The Fall of Moscow Station

by Mark Henshaw

Published 2 February 2016
"A high-tension page-turner...ready to run with the likes of Reacher or Bourne." (Kirkus Reviews)

When a body with Russian military tattoos is found floating in a lake outside Berlin, the CIA immediately takes notice. The body is identified as the director of Russia's Foundation for Advanced Nuclear Research, who is also a CIA asset. And the murder coincides with the defection of one of the CIA's upper-level officers.

Alden Maines is jaded after years in the CIA cleaning up the messes of incompetent political appointees in dangerous foreign posts. When he is passed over for promotion, Maines crosses the Rubicon and decides to cash in as a double agent for Russia.

But while Maines dreams of off-shore bank accounts and a new secret life, Arkady Lavrov of Russia's intelligence service (GRU) has other plans. He immediately announces Maines's defection to the world and then pumps him for every last ounce of intel, including the names of every agent in the CIA's Moscow Station and their assets working in the Kremlin. But why would Lavrov burn an asset whose intel and access could pay dividends for years to come? What is Lavrov up to?

Traveling from Langley to Berlin and finally Moscow-working black without backup-analyst Jonathan Burke and agent Kyra Stryker are up against their most formidable enemy yet, and their lives and the fate of America's most important assets in the New Cold War hang in the balance.

Red Cell

by Mark Henshaw

Published 1 May 2012
From the Tom Clancy for a new generation, a debut thriller following two CIA outcasts who must race to stop a secret Chinese weapon that threatens to provoke a world war

After her first assignment in Venezuela goes disastrously awry, rookie case officer Kyra Stryker is brought back to Langley to work in the Red Cell, the CIA's out-of-the-box think tank. There she's paired with Jonathan Burke, a straitlaced analyst who has alienated his colleagues with his unorthodox methods and a knack for always being right, political consequences be damned.

When a raid on Chinese spies in Taiwan ends in a shoot-out and the release of a deadly chemical, CIA director Kathy Cooke turns to the Red Cell to figure out why China is ready to invade the island nation without any fear of reprisal from the US Navy. Stryker and Burke's only lead is the top CIA asset in China, code named Pioneer. But when Pioneer reports that Chinese security has him under surveillance, Stryker is offered a chance for redemption with a highly dangerous mission: extract Pioneer from China before he's arrested and executed. The answers he holds could mean the difference between peace in the Pacific or another world war.

From CIA headquarters to the White House to a Navy carrier in the South China Sea and the dark alleyways of Beijing, Red Cell takes readers on a whirlwind race against time as Stryker and Burke work to save Pioneer and discover the hidden threat to America's power: China's top-secret weapon.

CIA analyst Mark Henshaw infuses expert knowledge of the intelligence world into a pulse-pounding plot to create a fascinating, authentic, and unforgettable read.

Cold Shot

by Mark Henshaw

Published 20 May 2014
With "searing action" (Publishers Weekly) and "lead characters [who] are fleshed out and interesting, especially the decidedly Sherlock-ian Burke" (Kirkus Reviews), Mark Henshaw delivers the ingenious follow-up to his debut novel, Red Cell, featuring two CIA analysts on the hunt for a dangerous nuclear scientist.

The USS Vicksburg is returning home when the crew comes upon a lifeboat bearing a dead Somali pirate who shows signs of torture. Questions immediately arise: Who is this man, and which ship did he come from? Who tortured him? Soon Red Cell analysts Kyra Stryker and Jonathan Burke have traced the dead man back to an Iranian ship currently bound for Venezuela-and the ship appears to have dangerous, radioactive cargo on board.

The Iranians' plan quickly becomes clear-they're building a nuclear bomb in politically unstable Venezuela, away from the UN's prying eyes. Stryker and Burke must tread carefully, though, because diplomacy in Venezuela is tricky at best. A civil war is at stake if word gets out. Can they stop the Iranians before it's too late?

From current CIA analyst and Red Cell think tank veteran Mark Henshaw, Cold Shot is "tense, suspenseful, and loaded with immersive detail" (Kirkus Reviews)-a thrilling journey into the intelligence world that only a true insider could create.