From Publishers Weekly
Buckley's almostparfit knight Blackford Oakes is in England during 1954 at the start of the seventh story of his escapades. A joint British-American commando team parachutes into Albania to liberate the country but is immediately caught and killed. An "album" with pictures of the dead soldiers arrives at CIA headquarters in London, whereupon Blackford and his British allies set out to find out how Russian agents knew about the mission in advance. In time, suspicion centers on Engand's great scientist, a Nobel laureate, and his henchman since their days at Trinity College. Leaving Blackford for long stretches, the narrative focuses on Beria, head of the secret police in the USSR, and his efforts to manipulate events after Stalin's death. There is also agitation in Washington, where the Dulles brothers, President Eisenhower and others are disturbed by the possibility that Russia has cracked the code in which messages are exchanged between the U.S. and England. Buckley's ingenious plot and linguistic ballet show him in top form. Literary Guild dual main selection.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.
From Library Journal
Blackford Oakes is back and continues to be as witty, charming, and courageous as ever. The year: 1954. The plot: Oakes is assigned to avenge a disastrous incident that elminated 41 members of the CIA. Also uncovered is a deeply buried mole in the upper echelons of the British scientific community. As in his earlier novels, Buckley once again successfully intermingles the real with the fictional. His portrait of the bug-eyed, unpredictable Beria, one of Stalin's proteges, as an eccentric and impulsive sadist, is particularly chilling. The scene where Khrushchev shoots him (even though it is a year too lateBeria actually died in 1953) is very plausible. Buckley's style is familiar if not endearing. Alas, Oakes is still generally a flat character and an annoying name dropperbut these are minor complaints about an otherwise above- average thriller. Literary Guild dual main selection. Jean B. Palmer, Phillips Acad. Lib., Andover, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.
