This book was not really in a genre I would probably have picked up.. it is a thriller with some descriptions of torture..and maybe I am a bit squeamish... but after reading it I will definitely recommend it as a great entertaining read.

The Trojan Horse by S. Lee Manning, a novel dealing with espionage and political spying, it makes you think about keeping secrets, loyalty, and risk. It also looks at the idea of sending someone off to a dangerous experience and if you don't watch , does that absolve you of guilt, even if you know what the results of that action will be.

Margaret Bradford is at the helm of the ECA, a top secret government agency. She is working directly for the United States President and alongside the CIA and other top level government agencies. On her team; Jonathan Egan, the son of a former Senator, who grew up mixing with the Washington elite and Kolya Petrov, the Russian emigre who loves working against Russia and for America. Sometimes the people you think you can trust are not really acting in your best interest. Somewhere in these top government officials there seems to be a mole. Three agents have already been killed by the notorious Mihai Cuza, a descendant of Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian national who has the ear of the next leader of Romania.

Entertaining but also can be a deeper read.. On the surface this is an action story of secret agents fighting to see who will maintain power and control. As you read the novel, questions of fairness, value of human life and loyalty rise to the surface. When information that is supposedly top secret seems to be getting into the wrong hands, there is suspicion of a mole somewhere in the operation. Who can be trusted with information? Then as agents are being killed Margaret and the President need to decide how far can you take a risk with a person’s life. When does your conscience start to bother you?

There is plenty of suspense and fast paced action for an entertaining read, but also some ideas that leave the reader thinking long after the novel is put back on the shelf. This is a thriller that will keep you reading until late into the night, but be prepared for some descriptive violence.

Looking forward to reading more by this author.

i really enjoyed reading this book, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the suspenseful atmosphere. I look forward to more from this author.

It's been awhile since I read a spy/espionage thriller, more-so one that kept me on my toes from start to finish. Manning presents a fascinating concept that stands out from other spy novels, that is, an agency's extend to deceive one of its own agents to achieve an end. I love that it presented this concept of grey morality in-between the actual conflict of good vs evil. We are not only introduced to the protagonist, Kolya Petrov, the targeted agent who is captured by the enemy in question, but also his background, his friendships, and interests that all tie together to make his experiences (and negotiations) very human. I enjoyed the other characters too, not just the ones running the strings of power, but the ones' whose loyalty and love would ultimately deem survival and a rescue operation successful or bust.
The interplay between characters, both good and bad, were fantastic. Petrov's imprisonment kept me on the edge, especially towards the very end. The partner-work and moments of camaraderie got me some laughs. I was even intrigued that it brought up the topic of anti-Semitism. The last few chapters had me hooked, all the way to the final shit-show. This was a great novel that sucked me in from the get-go and I highly recommend it. I look forward to more of Manning's work with Petrov. I hope to see more of some of the other agents again soon!

Many authors in writing their novels dealing with spies and espionage place principal characters in the employee of top secret organizations that are not the CIA, nor the FBI or any other alphabet groups that deal with intelligence matters. The group that Kolya Petrov, the principal protagonist in Ms. Mannings book is affiliated with is the ECA. It is a small organization and described as giving training and assuring capabilities beyond those possessed by the mere mortals of the CIA. The novel opens with an agent of the group caught spying on a man suspected of plotting against the US and killed by the fiendish method of impaling. The supervisor of ECA realizes that the taking down of the man hatching the plot will involve something far beyond the norm. She decides to secretly place Kolya in a position, and being trained in operating ECA's new computer system, being captured by Miaha Cuza the man hatching the plot and being forced to show Cuza how to get into the ECA's computer. To keep the plan secret Kolya is not advised that this will happen while the ECA maneuvers him into a compromising position.
Ms. Manning describes his capture and torture while refusing to show Cuza how to get into the ECA system. The book is well written and the plot logical guaranteeing the reader sleepless nights until finished. The author does give the welcome indication that there will be more novels featuring Kolya in action.

An excellent spy/action thriller.

You'll be up all night reading this one.

This is the story of how an agency puts one of its own on the line to prevent terrorist attacks. Kolya, our hero, is sacrificed as a pawn in an agency sting operation to hunt down a terrorist. Can he fulfil the mission he doesn't know he's on?

Ultimately the book is a great read that will keep you on yourtoes till the very end, and it shows the extraordinary lengths the fictitious agency will go to in order to achieve its ends.

I can't say more as I don't want to spoil it, but it is highly recommended for fans of the spy thriller or action thriller.