Random Things Tours: Nerve Attack by S. Lee Manning

´Cold revenge is always the best´.

Controversy. The neverending struggle between Russia and the West - post-Cold War edition, which is more complex but still, there is a lot of war going on, sometimes through proxies. Terrorist attacks and nerve agents generously used. A lot of suspense and fine espionage games.

Nerve Attack - the sequel to Trojan Horse - by S. Lee Manning is an international thriller which combines actions and urgent assignments with deadlines around the clock. Featuring Kolya Petrov, a Russian-Jewish immigrant - this second book in the series can be easily read without previous background necessary (although it will make you curious enough to find out when, how and why all started). 

The reader is guaranteed a genuine thriller experience, with both the writing and the set-up of the many actions unfolding being unfolding in very small yet emotionally ridden portions. There are innocent people being killed and murderers who escape, but this is only for a short while, until a new, rapid change of scenery and path of action is happening. You may feel like the author is carefully planning the next deadly chess move with the precision of a Russian roulette. All can explode from a minute to another, and when it doesn´t it is only for allowing an even bigger occurence to take place. 

As someone who is a big consumer of international thrillers with a deep passion for the Cold War - with all good and bads, especially in literary representations - I think Nerve Attack is the best of this genre I´ve read this year. It is precise, well-targeted and recreates accurately ambiances of times gone while using the triggers of latest political and geopolitical changes. It is hard to associate love with such topics, but I may say instead that this is a book very well done, both historically, politically and literally. However, it is a very entertaining read as well, as any other good books that can keep you company for a long weekend read.

Warning: it can bring a lot of undeserved characters into your reading room, from racketeers to many many other bad people. But it´s great to have them in books so as to help you recognize and run away from them in real life.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own