A truly global thriller, Red Star Down takes the spy game to dizzying heights. Eric, a Korean working for the US president, has an agenda but is in awe of his boss. Jenna, a CIA officer has a story to unravel and it’s one that has the potential to reset the balance of power. And there’s the leaders of the US, Russia and North Korea.

With scenes built around recent real life events, there’s a sharpness to the narrative which itself is elevated by some cutting satire. Make no mistake, Red Star Down is a pulsating thriller for the world of shifting allegiances and power games that we live in today, absolutely outstanding.

I was granted a review copy of Red Star Down and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Red Star Down is the first book I’ve read by D.B. John, and it definitely won’t be the last. I read this thriller in just over a day — and if I didn’t need sleep, I’d have devoured it in one sitting. It’s that gripping.

This is an intricately researched and masterfully plotted story that brilliantly balances high-stakes international tension with razor-sharp, often laugh-out-loud observations of global political gameplay. I was fully transported into the volatile battlefield between Putin, Trump, and Kim Jong-un, and found myself racing through the pages, emotions pinging wildly between dread, disbelief, hilarity and heartbreak.

Jenna is a powerhouse of a protagonist — smart, gritty, and emotionally complex. Her dynamic with Eric, a North Korean spy embedded within Trump’s administration, crackles with tension. The stakes feel sky-high as they navigate a treacherous world in an effort to protect Lyosha, Stephen, and Soo-min. The twists are relentless, the pace exhilarating, and the portrayal of real-world political figures and power plays is so sharply observed I kept bursting out laughing in disbelief.

D.B. John has pulled off something extraordinary: a thriller that is both deeply intelligent and thoroughly entertaining. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year — insightful, fast-paced, tense, and unexpectedly hilarious in its truth-telling. I honestly wanted to start all over again the moment I finished the last page.

Highly recommended for fans of heart-racing political thrillers with substance. More, please!

Defiantly a very well crafted novel, full of current issues and concerns re global situations, Characters are life like in mannerisms and speech - yes Putin, Trump and Kim Jong Un of North Kore; yes John weaves a great story with our world leaders and all the bit players in the background.
At one point the story mentions North Korea and Russia's Seed Bearing Program which triggered my deep seated memories of true events where citizens were abducted from South Korea and Japan to breed children, indoctrinated and sent back to their original country to create havoc. Methods of assassinations used those used by the Russians even today - poisoning radio isotope exposure.
So a very intelligent up to date thriller.
At the end of the book a well written 'authors notes' shares the deeper aspects of the story and basis for the book, well worth reading.

This books was fantastic, it was edgy and thrilling and fast paced. I hadn’t read a political spy thriller before but this was so intriguing I couldn’t put it down. There’s a couple of things going on in this book but it isn’t confusing or boring and is a real page turner. Highly recommend

The Red Star Down by D.B. John is a gripping and atmospheric thriller set in the shadowy world of North Korea. John masterfully weaves espionage, political intrigue, and human resilience into a fast-paced narrative. With vivid descriptions and taut pacing, the novel explores the high stakes of intelligence work and the harrowing realities of life under a brutal regime. The characters are complex and believable, particularly the operatives navigating moral gray zones. Fans of The Spy and the Traitor or The Defector will find this a compelling read. It’s both an engrossing page-turner and a chilling glimpse into a closed world.

This is the first book I have read by D.B John and I certainly hope that it won't be the last. I was immediately gripped by this contemporary political thriller. The characters were completely believable and the attention to the power struggle between Donald Trump, Putin and Kim Jong-un caused different emotions at one point humorous and another disbelief. I didn't manage to read this book at one sitting despite attempting to, but my husband wanted to sleep which meant that I read over two days. The combination of Jenna a C.I.A operative, Eric a North Korean spy within the Trump administration, could all change the balance of the political power as it is today.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Random House UK/Vintage for giving me the opportunity to read this advanced copy to review.




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Fast paced ,relevant novel.It had me on the edge of my seat,unable to put down until I could find out what happened next.
I lived through the experience to the end.A well written credible tale which opens up a world currently in which we live,spellbinding and fascinating to say the least,A riveting must read for everyone.

This is an excellent fast-paced thriller. Set in 2017, the corrupting power of Trump, Putin and Kim Jong-Un sets the backdrop for an intense political, spy thriller. This is a well-written and well-researched book. Right from the start, the reader is thrown straight into the thick of the action. Despite the length of the book, this was a surprisingly quick read.
Highly recommended.

Red Star Down is an edge-of-your-seat international spy thriller based on relatively recent real-life events featuring well known political figures. In a story which crosses continents, main protagonist Jenna risks her own life to protect Soo-min, Lyosha and Stephen while North Korean spy Eric is working hard to undermine the White House as well as trying to save his own skin. This is a tension filled, fast paced thriller with multiple characters and story strands coming together in an intelligently planned plot in which the narrative is enhanced by some excellent satire.
The researching and plotting are top quality, and the author’s observations of political manoeuvring have made me look at current events through a new lens. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know.

4.5* Red Star Down - DB John. A stunning thriller where the pace doesn’t let up.

Trump is in the White House. Putin and Kim Jong-Un are dictators in their own kingdoms. They each hold ultimate power but below their fragile egos are those willing to undermine, overthrow and work for the common good.

8 years on from the excellent Star of the North, we rejoin CIA agent Jenna in a multi-location chase across the world. There are spies, defectors, dead-drops and jaw-dropping moments a plenty. The story neatly carousels around real life events which on their own are jaw dropping,
but weaved into a narrative with the CIA and FSB involved are great fun.

I really don’t want to give any spoilers to the intricate plotting which is a heck of a ride. This is up there with Day of the Locust and Ken Follet’s Never as an absolute classic of the genre. So many try in the thriller space, few succeed, DB John absolutely nails it.

