VANESSA TAVONOVICH

Full Name:	Vanessa Tavonovich
Nationality:	Russian
Organization:	SVRR
Occupation	Agent

Creator:	Genie Driscoll
Time Span:	2012 - 2012

ABOUT THE SERIES

Vanessa Tavonovich is an agent with the SVRR.

For those to whom the breakout of that acronym does not leap to mind, it is Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki Rossii, or Russian Federation Foreign Intelligence Service. In either languages, it sounds, as it should, like a very formidable organization to have to cross, or even work for.

According to a dossier in the archives of British intelligence agency CI6 (as opposed to MI6) on this highly gifted and dangerous female operative: "Tavonovich is known to have attended the Baryshnikov Ballet Academy of Dance in Moscow. It was there that she was recruited into the KGB. She is known to be an expert marksman, with a rating of Alpha plus. Tavonovich was trained in Martial Arts by the training wing of Bravo Battalion, 2nd Spetsnaz. Along with her skills as a dancer, Tavonovich is also a trained makeup artist. Making her difficult to find, as she never has the same face twice. She has been suspected in several assassinations over the past 8 years, though we cannot prove it. Currently Colonel Tavonovich is head of the Russian Counter-intelligence Agency and is assigned on a temporary basis with the Red Army. If apprehended, terminate.

According to that operative regarding the final words in that description: "If seen, terminate with extreme prejudice. Don't look so shocked comrades. I have earned my reputation. I am the deadliest of the species. I may look soft and feminine but inside beats the heart of a panther. Dark and deadly. This is what makes a good infiltrator and espionage agent."

When we first meet both the man reading that first description, Matt Brooks, and the subject of the description, Tavonovich, the former is finding yet again just how deadly the latter can be having just barely escaped capture and a very unpleasant future. Both promise themselves better results "next time".

As we discover through this series of adventures, there will be several next times.

BOOKS

Number of Books:	1
First Appearance:	2012
Last Appearance:	2012

There are a couple of points to mention about the book(s) in this series in general: their size and their copyright dates.

Regarding the sizes of the adventures, two just barely squeak into "novel" range traditionally set at 40K words. The rest are well below that threshold. As a result, and because the author released them all at one point in one anthology collection, I have placed them in the Novella section below. That collection volume is listed in this Book section.

As to the dates, each of the individual tales have a copyright listed of 2018 but are referred to as 'second edition'. The collection, however, has a copyright of 2012, making me think that was the year they all originally came out. For that reason, I have listed 2012 for each copyright, book and novellas.

Since I have not communicated with the author about these matters, I could be totally wrong on both counts. Nevertheless, all the known adventures of Comrade Tavonovich are here, book or novella.


1			Tavonovich ~ Spy Anthology Written by Genie Driscoll Copyright: 2012 A collection of all seven adventures of Comrade Tavonovich of the SVRR: International Intrigue aka Spy v Spy Cocaine aka Spy & Spy Dirty Wars aka Spy 2 Spy Agent M.I.A. aka Spys R Spys Trouble In Paradise aka Spy 4 Spy Info Africa aka The Congo Connection Family Ties aka Tokyo Troubles

NOVELLAS AND SHORT STORIES

Number of Stories:	7
First Appearance:	2012
Last Appearance:	2012


1			International Intrigue aka Spy v Spy Written by Genie Driscoll Copyright: 2012 "Tavonovich is an SVRR Russian assassin and her job is to make sure nobody talks unless it is to her. International espionage and spies in general are her bread and butter until she has a run in with CI6 British Intelligence on 2 occasions and realizes she has a problem. Her current mission is with the International terrorist groups and CI6 is getting in the way of her doing her job." Published in the collection Tavonovich ~ Spy Anthology.

2			Cocaine aka Spy & Spy Written by Genie Driscoll Copyright: 2012 "The Colombian drug cartel have been shipping chocolate cocaine internationally and would have got away with it, except they sent it to the wrong person. Colonel Tavonovich's best friend. Learning how she died pits Tavonovich against the drug lords who have no idea how angry she is and how far she is prepared to go to catch them. CI6 is also looking for them and get captured. Now she has two things against the cartel." Published in the collection Tavonovich ~ Spy Anthology.

3			Dirty Wars aka Spy 2 Spy Written by Genie Driscoll Copyright: 2012 "Take one vengeful Korean bent on destruction in the United Kingdom, one bomb at a time...throw in CI6who needs to bring him down. Toss in Tavonovich who thinks the Korean is hiding a bigger threat and chaos erupts on English territory. Who will win CI6 or the Russians." Published in the collection Tavonovich ~ Spy Anthology.

4			Agent M.I.A. aka Spys R Spys Written by Genie Driscoll Copyright: 2012 "What happens when the world's superpowers, Russia, America and Britain suddenly find out their newest military jets go missing under their noses. And that a terrorist organization now has them. They go and try getting them back. Brookes, Tavonovich and Douglass find themselves in trouble, not only because their sting goes wrong but Douglass is compromised by the terrorists." Published in the collection Tavonovich ~ Spy Anthology.

5			Trouble In Paradise aka Spy 4 Spy Written by Genie Driscoll Copyright: 2012 "Tavonovich and Brookes are back together to rescue her uncle and his boss from the Siberian Liberation Front. A vastly successful terrorist organization. She has been wanting them gone for years but they always seemed one step ahead until they make one mistake in kidnapping an important person in both their lives. Payback is going to be deadly for the SLF." Published in the collection Tavonovich ~ Spy Anthology.

6			Into Africa aka The Congo Connection Written by Genie Driscoll Copyright: 2012 "Tavonovich is aiding CI6 in a new investigation into Southern Africa, to catch an ex-British military officer who is distributing drugs through Africa via Durban Natal, his base is somewhere in Botswana. However he just made a serious enemy when he has Brookes and Douglass kidnapped. Tavonovich doesn't play nice when she loses someone she loves. The Drug Lord is about to find out that nobody pisses off the Russian and gets away with it." Published in the collection Tavonovich ~ Spy Anthology.

7			Family Ties aka Tokyo Troubles Written by Genie Driscoll Copyright: 2012 "Tavonovich and the CI6 team are on a case of rescuing a British scientist from the Chinese, not realizing its a lure to capture them for experimental reasons. After a shootout, Vanessa and Douglass are captured by the enemy and taken hostage. Its up to Brookes and his team to find them and get them back. Vanessa learns that her "dead" father is alive. Unfortunately he is insane. He wants to clone her." Published in the collection Tavonovich ~ Spy Anthology.

MY COMMENTS

I really, really enjoyed these stories, especially since the author had chosen a terrific size to make them. Trying to make full-length (i.e., thick tomes) adventures out of them would have destroyed them, IMHO.

Instead, each one is short enough to read in one or two sittings and each one is enjoyable enough to make the reader want to come back for another go-round.

The relationship between Tavonovich and Brookes is a delightful one of kinda deep friendship and kinda deep ... something else. Not loathing or hatred but ... competition?

GRADE

My Grade: B+

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