The Gryphon Heist by James R. Hannibal // Revell Reads Book Review

Talia Inger is a rookie CIA case officer assigned not to the Moscow desk as she had hoped but to the forgotten backwaters of Eastern Europe--a department only known as "Other." When she is tasked with helping a young, charming Moldovan executive secure his designs for a revolutionary defense technology, she figures she'll be back in DC within a few days. But that's before she knows where the designs are stored--and who's after them. With her shady civilian partner, Adam Tyler, Talia takes a deep dive into a world where only criminal minds and unlikely strategies will keep the Gryphon, a high-altitude data vault, hovering in the mesosphere.
Even Tyler is more than he seems, and Talia begins to wonder: Is he helping her? Or using her access to CIA resources to pull off an epic heist for his own dark purposes?   
In this Ocean's Eleven-meets-Mission Impossible thriller, former tactical deception officer and stealth pilot James R. Hannibal offers you a nonstop thrill ride through the most daring heist ever conceived.

My Review 

*spoilers ahead*

Oh, the intrigue!!!

Talia Inger is a newly-minted CIA officer and because of who her mentor is, she thinks she is getting the station she's always dreamed of. She's extremely disappointed when she is stuck in Other. This division doesn't even get name recognition.

Only in her first mission, Talia already doesn't know who to trust. Is her boss legit or a traitor? How about the civilian assigned to help her? Who is he really? (I really thought he was a bad guy and I guess he sort of was. That part confused me. So was the whole "Lukon is going after this thing" part of the con? Because if Lukon is Tyler, then it would have to be.)

There isn't really any mystery or puzzle to this story. The directive is straight forward enough - plan heist, assemble team, run heist, beat bad guy. The action comes in when things go wrong, you don't know who is good or bad, and (I guess this is a puzzle) the fog around Talia's past. (Really interesting how Talia's emotional and spiritual pain had such profound physical effects.)

An aside - I found it really humorous the emphasis made on Talia and others in the CIA being "officers" not "agents" when it is, after all, called the Central Intelligance Agency. Agent is practically in the name. Maybe it's because FBI personnel are called agents. I don't think our government agencies really get along that well so they might not like sharing titles. Who knows. Just amused me.

There's not a cliff-hanger (thank goodness!) but this is not a one-and-done story. A battle has been won, but the war is still going and the problem might hidden among the good guys. I'll leave you with that :)

I received a copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own. A favorable review was not required.