A Red Dotted Line by Simon Gervais

Its offices are in Manhattan. The operatives live in penthouses. They are privately funded by billionaires who have no say in how their money is used. They do what must be done outside the rule of law and far enough from the White House for plausible deniability. Their level of tech is years ahead of all but the NSA. They are:

The International Market Stabilization Institute.

The what? Sounds more like a think tank for bankers and economists, not super duper spies.

The main spooks are Mike Walton (he's the one with panic attacks. Great trait for a spy wouldn't you say?) and his physician wife Lisa. As the book opens, the IMSI has just foiled/escaped an attempted hit on their leader. The chief suspect is The Sheik.

Mike and Lisa are sent to Moscow to observe and report on an exchange of sorts. But their cover is blown almost as soon as they land. Lisa is quickly sent to a backwoods town that is home to Russia's biomedical weapons research facility that apparently is close to weaponizing a virus that makes Ebola look like a chest cold.  Mike is tasked with finding a contact who used to work at the research lab and try and trace back who is the political boss in charge of the project.

If you like chases, this is your bag. Me? For most of the book, I felt like I had come into a movie theater midway through the film. Maybe one should first read the predecessor to this book, The Thin Black Line. That probably contains the requisite character development and history into the shadowy IMSI. I always seemed to be behind, trying to catch up. Thought about quitting numerous times, but decided to mostly skim through just to see the final result. Once achieved, I personally never felt anything for the successes of the characters because I knew nothing about them.

My suggestion would be to start with The Think Black Line (just an assumption as I haven't read it) before delving into A Red Dotted Line. I'm guessing that where 'Black' leaves off, 'Red' picks right up and assumes that the reader of 'Red' has previously completed 'Black' and has all the necessary background. But with my nightstand piled as high as it is, I doubt I'll be going back just to fill in the many blanks found in 'Red'.

ECD

available November 1, 2016