The Nemesis Manifesto: An Evan Ryder Novel

The Nemesis Manifesto is an cleverly written espionage/political thriller involving all-too-real politicians and situations. You can guess who the unnamed politicians are just by the descriptions. It appears to be a stand-alone or the beginning of a series. I really liked the character of Evan Ryder who is a lone wolf agent with the DOD. She is smart, tough, well-trained but not a robot. She is trying to solve the mystery of the gruesome deaths of some fellow agents. The story was action-filled and complex with many twists and turns. There were double and triple agents and suppressed memories. It was very difficult to guess the surprises ahead of time. This book reads like an action movie and I could really picture it as a film. Although, not historically one of my go-to genres, I will seek out more books by this author.

I usually don't read this type of book, though I have read a few on occasion and have enjoyed them mostly. This book is toted as the first in a new series about Evan Ryder but it feels like a middle book because there are many references to past histories between characters like Evan and Ben or Evan and Lyudmilla. It made for some very confusing parts in the beginning especially because it pulled me from the main story I was reading about Evan hunting down Nemesis on the order of Benjamin Butler. I wanted to know more about the mysterious Lyudmilla. The Russian parts with the GRU and SVR were interesting and it was kinda cool how it all tied in by the end between the various factions in Russia and the US. Though it definitely left open a big bombshell, probably for the next book in the series. I think it was a pretty good political thriller and I do not regret reading it.

I wasn’t prepared to like this book. The first impression I gave it was a three star, normally I don’t do spy stories, they don’t interest me all that much, but this took me completely by surprise. I take it all back! My first impression couldn’t have been more wrong, and I’m actual very grateful for that. Thank you so much to Eric and Macmillan for calling my bluff and sending this to me, proving me wrong effectively. I waited on this for over a week and I was dreading it, and once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down, it was so well down, it kept me at the edge of my seat the entire book; wanting to know what was going to happen. It’s probably the first spy book I have ever actually enjoyed. Well done, great book!