Two Spies Reach Out From the Grave by Chad Huskins – Review

Two Spies Reach Out From the Grave by Chad Huskins – Review

Rating – 3.5/5

Nathan Adamson, former SEAL and now a member of CIA’s Special Operations Group, goes to Siberia to collect evidence of a destructive weapon developed by Russia. However, the safe house at his first rendezvous point is compromised, leaving him to fend for himself in hostile territory.

Nathan’s career has left him with virtually no relatives, except Sophia—a hundred-year-old veteran of the French Resistance who is his friend-cum-mentor. Sophia harbors some secrets which she hasn’t divulged to even her own family. She is gradually losing her battle against dementia. However, in the foggy depths of her memory, lie the face of a Nazi tyrant who escaped justice. Sophia now sees that face again, or is it her hallucination?

As Nathan’s Siberia mission results in unprecedented international political turbulence, his present and Sophia’s past collide violently, resulting in unlikely enemies and even unlikelier alliances.

If you want to watch a spy flick unfold before your eyes, read Two Spies Reach Out From the Grave by Chad Huskins. Read it if you want to know how a spy works, right from the planning till his operation on ground zero.

The action sucked me in from the first page. The pace is relentless. Huskins made me realize the tenacity, grit, and sacrifice of our men in uniform. For instance, even when Nathan is grazed with bullets, he keeps on putting one foot after the other.

Check out The Girl without Skin by Mads Peder Nordbo – a Nordic noir set in Greenland.

Chad Huskins is an excellent writer. In lucid, clear prose, he gives vivid descriptions and a blow-by-blow account of all the skirmishes in which Nathan finds himself. Moreover, he effortlessly binds the stories of the two spies, Nathan and Sophia, together and gives them distinct voices. Hence, never for a second, I was confused about whose point-of-view I was reading.

Sophia was, and is still, a brave and kick-ass woman who risked her life several times to escort Allied POWs to safety. Even at the ripe old age of a hundred, her sassy tongue can severely maim people. Huskins additionally provides an insight into the mind of a lone operative. What makes him go on? How does he differentiate between right and wrong?

I wish I could say that this book was gripping from the start till finish. The book is divided into five parts, and I sincerely felt that part IV was unrequired. It unnecessarily dragged the book. A writer of Huskins’ caliber could have easily cut out a hundred pages and produced a crisp spy tale for the readers to feast upon. Further, I could sniff out the resolution to an important mystery, miles away.

Nevertheless, Huskins more than compensates for these lacunae with an explosive climax, which ties up all the loose ends.

If you like action-packed spy thrillers and splendid writing (and don’t mind a small drowsy part), this is the book for you. There are mentions of sexual abuse and horrors endured by Holocaust survivors, so, exercise your discretion while selecting this book.

Get the book on Amazon.

Thanks to Book Sirens and the publisher for providing me a free electronic copy. I opted to provide an honest review.

eARC, 552 pages, Published August 31st 2018 by Nine Dusks Entertainment LLC

Image source – Amazon.in

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