MARTINA JUNG

       Martina Jung is a part-time agent with the CIA.
       When first we meet her, this middle-aged woman is a public school teacher and sometime advisor to the CIA but her role with the Agency will change considerably over time. It might also be fair to say that her job included recruitment for that is what we essentially watch her doing.
       From the eyes of the man we follow as she meets and gets to know, Stanislav "Stanley" Osipov, Jung is "remarkably attractive" having radiant platinum blonde hair and "eyes a piercing gray". She is tall and thin and, again according to Osipov, possessed an elegant walk which she did with confidence.
       Jung's "day job" is that of an English teacher. She lives in a nice house at the end of a block in a quiet, respectable neighborhood, sharing the abode with her friend, Margaret, who is also a teacher though of History.
       Her other job, the one for which she is a member of this collection, is with the Agency. She is part of a group of amateurs put together ad hoc as needed. The rationale behind this idea of an administrator in the CIA was that people from other walks of life and employment could and routinely would provide a more creative and therefore usually more effective approach to a problem than those in a "rules-laden" environment suffered by the true professionals.
       These amateurs, of which Jung is often the unspoken leader, do not always get along, with is being polite, but they are an interesting and successful group, the latter meaning that they get the job done although how they do it is often unorthodox in method, exactly as their CIA handler expected and wanted.

       It is not often a novel (pun intended) approach to a spy series comes along but this one qualifies for I do not know of any other (my memory - not so good) that has several amateurs banding together to go a-spying. And the "leader" of the group (quotes used because she runs them but is hardly a leader type) is a not very well liked person with some issues. That makes an interesting set of circumstances.
       The writing is alright, a bit choppy at times, but the dialogue is good and the variety of characters very well done. These are not a bad read, especially on a rainy afternoon which is what is happening as I ponder this series.