A review by briarsreviews
Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

1.0

A few years ago the Jennifer Lawrence film adaptation of this book came out and I decided I would read the book before I saw the movie. I enjoy doing that most of the time... Yeah, that didn't work out for me.

I can easily say this book is not for me as a reader. I can appreciate those who enjoy thrillers written like this book (very in-depth, honestly) but it was too slow and I felt it degraded the women too much. Sure, some women are spies who engaged in the type of behaviour explained in this book, but man... Was our female lead one sided. Big temper and likes seducing men. That's it. She's smart... But it felt so degrading and I felt she could have been a real person, not just a sex weapon.

I finished it, but I didn't enjoy it. It was too long and slow for me, and the whole women issue bugged me a lot. Well written, I'll give it that. You can tell Jason Matthews has a background in the industry. But not for me! And hey, that happens sometimes! I know many other readers are going to love this book.

One out of five stars.