The film adaptation of Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews flies to screens next Friday, March 2. Jennifer Lawrence stars as Dominika Egorova, a Russian ballerina inducted into her country's intelligence service as a Sparrow, an agent trained to use seduction as a weapon. When she falls for her latest target, CIA agent Nate Nash (played by Joel Edgerton), Dominika sparks a chain reaction of deadly espionage that threatens a valuable double agent in Moscow. Director Francis Lawrence's (the Hunger Games trilogy, I Am Legend) adaptation also stars Ciarán Hinds and Jeremy Irons.
Red Sparrow (2013) is the first in a trilogy by retired CIA officer Jason Matthews. Palace of Treason (2015) continues the dangerous affair between Nate and Dominikia--now a mole for the CIA. The Kremlin's Candidate (2018) imagines a Russian plot to assassinate an American politician and replace him with a cultivated asset. The fictionalized version of Vladimir Putin who features heavily in Matthews's trilogy has been cut from the film. Matthews spent 33 years at the CIA before turning to spy fiction. He sold the film rights to Red Sparrow for seven figures prior to its publication, and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author in 2014. On February 20, Scribner released a movie tie-in edition of Red Sparrow ($9.99, 9781501168918). --Tobias Mutter
