In order for Bianca St. Ives to move on with her life, she must learn to live with the knowledge that she was created to be a supersoldier, and the man she thought was her father is really just the man who was sent to kill her and her mother, but instead decided to train and use her as part of his gang of thieves. To gain freedom from a contract on her life, she leaves her security business and her friends behind and travels to Russia to steal a treasure that may give her the freedom she seeks. One obstacle is the man she knows as Mickey who seems to pop up wherever she goes and whose goal it is to see her arrested and interrogated in order to find her "not-father," master thief, Mason Thayer.
Both of the books in the Guardian series suffer from the same problem - a great story left undiscovered. The real story in this book called The Moscow Deception does not start until three quarters of the way through the book when Bianca finally goes to Moscow so the deception can begin. The first three quarters of the book is spent over-developing the idea that Bianca fears for her life and detailing the comparatively minor problems of her friends. The great story in the last part of the book is told very quickly with many details aggravatingly left out - more like an outline than the actual story. I love the ideas in this series, but I'm less pleased with the execution. ( )

Although The Moscow Deception, a second instance in the Guardian Series, has 'a novel' on the front cover, I would prefer thriller as a genre identifier. I didn't read the first book but found no impediments to join Bianca St. Ives, a smart tech-savvy top-notch criminal, that goes by many names. For her, survival and outsmart her pursuers is her only mission. She can change outfits and personalities as quick as you turn pages to read on. She's on a mission for the perfect robbery of the heavily guarded King Priam’s Treasure from a Moscow museum and transfers to Germany, where the treasure belonged until World War II broke out.

She's a price on her head and constantly aware that her death is nearby. A professional sniper herself or having arranged narrow escapes, she's helped or nearly attacked herself on several occasions in various places on the planet. It's one of the funny elements in the book. Despite being armed 24/7 Bianca doesn't use that much of her weaponry. The thriller is much more about coming to understand family ties and get the job done, despite the many distractions, whether it's a good looking fellow, other espionage pros, or her regular consultancy job. Well-written with enough twists and open endings have a sequel. ( )

The Moscow Deception from Karen Robards is an excellent high tension suspense/thriller. Based on some of what I have read and heard, many readers wanted a romance with some adventure thrown in, apparently that is what Robards has often written in the past. The thing is, the low ratings because of their unhappiness is not really fair. I went back over the promotional material and blurbs and never got the impression this book was a romantic thriller. So these people are blaming the book for not being what it never set out to be. They apparently want the same basic book every time just dropped into a different adventure. Robards has, apparently, chosen to broaden her writing into more genres, and she succeeds very well. So if you're a fan of her romantic books then read the description carefully, you'll have no one else to blame if you hate the book for not being what it did not set out to be. If you like suspense/thrillers with an interesting main character, disregard the reviews that complain because it isn't a romance. They're right, it just makes no rational sense to rate a book poorly for being exactly what it was meant to be.

Having said all that, the book is not perfect (is any?). I have a couple of issues that I had to do mental gymnastics to make sense of and even then I'm not sure the way I decided it could have happened is indeed what Robards had in mind. These don't significantly affect the enjoyment of the book and may well be things that only matter to me.

I would recommend this to fans of action thrillers, especially if you like strong (really strong) female lead characters. If you want a stock romance embedded in an adventure, this is not for you. If the series goes that direction she will lose the thriller readers but get back her romance readers. But so far this is a thriller series, not a romance disguised as an adventure series.

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads. ( )

Bianca St. Ives is literally one of a kind, thanks to the genetic experiments that led to her birth. In The Moscow Deception all of her skills, training and natural talent will be put to the test. With a $1 million price tag on her head, Bianca is going to have to take the offensive if she wants to come out alive and have the normal life she has tried to build for herself in Savannah as owner of a security consulting firm.

Bianca manages to help out neighbors and friends, all while looking over her shoulder for an assassin’s bullet. After reaching out to her father, Mason Thayer, he offers her a lifeline in the form of a heist that will give them both enough leverage to take the targets off their backs: Steal King Priam’s treasure from the heart of Moscow. This is the treasure thought to have belonged to Helen of Troy. Bianca and her friend/employee “Doc” Ziegler must come up with a plan to steal the treasure and escape undetected.

Karen Robards creates a cast of likeable characters. Bianca is intelligent, skilled and often funny. The action pieces are exciting and well-executed, and for a change from many thrillers, not overly dependent on guns. Much of the action consists of separate set pieces that are only loosely connected together. The planning for the theft of King Priam’s treasure occurs relatively late in the book.

This is a fun, not overly-serious adventure with a likeable heroine and compelling action. Great summertime read for thriller fans with a thirst for adventure.

I was fortunate to receive a copy of this book from the publisher. ( )