RED CELL – Mark Henshaw
Touchstone (Hardcover)
ISBN: 978-1-4516-6193-4
May 2012
Political Thriller

Langley, Virginia, USA and the People's Republic of China – Present Day

CIA Director Kathryn Cooke is hiding agent Kyra Stryker. A bungled operation in Venezuela nearly cost Kyra her life, but she's a new agent who has potential. Not wanting to lose her unique abilities, Kathryn accompanies Kyra to what could be called the equivalent of a dungeon deep under CIA headquarters. There, she leaves Kyra under the wing of a cynical analyst named Jonathan Burke. Burke single handedly operates the covert Red Cell unit of the CIA. Leaving Kyra there with him is Kathryn's way of keeping her safe while political heads fly in Washington over what happened on that bungled mission in South America.

Meanwhile, tension builds in Taiwan as China plots to use a catastrophic secret weapon against America and the U.S. Navy. The only person who can save the day is an undercover American spy who is deep inside the Chinese government. Now, it becomes Kyra's mission to remove this man from China and bring him safely to the United States for debriefing.

Kyra's mission is to stop the destruction of America by finding and removing the spy as quickly as possible. As tensions mount, the chapters alternate between the different factions, politicians, military maneuvers, and intense action while the suspense builds.

Fact mixes with fiction in this debut thriller from an actual CIA analyst. While these types of books are not my proverbial cup of tea, RED CELL is a fast paced, highly technical thriller that offers readers an exciting look into the world of espionage.

Diana Risso