Greco’s Game

Greco’s Game is the second book in the series about Aleksandr “Alex” Talanov, a former KGB Colonel and CIA informant now working freelance and trying to emigrate to the United States. There are important storylines from the initial book that drive the second, so anyone who hasn’t read the first, should skip this review until they do.

Greco’s Game opens with Alex mourning the death of his wife from an assassin’s bullet, believed to be aimed at himself. Even then, Alex was still the primary suspect in her death, complicating his emigration attempt. During a bender, he hooks up with a Ukrainian prostitute that ends up involving him in a Russian mafia run sex trafficking ring that seems to also be focused on stealing his identity. Alex gets brought into a sex trafficking task force and is confronted with another KGB agent from his past that says he has proof that Alex’s wife was killed by a CIA contract killer. Confused yet? It gets better. The phrase “Greco’s Game” refers to a early documented chess game, bringing a layer of complexity to the book. Who is the mastermind behind the sex trafficking and trying to set up Alex as a dangerous assassin?

James Houston Turner has created an intriguing character in Alex and his story. The story starts fast and picks up speed all along the way to the dramatic end. While the current story is resolved by the end of the book, enough extended plot lines leave the reader looking forward to the next book in the series. Recommended to fans of modern day spy and thriller stories.