Alma Katsu is a successful fantasy-horror writer who worked as an analyst at the National Security Agency and at the CIA. This is her first espionage novel. It’s rich with deceit and plot surprises. Much of the novel is set in the CIA office in Langley, Virginia.It’s highly competitive environment, where co-workers look for a weakness to use against you, or just to ruin your career. Perhaps the (fictional) scene at Langley is a dramatization of common office politics. I love to read spy novels with well-considered characters because nothing, aside from lust, is more human than lies. I want to learn how spies manage their lies, how the lies change them, whether, at some level, they believe their lies.The protagonist is Lindsey Duncan, a thirty-something woman case officer at the Beirut station. She's sent back in disgrace for an affair with a British agent, which violates the rules. It turns out that if the theme of the book is untangling deception, the sub-theme is loneliness. Lying isolates her from sex and love. I wonder how spies handle their separation from others and deception of even their families.On her return to HQ, her boss tasks her with discovering the reasons for the murder of a high-value Russian agent, who she once recruited in Moscow. The assignment leads to the revelation of layers of deceit and double and triple cross.The novel is tightly and skillfully plotted. Katsu writes in simple and clear English sentences. She retains a walking pace throughout the novel, as she unfolds her story. The calm tone of her style contrasts with the rising tension of the plot. The novel ends with a hint that the CIA is an onion, more layers of deception remain to be unpeeled. A true fan should concoct their own ending.The novel is a Russian piroshki (pastry), crisp, filled with fine Siberian lingonberry jam ---and novichuk. If you like this genre, This novel is a must-read.