Great character development and an exciting but believable plot had me hanging on what would occur with the turn of a page. The story is bang up to date - and the author does not hold back on his messages of world greed and corruption. The Russian characters are done well as we witness the brutal ruthlessness of men like Mikhail Gromik who is in Putin’s inner circle and will stop at nothing.

The list represents Russian intelligence officers, military personnel, and scientists living in the West who had been targeted for reprisal assassinations by Moscow.

This is a great spy thriller, entertaining, dark, and packed with plenty of suspense that makes for a gripping novel likely to appeal to a wide range of readers. Thirty years after that dangerous mission, Kite discovers that its outcome put his name on the notorious "JUDAS" list―a record of enemies of Russia who have been targeted for assassination. If talk of temperature-taking, mask-wearing, social-distancing, limited-capacity restaurants, etc is a trigger for you— you might not want to read this one. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go there but it seems like such an economic anomaly in that area of the world that I’m very curious about it.

I'm abandoning books at an alarming rate at the moment, so I'm willing to accept that my mood may be at least partly to blame. S., assassinated by Putin's FSB (ex-KGB) agents as a traitor, one of many targets on their Judas List. The second installment in the Box 88 series is a gripping, well-written spy thriller with plenty of twists and turns.The second half, set in the present, then becomes a riveting a spy thriller that is the equal of Daniel Silva or Gerald Seymour.