The CIA believed Solovyov had agreed to defect to America. Instead, she identified Solovyov as the mole, a move that her CIA handlers believed would give her higher standing with Putin. He hoped he could catch the mole while Dominika was in Athens. Zyuganov had believed the mole from Athens had actually returned to Moscow. Zyuganov additionally distances Dominika from the SVR by sending her to Athens to search for a mole he indicates is operating from that city. He intends for Dominika to not be able to impress Putin if she has no idea what is happening but Dominika manages to get information from Zyuganov’s deputy by sleeping with him. Hoping to stay in Putin’s good graces Zyuganov stops giving Dominika details of the operations of the counterintelligence department. The information turns out to be financially profitable for the Russians and earns Dominika praise and respect from Putin, the president of Russia. Zyuganov is so paranoid that he makes an attempt on Dominika’s life when she successfully recruits an Iranian nuclear scientist to share with her the details of Iran’s plan to build a nuclear weapon. Zyuganov is deeply paranoid and believes that Dominika is trying to take his job even though Dominika has her own goals as a double agent working in Russia for the American CIA. She wanted to avenge the death of Korchnoi, a Russian spy who was her mentor, as well as the deaths of three women friends killed as a result of the injustices in the Russian system.Īs this second novel in the Red Sparrow series opens Dominika’s boss, Zyuganov, is already jealous of her because she turned in Korchnoi, a case on which he had been working.

Since Dominika believes she has not yet avenged the wrongs she believes have been done to her by the Russian establishment, she intended to continue wreaking havoc in the leadership of Russia. Though Dominika did not relish killing her boss, she had to do so in order to keep from being executed as a traitor or giving up her job as a spy. In Palace of Treason, the second novel in the Red Sparrow series by Jason Matthews, double agent Dominika Egorova’s life hangs in the balance when her nemesis and boss at the SVR, Zyuganov, learns that she is the mole in the SVR. The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Matthews, Jason.

Palace of treason by jason matthews