Russian Holiday (Paladine Political Thriller, #2)

by Kenneth Eade

[chymerra]

Russian Holiday starts off with Robert Garcia, aka Paladine, doing a covert op mission (a sanctioned hit on General Abu Muslim al-Basara, a former member of Saddam Hussein’s Royal Guard and now an Isis terrorist) in the city of Aleppo (if you haven’t been following the news about what has happened over there, click here for a quick read). The hit itself goes off without a hitch but Robert ran into problems with getting out of there.

The pick up vehicle was where it was supposed to be. Luckily, Robert had a Plan B stashed nearby. A motorcycle. As Robert leaves, he is followed by Toyota truck with Isis terrorists hell-bent on getting to him. Desperate to escape, he shoots down a Black Hawk helicopter that was coming to get him to buy him a little time. Not that it worked, he ends up with a group of Isis militants.

After suffering a pretty bad beat down, which broke his nose, Robert is taken to their headquarters, where he is prepped for a live execution. Right before he was to be beheaded, the base is attacked and Robert is saved by a jeep full of Russian soldiers who were involved in the raid of the base.

After contacting his boss (who did screw up on the pick up) and informing him that he was on vacation, Robert decides to go with Lyosha, one of the soldiers, to Moscow as part of his vacation. But, before he heads there, he goes to a bank in Iksanderun, where he maintains a safe deposit box. That box has several identities, money, phones and a gun. Robert only takes the money, a passport and one of the phones before going to Moscow with Lyosha.

Meanwhile, back in the USA in the CIA headquarters, an alarm goes off….alerting Roberts handler that Robert has gone off the grid. At the same time his handler is reading the report, the head of the CIA is getting briefed about the same situation. He is upset and worried because even though Robert was an illegal operative, he could still be tortured and could still give the Russians secret information.

While that drama is happening, Robert is having a grand old-time in Russia. Lyosha and him are becoming good friends….well as good as a friend as he can be with a Russian. Lyosha has generously provided him with an apartment, clothes and money…insisting on paying for everything. They go to dance clubs every night and it was at one of those dance clubs, Robert meets Svetlana (or Lana), a beautiful Russian girl. He forms an immediate connection with her.

After discovering a tail on him during a date with Lana, Robert decides that Moscow has become too hot for him and heads to Paris, where he has an apartment. His boss, the man with no name, is sitting in his apartment and has an assignment for him in Paris….which Robert argues that he never does jobs where he lives. The man with no name basically tells him too bad, we own you and leaves after giving Robert the specifics on the job.

What happens after that….well, you need to read the book.

I really enjoyed reading this book. While it kept to its thriller roots, I liked seeing Robert being portrayed as a human being and actually enjoying himself while he was on vacation. He was able to relax, kinda, and just enjoy being with a friend. It made him more human to me. Also, is it bad that when Lyosha speaks, I totally got the Russian accent right in my head? Not sure how it would sound if I did it in real life, though. Probably horrible….lol.

The action in this book was great. I was kept on edge with what Robert was going to do next with his assignments and when he executed them, it was perfect.

The ending was a somewhat anticlimactic but it wasn’t bad. Having grown up in a large Greek community (no I am not Greek but my hometown has a huge Greek population) and hearing malaka used all the time, I giggled when I read it. The way the book ended, I am wondering if there will be a book 3.

**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**