Review: Top of the line roller-coaster - a must-read!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 28, 2013
Rarely have I enjoyed a book this much! The author claims that all characters are figments of his imagination, but somehow I get the feeling that only the names have been changed to protect the guilty.The plot: computer expert Evan Morris, running a company branch in Belarus, visits the weekend home of a subordinate. He goes out to pick raspberries and accidentally sees someone he shouldn't have, and Belarus security goes ballistic. By the time the security forces let him go Evan is curious enough to do an internet search to identify the guy he saw. When it turns out to be a senior Saddam cohort Evan decides to get a lawyer...and things go from bad to worse.The terrifying part of this tale is that it is all credible! It is a proverbial snowball setting off an avalanche and Evan can easily end up buried under it and very dead as can his curvy and highly intellectual English teacher, Lena, who he inadvertently drags into the mess.The Washington intrigue is as bad as the Belarus one (and just as credible) but when the CIA gets involved, the Minsk US Embassy's CIA guy, Russel Piper, makes an all-out effort to save Evan and Lena, with a little help from Russia's FSB (the KGB's successor).Russel's obsession with sex while trying to keep from cheating on his wife is sometimes a bit much and I'd consider his exercise routines over the top if I didn't have family members who were similarly obsessed.All in all, this is a GREAT BOOK!!!!