation and atmospheric sense of place. Set in the present day, this is a Cold War spy novel for our times, with the Ukraine war in the background and an ailing but still powerful Putin ruling Russia with an iron fist. The book opens, however, in Tajikistan where CIA Chief of Station, Aphrodite Proctor, wakes to find herself in a compromising position. The result of this is that she eventually ends up in the 'Penalty Box', forced to pay her dues back at Langley. She accepts her fate but persuades her boss that she should head up Moscow X, a secretive CIA operation designed to cause all manner of headaches for the Russian administration. Although never directly in danger herself, her dry wit, interesting food choices and resolute sense of moral justice means the pages fizz with energy whenever Proctor appears.
The strength of the female characters in Moscow X is particularly impressive and the cat and mouse game between Hortensia – Sia – Fox and Anna Agapova is what really drives the compelling, convoluted narrative. Sia is officially a lawyer for Hynes Dawson, a Mayfair based firm with a client list described as 'running the spectrum from the reluctantly shady to the unrepentantly corrupt.' It transpires that Vassily Platonovich Gusev, better known as Goose, and one of Putin's closest advisors has stolen gold from Bank Rossiya as part of an ongoing power struggle with its principal shareholder, Andrei Agapova, and he expects Hynes Dawson to swiftly and seamlessly wash this dirty money. However, Sia is also a CIA NOC (non-official cover) and is sent to Mexico to pose as the girlfriend of Max Castillo, owner of a prestigious horse business and a CIA Foreign National Officer (FNO). The speculative mission to host Anna and her husband, Vadim, a moneymaker for Putin, has the primary aim of accessing Vadim's tech while also exploring whether either Russian could be recruited. It sets in motion a chain of events which eventually leads to a nerve-jangling, violent confrontation where the outcome is never certain.
As an intelligence officer herself, Anna is naturally suspicious and she and Vadim invite Max and Sia back to their highly surveilled farm in Russia where it becomes obvious just how dangerous the CIA mission is. One of the strengths of Moscow X is that for all the high-octane twists and turns, it is also a needle-sharp character study which shrewdly examines loyalty and duty, betrayal and revenge, and what the constant risk of exposure and much worse can do to a person.
As the action moves between the USA, Russia, Mexico, England and beyond, the audacious scheming and counter-plotting means this global thriller consistently keeps its readers on their toes. The rapid changes in fortune and almost simultaneously revealed plans ensures it's never clear who, if anybody, has the upper hand and the intoxicating power of fear eventually becomes something far more nightmarish; David McCloskey's authentic reflection of an ongoing "fight without an end" is grimly honest throughout.
The brutal tension engendered in the final chapters is almost unbearable, with the cliffhanger chapter endings guaranteeing a compulsive need to keep reading until the fate of all the characters is revealed. It is also, perhaps more surprisingly, a moving and humorous read at times. Moscow X is a superb book and everything a spy thriller should be – dynamic, pulse-racing and utterly engrossing; it kept me gripped from start to finish and I very highly recommend it.
Moscow X is published by Swift Press, purchasing links can be found here.
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