Requiem for a Glass Heart (Thorndike Core) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

David Lindsey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Thorndike Core | Publication Date: September 1996

The bestselling author of "Mercy" delivers his most powerful, pulse-racing novel yet. This thriller reveals the story of two complex and beautiful women, each destined to be both huntress and prey in a shadowy criminal underworld--a place where one wrong move could be fatal.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Two women, both undercover agents of sorts, find their fates inextricably enmeshed. Irina Ismaylova is an assassin for ruthless Russian crime boss Sergei Krupatin, who controls her by holding her young daughter hostage. Cate Cuevas is a DEA agent who has lost her agent husband in an undercover operation that was botched because of the husband's philandering. Cate is assigned to accompany one of Krupatin's trusted lieutenants (who has been converted into a double agent by the DEA) to a mysterious meeting in Houston. The plan is to get Cate close to Krupatin and then arrest or kill him. Irina will also be there, assigned to eliminate Krupatin's key competitors. Of course, nothing is as it seems, and the initial plans quickly disintegrate into a multicornered cat-and-mouse game. The novel is seriously overplotted; there are simply too many twists to maintain credibility. But the relationship that develops between the two women redeems the book's excesses. Recommended with reservations. George Needham --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

With more women in the global workforce every year, it seems inevitable that at least a few will become hired guns. Here, old pro Lindsey (An Absence of Light, 1994, etc.) spins the implausible but nuanced and suspenseful tale of one such working mother. Sergei Krupatin, the vicious chieftain of a world-class criminal syndicate connected to Russia's mafia, employs Irina Ismaylova as an itinerant assassin. Although trained as an art restorer, the drop-dead blond beauty is obliged to retain her odd job because Sergei (a crafty, up-from-the-ranks Chechen) has long held her (and his) young daughter as a hostage. After completing a twofer assignment in St. Petersburg, Irina learns that she's to be Sergei's go-between in setting up a summit conference in Houston with Chinese and Sicilian drug lords; the lethal Irina also learns that she's expected to kill both men, Wei Tsaing and Carlo Bontate. Meanwhile, offshore intelligence sources have alerted the FBI to the Texas meet, which is to be attended by Valentin Stepanov, Sergei's man in America. The feds have turned Valentin and plan to use him to insinuate another undercover agent into his master's inner circle--Catherine Cuevas (a.k.a. Cate), the comely widow of a philandering DEA operative. Bearing a transceiver implant in her right arm, Cate soon encounters and bonds with Irina, who has made a side deal with Carlo to betray Sergei in return for help in recovering her child. The mafioso instructs Irina to follow through on dispatching Wei--and she does so with considerable flair in the course of a three-way group grope with Cate. But the girls must still settle with Sergei, who's gone to ground. Only one of the treacherous trio survives the final confrontation for a tear- jerking postlude. Equal opportunity is a dominant if implicit theme of this violent, broody, overlong international thriller, the only moral of which seems to be that sex kills. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 681 pages
• Publisher: G. K. Hall & Company (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0783818858
• ISBN-13: 978-0783818856
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,929,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent spy thriller!, July 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Requiem For a Glass Heart (Paperback)

Just the ticket to fill my yearning for a good spy novel after seeing the movie Bourne Identity last week. I did not want this book by David Lindsey to end! It was so interesting, exciting, but in just the right amount to keep you intellectually stimulated. It was believable and so well-written I just loved reading it so much. The end was fine, I was a little confused about it, but I liked the book so much I would read something by Mr. Lindsey again in a minute. I could hardly put this book down. Irina, Krupatin, Cate, and Leo were really interesting characters as were Bontate and Wei.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best David Lindsey Since Mercy, May 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Requiem For a Glass Heart (Paperback)

I always thought that Mercy was one of the better thrillers I had ever read. I waited with baited breath for another Lindsey book up to this standard.Well, it is here in Requiem for a Glass Heart. David Lindsey has developed two leading characters, Irina and Cate, who are vibrant, intellegent, sexy and very complex. I don't usually go out of my way to read thrillers with women lead figures (sorry about this bit of sexism)but I was enthralled by international assasin Irina and FBI agent Cate and how their lives came together. The worlwide settings added to intrigue of the story as well. The worst thing that happed to me while reading Requiem for a Glass Heart was my airplane landing home on Friday night with just over thirty pages to go. I had to sit in the terminal and finish the story of Irina and Cate before driving home after a long week on the road. That is true testiment to the writing skills of Mr. Lindsey.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than Ever, June 7, 2000

By 

JACK WHITE - See all my reviews

This review is from: Requiem For a Glass Heart (Paperback)

I have just finished reading this book in one sitting. Such was its interest that I just could not put it down. Like a good Humphrey Bogart movie once started it just kept going. I consider Mercy by same author a masterpiece of its gendre. THe only comparable author is John La Carre but I find Lindsey a far more interesting writer who tells a much better story. The aspect of the book that I liked most is Lindsey's ability to paint a large canvas; his villains are that bad and stride over continents. He always impresses me with his scolarship in both crime and art history. At his best he can develop beleivable charecters; Cate has my sympathy and interest as does her Russian counterpart Irene. Without getting into detail which is covered by other reviews this was a really good read.