I would highly recommend starting with Star of the North to get under the skin of Jenna’s back story but both books would be good stand alone novels.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for this brilliant ARC. I can only hope we don’t need to wait so long for another book from this fantastic author.

A political spy thriller is not my normal go to genre, but the synopsis intrigued me and I thought Let’s give it a go!
I was not disappointed. This novel was well crafted with lots of information, twists and some great characters.
It is not a quick read and in parts I had to concentrate hard on the plot, but overall this was a book I would recommend.

This is a really outstanding spy thriller cleverly using recent political events with Trump’s first administration dealings with N Korea and Russia. A female CIA officer is the star of the show with secret plots by both the N Koreans and Russia to infiltrate the highest levels of American Government and business. Never ending action racing across Malaysia,Korea Russia and the USA all superbly blended together with one particular bad guy close to Trump as an adviser. Wonderful stuff…recommended!

I thoroughly enjoyed this intense political thriller set during Trump’s first administration and creating a tense fictional background to the summits Trump held with Putin and Kim Jong-un. The crossover between fiction and reality had a very nebulous border which made this a fascinating read.

Apparently a sequel so I’m going to have to hunt the first volume down now. This was a high stakes thriller and commanded my complete attention while travelling across Europe by train. Fabulous female protagonist. More of this sort of thing!!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. 5* from me for this one.

An excellent fast paced and intelligent spy thriller built around Trump's summits with Putin and Kim in his first administration. The author has an astute perspective on the personalities of these three autocrats and builds a compelling story involving a North Korean plant within Trump's inner circle and an American female spy. Though a sequel to an earlier novel, this book can be loved as a standalone work, Highly recommended.

With a little nod towards James Bond, this spy thriller was excellent.

Weaving fiction with plausible real-world figures the three autocrats, Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin and set in 2017 the book is exciting with Jenna some sort of action girl escaping from all sorts of trouble. Shame she fell into the 'JD' trap?

Other minor characters all add to a plot that keeps the reader guessing. A lot of multiple povs which I will forgive this time as the whole story and the author's writing is superb.

Thanks to Net Galley and Random House UK Vintage for the chance to read and review.

This novel was hard to put down and I devoured it in a few sittings. Fictional but based in historical realities with real life autocrats, it is filled with suspense, mystery and danger. Salutary message about the prjde, paranoia and delusions of absolute power. Tense but very enjoyable reading.

Red Star Down is a librarian's nightmare. Where should the novel be placed? Fiction or non-fiction? To answer that you will have to reference the author's note that it's purely a work of fiction. The thing is, it reads like non-fiction. Why is this? It's said to carry off a false identity you need to blurr the truth with a smattering of a lie. Donald Trump's presence in the novel seems so close to real life that you might be imagining his double. The elements of the truth are: abduction of people from South Korea and Japan by the North Koreans, North Korea's seed or 'Joy Group' operation, the murder of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport by means of a nerve agent, the meeting of Trump and the little rocket man at the Singapore summit to name but a few.
Red Star Down is a novel about the world of the autocrat and the schemes they adopt to control and subvert. It's a riveting spy story with intrigue, manipulation and broken lives at its heart. I found it possibly one of the best spy novels I have read and the five stars I have awarded it do not do it justice.

Red Star Down D B John

5 stars
Absolutely brilliant

I loved this book and read it in a couple of days. Right from the start I was totally absorbed by the story and completely immersed in the fictional characters that were so believable when set against the three main protagonists in the real world, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.

I had no problem following the story despite it being a follow-up to Jenna Williams story,Jenna is a CIA agent, a Korean/ African American whose twin sister was captured and taken to North Korea, Jenna had rescued her and by doing so is Public Enemy No 1 for North Korea. In Moscow a young boy, Lyosha has had the temerity to question President Putin, in a live tv broadcast and has to flee Russia, and in The White House, Eric Rahn has risen to be President's Trump's Special Advisor on East Asia even though he is a North Korean spy.

The story is set in 2017 when President Trump' took office for the first time. It is horrifying to me how true to life this is, touching on kidnapping of Asians to be raised in North Korea and trained as spies, the seed-bearing programme and the poisoning of traitors. I can well imagine that everything described not only went on but is in fact still going on especially as Trump is now back in power.

What made this book so fascinating for me was the juxtaposition of the fictional characters and the non-fictional characters. The author seems able to describe Trump, Putin and Kim as though he has actually met them many times so accurate is his descriptions of their mannerisms and actions. In the author's note at the end of the book he does say that this is a fictional book but so much of it is based on real events that I am not so sure,.

I can honestly say that this is one of the best books that I have read and will be reading anything else I can find by this author. Highly recommended.




Karen Deborah
Reviewer for Net galley

Loosely based around real events, Red Star Down is such a brilliant read!

A massive conspiracy is about to be revealed to the world. Red Star Down reveals the exciting story leading up to it.

Three protagonists - Jenna, a tough no nonsense CIA officer.

Lyosha, a Moscow student who had the audacity to confront Vladimir Putin on live tv, with a question that so incensed the Russian leader that he made it his mission to destroy Lyosha’s life.

And then there’s Eric, a North Korean spy who has the ear of President Trump, and it goes without saying that he’s one extremely dangerous individual.

Having read D B John’s superb book “Star of the North”, wanting to read this one was a no brainer.
This is a fast paced spy thriller, that crosses continents and regimes, throwing the reader headlong into a world of global events, and the inevitable political intrigue and espionage that accompanies it. This is edge of the seat stuff and I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending this excellent read!

Gripping, thought-provoking and entertaining. Full of current affairs and questions that need asking. A great read from an author I will look out for in the future.
Recommended.