Monday Moments with Nik Morton's Tana Standish

My Monday Moments are with Nik Morton and The Tana Standish Spy Series.

I have to be totally honest and say that I thought that I had reviewed The Prague Papers, #1 of the Tana Standish Spy Series, months ago but when I went to add a review for Book 2 which I've just finished reading, I found no review on Amazon, or Goodreads, or my blog for the first book.

I'm now about to correct that oversight since I actually had written the short review for The Prague Papers and saved it on my old laptop but hadn't managed to publish it anywhere. I'll be posting both reviews on the sites mentioned above asap and will be giving both of them 5 stars since I really enjoyed the storylines and the excellent editing throughout.

So here are my thoughts on both of these excellent reads. I've really enjoyed all that I've read of Nik's work so far and this series makes for great reading as well.

How I found ...The Prague Papers. 

This was a brilliant read from the exciting beginning right through to the end, the pace constant and the story of the young Tana Standish engrossing. Tana is more than just a very excellently trained British secret agent. The addition of her incredible psychic abilities means she’s got the edge on the extraction of information to send back to headquarters. The story has many dark moments but the writing is sharp and crisp making the more gory bits not too awful for the reader who isn’t into serious pain and bloodshed. The locations are very well described – something I’ve noted with other novels that I’ve read by Nik Morton. His research seems faultless to me as an occasional reader of politically based spy thrillers. Tana is a young woman with a mission; in part her drive having been moulded by her background which we glean just sufficiently to make it all believable. I look forward to reading more of Tana’s escapades. 

and... The Tehran Text

I looked forward to reading this novel since I’ve read #1 of this series. I have to say #2 The Tehran Text was quite complicated at the beginning, and keeping track of the characters was definitely a challenge, but overall it was a fabulous and smartly paced read. The points of view of the characters changed pretty abruptly, at times, but I soon got used to it. I wasn’t too familiar with the Iranian situation prior to 1979, but the scenario Nik morton has put forward in The Tehran Text helped me to understand the kind of life circumstances which Tana was inhabiting-for short durations.

Tana definitely leads an exciting life as a British agent extraordinaire, her psychic abilities making her even more successful than normal- though even the best agent can sometimes find themselves in some very tricky and sticky situations! The double life she leads under cover is not for the faint hearted and it was a sad read when some of her locally based activist friends meet their grisly end. Spies and double agents abound in the novel, many with almost comparable psychic abilities to Tana, which make life very deadly at times for her and her fellow British agents. I certainly wouldn’t want to meet the Spetsnaz female agent Aksakov in real life but I am looking forward to reading more of the empathetic Yakunin. The ending left me wanting more of Tana Standish!

Happy reading to you! 

Slainthe!