Sentinel by Matthew Dunn

Sentinel by Matthew Dunn is a suspenseful novel about spies. The United States and Russia are almost at war, and the United States is counting on Will Cochrane to find the double agent, and hopefully stop the war from starting.

Book Description

“The United States and Russia are on the brink of war and only Will Cochrane—the master spy introduced in the critically acclaimed Spycatcher—can find and unmask the diabolical double agent responsible for it all in this enthralling espionage thriller, written by a real-life former field officer.

Fourteen days ago, CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, received a cryptic message from an agent operating deep undercover in Russia: "He has betrayed us and wants to go to war." Unable to make contact, the director of operations is forced to turn to one of his most deadly field officers—Will Cochrane. His mission is simple: infiltrate the remote submarine base in eastern Russia's Avacha Bay, locate the MI6 agent operating under the code name Svelte, and decode his message—or die trying.

It's a near-impossible task-even for a man who carries the code name Spartan, a title given to the most effective and deadliest Western intelligence officers. Will successfully locates the base but finds Svelte near death, his last words a final clue: Only Sentinel can stop him.

Meanwhile, political and economic tensions between the United States and Russia are rising by the day, with both sides rounding up known enemy sleeper agents within their borders for interrogation. Now it's up to Will—with the help of the top-secret joint CIA-MI6 Spartan Section—to uncover the true meaning of Svelte's message . . . and discover the identity of the legendary operative known only as Sentinel.” – Sentinel

My Thoughts

This is an exciting novel that will keep you in suspense right up to the end. This isn’t a world that the vast majority of the population would ever experience or fully understand. It is however, fully intriguing. This is espionage at its best.

The author, Matthew Dunn was in the British Secret Intelligent Service as a field operative. So he knows the subject matter very well, and is able to write about it in such a way that is believable. I think that this really helps the storyline, but sometimes might also be a reason it trails off on too many insignificant details for an average reader to care about.

Overall, I think this is a good book that is relevant today. Although the “Cold War” is over, Russia is still a very real threat to the United States, and Matthew Dunn does a very good job driving this point home through his fictional story.

* Thank you to the publisher of Sentinel, William Morrow, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.