1543. Red London by Alma Katsu

Russian oligarch Mikhail Rotenberg is one of the richest Russians on the planet. Been in London for years and has an English wife, Emily, and toddler twins. They live on a street referred to as Billionaire Blvd. Residents are so rich that many have full-time live-in security to go along with the requisite live-in house staff. Emily’s background is kind of plain. One of 3 daughters and had there been a vote, she’d win the ‘least likely to succeed’ award. This despite being of a family with a mostly dotted-line lineage to some low-level royal. A nondescript university student, she’d had a series of middling jobs before getting a gig in fine art gallery, which is where she met Mikhail. Her family was against the marriage on multiple levels, but Emily succumbed to Mikhail’s charm.

Five years of marriage has left her kind of numb to the ways of the uber wealthy. Endless parties, pay dates, fund raisers, and gallery openings has left her friendless. The book opens with a failed armed attack on the compound by professionals. Given Russia’s habit of getting rid of dissidents on foreign soil, the UK government is very skittish.

Enter Lyndsey, CIA agent on a new assignment. Her last assignment was in Beirut and that went kind of foul as she had a fling with an MI6 agent. The Brits look at affairs as somewhat bemusing; not so the CIA. Lyndsey was brought home, put in a series of paper shuffling jobs before being tasked to London to be the new babysitter of a Russian military officer who provides useful information to Langley. Her primary task is to get inside information on the new Russian President, Victor Kosygin, who took over after Putin disappeared at the tail end of the unfortunate Ukraine war.

MI6 is looking closer to home. They want details on just how much fortune Mikhail has amassed and how he got so wealthy. Word is that Russia in low on cash because of the war and economic sanctions and Kosygin is pressuring all the ex-pat oligarchs for money, especially Mikhail who is the biggest fish out there. The CIA is also interested and offers Lyndsey to act as CIA support if needed. One proposal is the do an end run and try to get Emily to provide information. Lyndsey takes on the task of trying to get Emily to be an asset about Mikhail’s business dealings.

Lyndsey goes undercover to first meet and become friends with Emily and then to work out just how to get at Mikhail’s books. But she becomes more than just a friend. She becomes a confidant to Emily. Even to the point of accepting Emily’s offer for Lyndsey to live in their mansion. In doing so, she’ll have multiple options beyond just Emily. Like Mikhail’s accountant Weston, the head of security, the nanny, and housekeeping. All the while watching the disintegration of Emily’s marriage.

Full disclosure here: I finished the book, but it was a slow go for me. A really slow go. Never read much more than 10-15’ at a sitting because the story just didn’t interest me. Emily was presented as a milk toast wife, protective of her kids who did little to raise them. Didn’t like Lyndsey much either. Mikhail is a philanderer and a cruel businessman. And the supporting characters were hardly developed. It’s probably just me given what I’ve read over the years and my expectations. The Lyndsey character was featured in a previous book (Red Widow) and the end of the book was a cliffhanger one could see from a mile off. Maybe this is the way actual ‘espionage’ goes, but the middle 75-80% of this book read more like a story about a marriage gone stale, which is a far cry from what we’d normally expect in a political thriller.

ECD