This was quite an entertaining novel. The short chapter made for a quick read and Harry Tate was a likeable character. I admired his tenacity as he uncovered the corruption in MI5 and MI6 and there was certainly lots of action.

"Red Station: was a solid mystery without being far-fetched and there were enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. An enjoyable start to this spy series. ( )

I dunno. Somehow it seems to me that putting a story in a real place, even if it is a place most people don't know, obliges the author to at least try to make the setting at least somewhat realistic. Putting the story in the past does not get the author off the hook. I happened to have spent several months in Georgia this year and in several of the Former Soviet States at the time when the story is set, and it Red Station does not even come close. Clearly Mr. Magson spent no time in the USSR or the FSS and if he has visited Georgia, it might have been the one north of Florida.

The plot line is telegraphed early on and doesn't seem to me to be realistic.

So the question to you, dear reader, is whether you can push aside the above in order to read a fast-paced thriller. I could not.

I received a review copy of " Red Station" by Adrian Magson from publishers Black Thorn through NetGalley.com. ( )

Harry Tate is a field officer in MI5 and a joint drugs-bust operation with police and customs goes badly wrong and Harry has to carry the can and is exiled to the so-called Red Station in the Republic of Georgia, just at the time the Russo-Georgia war over South Ossetia is kicking off (August 2008), so good timing! Harry discovers Red Station isn't all it appears and as tensions flare up about a potential Russian invasion, enemies closer to home seem intent on keeping Harry quiet about what really happened in his drug bust operation and preventing him finding out more about Red Station and its band of exiles. Good local colour and fast-paced action keep you interested. ( )

An interesting plot. There is a place, called Red Station, where British intelligence sends agents whom they want to disappear. Harry Tate doesn't disappear so easily. While he is there, he is in the midst of an uprising between Russia and Georgia. The characters don't really do anything surprising, the one downfall of the story. ( )

After an operation gone wrong, MI5 agent Harry Tate becomes the fall guy for the agency. He's sent to a remote outpost in the nation of Georgia known as Red Station. He joins a small crew of other agents in exile. It gradually becomes apparent that the powers that sent them to Red Station don't intend for them to leave it alive. Meanwhile, Russian troops are on the move heading south across the border with Georgia.

The story and characters were good enough to make me regret the few problems that intruded on my reading experience. I never quite understood what made Harry so dangerous to the agency that he had to be removed, and why the same reasoning didn't apply to another character who had been involved in the same failed operation. The unusual location was intriguing, but I wish the sense of place had been stronger. Most of the characters in the book were part of the international community of intelligence operatives, engineers, and journalists. The book could have been set in any number of countries in eastern Europe. Nevertheless, I had trouble putting the book down, and book two of the series is already on my TBR list. ( )