Set in a near future in which Viktor Kosygin has replaced Vladimir Putin as Russia's president after "the Ukraine fiasco," Katsu's entertaining if flawed sequel to 2021's Red Widow takes CIA agent Lyndsey Duncan to London, to work with Dmitri Tarasenko, a Russian "war criminal and double agent," but she's soon taken off the Tarasenko case to go undercover to investigate Russian oligarch Mikhail Rotenberg. The Brits want him out of the U.K.; the CIA wants to know about his relationship with Kosygin. Lyndsey's mission is to befriend Mikhail's unhappy English trophy wife, Emily, and see whether she's open to turning on her husband. As a former CIA agent, Katsu knows her tradecraft, and she does a good job ratcheting up the suspense as Mikhail gets increasingly more fearful and paranoid--and more cruel to Emily, who fears he'll disappear with their two young children. On the other hand, Emily is little more than a pitiable figure, and there's way too much backstory. Still, a spy novel that focuses on relationships (including Lyndsey's), women, and family is a refreshing change from the usual genre fare. Katsu should win new fans with this one. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management. (Mar.)

The war in Ukraine is over, Vladimir Putin has disappeared, and Viktor Kosygin is the new Russian president. CIA agent Lyndsey Duncan travels to London to be closer to a top Russian mole who might be able to help the U.S. understand Kosygin's plans for the future. But almost as soon as Lyndsey lands at Heathrow, she's assigned to a task force investigating one of Russia's wealthiest men, Mikhail Rotenberg. Based in London, Rotenberg is married to Emily Hughes, a British aristocrat. No one knows where Rotenberg's money is hidden, but he's loaned billions to Russia to fund Putin's war against Ukraine and still seems to have plenty left. Lyndsey's mission is to befriend Emily, try to determine where Rotenberg has stashed his money, and keep the cash from being funneled back to Russia to fund Kosygin's regime, which seems as ruthlessly ambitious as Putin's. Lyndsey succeeds in ingratiating herself with Emily, but the situation quickly turns tumultuous, as Mikhail shows his true character and nearly succeeds in pulling off a daring double cross. Katsu's second book in this taut spy series is even better than the first, Red Widow (2021), with the requisite suspense driving the twist-laden plot. Pair this one with Ava Glass' Alias Emma (2022), also starring an outstanding, multidimensional protagonist.

On a post-Putin mission to gather intel on a powerfully connected Russian oligarch in London, CIA agent Lyndsey Duncan guiltily befriends the man's lonely, woefully mistreated British wife. In this sequel to Red Widow (2021), Duncan is sent by her American bosses to check on a troublesome asset/Russian war criminal. But no sooner does she arrive in the U.K. than she is summoned by her old MI6 flame, Davis Ranford. In spite of the trouble their fling got them into the last time they worked together, he urgently asks her to team up with him again. Her assignment is to infiltrate the world of billionaire oligarch Mikhail Rotenberg and uncover his hidden ties (financial and other) to the new Russian leader, Viktor Kosygin. Though Rotenberg poured millions into Putin's reckless campaign in Ukraine, he was instrumental in overthrowing him and installing Kosygin as Russian president following the costly war. Duncan has no problem cozying up to Rotenberg's wife, Emily, who sadly has bought into a miserable, abusive marriage she can't escape for fear of having her husband claim their two children. Lyndsey's increasing sympathy for Emily, for whom a betrayal by her new best friend likely would be a traumatic last straw, becomes a problem--especially when it appears that Lyndsey is making herself available to the loathsome oligarch. Katsu, a former intelligence officer, shows us how intelligence-gathering works, how spies relate to each other, how intelligence agencies uneasily coexist. What sets the novel apart even more is the smoothness with which the author builds her tense narrative and characters--Lyndsey is unflashy but sensitive and principled and good at what she does, while Emily is one of the most sympathetically drawn victims in recent spy fiction. A strong second installment in a series we hope continues. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.