Published in paperback 18th January 2024 by Swift Press.
From the cover of the book:
A daring CIA operation threatens chaos in the Kremlin.But can Langley trust the Russian at its center?
CIA operatives Sia and Max enter Russia to recruit Vladimir Putin's moneyman. Sia works for a London firm that conceals the wealth of the super-rich. Max's family business in Mexico, a CIA front since the 1960s, is a farm that breeds high-end racehorses.
They pose as a couple, and their targets are Vadim, Putin's private banker, and his wife Anna, who is both a banker and an intelligence officer. As they descend further into a Russian world dripping with luxury and rife with gangland violence, Sia and Max's hope may be Anna, who is playing a game of her own.
Careening between the horse ranch and the dark opulence of Saint Petersburg, Moscow Xis both a gripping and a daring work of political commentary on the conflict between Washington and Moscow.
David McCloskey is a former CIA analyst and consultant at McKinsey & Company.
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CIA Station Chief, Artemis Aphrodite Proctor returns to Langley under a cloud after an unfortunate run-in with with her Russian opposite numbers in Tajikistan. Unrepentant, Proctor is sure she is in for a couple of years of drudgery in the 'Penalty Box', but as luck would have it, the perfect job opens up for her as the head of a new department running all 'spooky' Russia operations, Moscow X.
In St Petersburg, beleaguered General Andrei Agapov's star is on the wain. Agapov has become the target of the Machiavellian power games of Vassily 'Goose' Gusev, former head of the FSB. As his empire becomes subsumed by Goose, ostensibly for the good of mother Russia, Agapov now finds himself minus two hundred and twenty-one bars of his gold reserves. Fearing for his life, Agapov arranges a clandestine meeting with his banker daughter, Anna, at their horse breeding facility, to ask her to trace the stolen money and try to find out what Goose is up to.
In London, Hortensia 'Sia' Fox is under deep cover for the CIA at a bank specialising in hiding the ill-gotten gains of its shady clientele. The job of dispersing the funds Goose has obtained from Agapov has fallen into her hands, and it presents an intriguing opportunity to disrupt the plans of the money-men behind Putin - a plan that gets the go ahead from Sia's thrilled boss, Proctor. But how to begin?
As the mission comes together, it becomes clear that the way in will be through the Agapov's equine interests, and the perfect partner for Sia comes in the shape of Mexican stud-farm owner, Maximiliano Castillo, whose family business has been in cahoots with the CIA since the 1960s. Posing as romantic partners, Sia and Max set their sights on banker couple, Agapov's daughter Anna and her husband Vadim, who just happens to be Putin's personal banker. But what they do not know is that Anna is also an intelligence operative for the SVR who would dearly love to turn these CIA agents to her own crusade of vengeance...
Moscow X is the cracking follow-up to David McCloskey's best-selling debut, Damascus Station, featuring CIA operative Artemis Proctor. This is a slow-burn thriller reminiscent of the seductive charm of Le Carre, with intricately woven threads packed with delicious detail about the workings of the CIA, alongside a glimpse into the murky machinations of Putin's Russia, that thrums with chilling authenticity. The story ebbs and flows, with bursts of gripping action, and I loved how McCloskey switches things up by flipping location between London, Langley, Moscow, St Petersburg, and a sideways jaunt to Mexico, which keeps things interesting.
McCloskey's characters are beautifully drawn, on all sides of this international ensemble piece. I was so impressed with the way he takes the time to show you all the little shades of grey that make up their personalities without resorting to lazy caricatures, and delves into the fall-out of the difficult family relationships that have shaped them - which makes all the difference when a story is as complex as this one. His kick-ass female characters are particularly impressive, especially the ball-busting Artemis Proctor (who I am totally enamoured with), but it is actually the cat-and-mouse, move-and-counter-move that plays out between Sia and Anna that makes this novel so darned compelling. Sia and Anna both have incredible storylines, and you find yourself splitting your allegiance equally between them in their oft conflicting efforts to derail the plans of Putin's money men. It is not easy to pull this off well, but McCloskey does this with aplomb... the simmering emotion, the closely guarded long-games, the things left hanging unsaid... Superb writing!
If ever there was a novel that hits the perfect spot for a contemporary view of the complex relationship that Russia has with the West in the post-'special military operation' in Ukraine days (aka invasion of Ukraine to you and me), then this is it. McCloskey offers incredible insight into modern Russia, and the intelligence operations that hope to inveigle themselves into the secretive world of the power hungry entourage that surrounds Putin - and the ways in which sanctions can be subverted if you have enough money. There are so many lovely little details that colour in the backdrop in this story too that I am inclined to think that at least some of them must be true, but in any case, McCloskey's CIA analyst credentials give everything a patina of gritty realism that makes this a cut above the espionage thriller crowd.
This is not a spy yarn that you can fly through at fever pitch, despite the intensity of the story, but one to be savoured for all its well-conceived twists and turns on the way to an immensely satisfying conclusion. I absorbed it from cover to cover, and cannot wait to go back and read the first book in the series, Damascus Station, for more Artemis Proctor. I will also be counting down the months until the publication of book three, which is expected in January 2025. More please!
Moscow X is available to buy now in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Swift Press for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
While at the CIA, he wrote regularly for the President’s Daily Brief, delivered classified testimony to Congressional oversight committees, and briefed senior White House officials, Ambassadors, military officials, and Arab royalty. He worked in CIA field stations across the Middle East.
During his time at McKinsey, David advised national security, aerospace, and transportation clients on a range of strategic and operational issues.
David holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, where he specialized in energy policy and the Middle East.
He lives in Texas with his wife and three children.
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