Suzanne Mac – Google

Gruesome torture burned into my retina. What kept my interest episode after episode were the women characters. The story is anchored by two female spies whose storylines are hard to predict. Puffed up macho agents & thugs do strut around but there's a refreshing lack of casual misogyny. Danish spy Katherine Paulson steals the show as an enemy way too easy to underestimate. This part of the story was satisfying. I enjoyed too how the Olgivy father and daughter relationship played out. What I'm kind of mad about though is the volume of hyper realistic and merciless deaths on screen. When did this become normal? Torn off limbs and bloodied faces from a deadly terrorist bombing are shown not only once but repeated up close in flashbacks. I thought this was regular television-my mistake. I should have shut off the series there and spared myself even worse. One torture scene in particular is unforgivable. A women is burned alive screaming in a crematorium oven. I can think of nothing to justify this exceptionally cruel death scene. I want the memory of it erased from my brain. Shame on the show-runners for bringing this shockingly unearned, unnecessary violence to unsuspecting viewers.

It's readable enough but feels like work. Because it was a book club selection I stuck with it all the way to the end. There's some skill in the unfolding but key scenes are frustrating because poorly described. Key scenes! There's no artistry here. No memorable passages. The story aspires to feature unrequited love and family drama but it's thin and underbaked. Simply put, it's like I was promised cake and there's no cake. I enjoyed learning about map making and phantom settlements. Mapping lore is the most interesting element.