Jason Matthews (novelist)

Jason Matthews (September 17, 1951 – April 28, 2021^[1]) was an American author of espionage novels and former CIA officer, best known for the Red Sparrow spy novel trilogy.

Biography

Matthews was born September 17, 1951, in Hartford, Connecticut.^[1] He worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for three decades, where he met his wife, Suzanne, also a former CIA officer.^[2][1] He died April 28, 2021 at the age of 69 from corticobasal degeneration.^[3]

Career

Prior to becoming a novelist, Matthews spent 33 years working for the CIA.^[4] While in the CIA he was officially a diplomat, in Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean, but his real job was recruiting and then managing foreign agents.^[5]

In 2014, his first novel, Red Sparrow (2013), won an Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American author.^[6] Writer and critic Art Taylor praised it in The Washington Post, writing that it "isn't just a fast-paced thriller—it's a first-rate novel as noteworthy for its superior style as for its gripping depiction of a secretive world."^[7] It was adapted into a movie of the same name starring Jennifer Lawrence.^[8]

In 2015 and 2018, he published Palace of Treason and The Kremlin’s Candidate, which are the sequels to Red Sparrow.

Works

Red Sparrow trilogy

• Matthews, Jason (2013). Red Sparrow. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4711-1261-4.
• ——— (2015). Palace of Treason. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-9375-7.
• ——— (2018). The Kremlin's Candidate. Penguin Books, Limited. ISBN 978-1-4059-2085-8.

Awards

• 2014 ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel, for Red Sparrow^[9]
• 2014 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, for Red Sparrow^[10]