ditto - the same on volk's game. ( )

The first book in the series was excellent, often surprising. The second book was written more sloppily, as if Ghelfi were writing a screenplay. The tone was sometimes jarring, but it was still acceptable. This third book is terrible. Volk is out of character throughout, and very little happens (I gave up on page 181). ( )

This is the third novel in the Volk series. Having read both of the other novels, this was a must read for me. If you like complex International thrillers you'll enjoy this one, but I recommend reading the first novels before starting this one. The first two are Volk's Game and Volk's Shadow. ( )

I look forward to reading this book. It appears to be the kind I typically enjoy. It's on my shelf and ready to read. I'll amplify the review once I've finished it. Sorry, I just couldn't get into it and didn't think it worth my while. May have been that I had not read the earlier books with the same character ( )

This is the 3rd book in the series about Alexei Volkovoy, a veteran of the Russian army from the war in Chechnya where he lost his left foot after being held captive and tortured in a Chechyn prison. In the first 2 books, we learn that Volk (as he is known by friend and foe alike) is still employed by the Russian military in some covert capacity, but he is no "good guy". Also earlier in the series, we learned that Volk's father was military who was killed shortly after he was born. In this book, we come to realize that Stepan Volkovoy wasn't killed while on duty during the cold war as previously believed, but defected to the United States, taking a secret spy plane with him. The question now is, was Stepan a traitor, or was he a false defector who entered the United States to spy for the Soviet Union after winning the trust of the Americans? Volk is sent to America to investigate after an American agent is found dead in a Moscow warehouse owned by Volk.

I was so excited about this book that I made the effort to read the first two books in the series before starting it. I really wanted to love them. But I just can't. Like the first two books, this one is confusing and unnecessarily complex. I had trouble remember who worked for whom, and was never able to determine who the good guys were and who were the bad guys. In these books, as in real life I guess, there is no such thing. The chapters are short and the action is frantic. No one's true motivations are known until the very end of the book. An interesting complication here was caused by the story being told from the POV of a Russian. When talking about espionage, the "traitors" or "enemy" in this book were the ones who supported the United States. There are Russians and Americans both whose loyalty is in question. Normally, I enjoy twists and turns in the plot, but this book had more than I could keep up with. An attempt was made at the end to "tally up the score", but that information was too little too late for me. As before, I am characterizing the series - and this book - as "good but not great". It has a lot of potential, but just misses the mark as far as I'm concerned. ( )