I am delighted to share my review today of The Black Sea by Andrew Turpin. This is the 6th book in the Joe Johnson series, and I have been very remiss in reading it. It is a brilliant series and if you are a fan of thrillers that have spies, corruption, foreign agents and a whole lot of action then this is one you should take a look at. It is currently on Kindle Unlimited.
“The Black Sea, book number six in the Joe Johnson series, is a compelling spy thriller with multiple twists that you won’t want to put down.“
Just take a look at the cover…
A Russian conspiracy in Washington, DC . . . A passenger jet is shot down, killing hundreds. A mole wreaks havoc in the White House. And an oligarch bent on the most malicious kind of revenge targets Joe Johnson.
War crimes investigator Johnson is sent undercover by his former employer, the CIA, to untangle a web of deceit and online blame games in Russia’s Black Sea region after the destruction of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine.
But he quickly finds he has bitten off more than he can chew—and that the key to the conspiracy lies not in Moscow, but on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Johnson, his partner Jayne Robinson, and his friends in the CIA eventually have to come to terms with the fact that Russian methods of infiltrating the US are evolving faster than American counterintelligence realizes in the post-Cold War era, and they are struggling to catch up.
The drama reaches a climax in the US capital and on the Black Sea coast, where Johnson’s long-term nemesis has a stronghold.
The Black Sea , book number six in the Joe Johnson series, is a compelling spy thriller with multiple twists that you won’t want to put down.
MY REVIEW
This is the sixth book in the Joe Johnson series, and I adore it, but I am a tad behind with it.
Joe Johnson is on a well-earned holiday—well, he will be—with his sister Amy, his two children, and his work colleague/ partner Jayne. They are planning to catch another flight that will take them to their destination when a commercial aeroplane with passengers is shot down. The Ukraine is blamed, Russia’s propaganda machine goes into overdrive and blames the US for providing the missile that downed the plane, and there are accusations from all sides. Joe and Jayne are called in to help, so much for the holiday, but that is only the tip of what is to come!
The author has created such a wonderful team with Johnson and Jayne, the former knowing the ins and outs of the US secret service types, and Jayne with the British. It is a great mix as I imagine some work together from different agencies around the world. The enemy is Russia and the facts used in the story are based on those of the Malaysian Airways Flight that was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.
The author has used this as the background for his story and then adapted the rest to work around it. While the first focus is on who shot it down and getting the proof, there is more to come. Starting to work through contacts, the US and Russians are going all out to put pressure on each other, in the midst of this is Joe and Jayne. Things then go disastrously wrong and have dire consequences.
This is such a fast-paced story and one that is full of facts based on true events, the author does go into great detail at the end of the book listing what he used and what he fictionally brought into the story. I do like this as it means I get more information about real events.
The Russian-Ukrainian war has been ongoing since 2014, but the recent escalations of 2022 have brought it back to the forefront of world news. This book was published in 2020 so reading it now gives such a different edge to it, especially as there have been attacks, threats and many deaths over the last couple of years.
Having Joe Johnson is brilliant for this series and he is such a great allrounder, able to defy the odds, but not without being injured and also that of Jayne, again another one who is not afraid to put herself in danger. This makes it great reading for fans who like to have a tough female character to follow as well as a male. She works so well that she also has her own series and that is my next read. Sorry, got side-tracked!
The use of agencies, spies, politicians and governments always appeals to me when I read this style of book, there are some that I automatically root for and those that I hope eventually get their comeuppance. This does not happen all the time, and as we know, there is always someone to fill the gap if and when this happens.
Using terms that are easy to understand to give the information in a way that flows with the story as well as well-researched background, this is an excellent book, as well as an excellent series. Ideal for fans of crime, thriller, world events, politics, spies, multi-agency and governmental influences. I adored this one and I would definitely recommend it.
Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx
