Inside the Aquarium

Suvorov takes a deep look at human nature, the Soviet intelligence arena and military intelligence in general. I believe it is a text to be studied and returned to. The following passage is the readers favorite: "The troops were convinced that human nature was basically vicious and incorrigible. They had good reason. Every day they risked their lives and every day they had an opportunity to observe people on the brink of death. So they divided everybody into the good and the bad. A good person in their eyes was one who did not conceal the animal seated within him. But a person who tried to appear good was dangerous. The most dangerous were those who not only paraded their good qualities but who also believed within themselves they were indeed good people. The most loathsome disgusting criminal might kill a man, ten men or even a hundred. But a criminal will never kill people by the million. Millions are killed only by those who consider themselves good."

Normally I hate spy stories. This one is different. It will grab you on page one and have you wanting more at the end. Anyone with an interest in the Soviet state should put this down as a 'must read'.

If you've read Russian literature, you'll know that it's emotionally expressive, very vivid and breathtakingly fascinating. It's not that this book can be compared to literary masterpieces, nor does it attempt to be one - but it certainly follows the tradition in its own way. Of course, Suvorov had great material to begin with, having gone through the Soviet army, Spetznaz and the GRU. The book was bound to be good because of that alone, even if he hadn't written it with such obvious passion. But he has; one of the greatest strengths of the book is that he has managed to capture the feeling of all the institutions and the whole situation so overwhelmingly well. Another is definitely the facts themselves - they are just interesting, not to mention important enough for this book to be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the history of the XXth century.I feel this book is among the best (if not THE best) written on this subject, but the greatest thing about it is something quite simple - you needn't be interested in history to like it. You will anyway.

In this book, the author gives the reader his personal impressions as a commanding officer from the Red Army in the 60s and the 70s. Suvorov speaks with pride about the enormous might that would have undoubtfully crashed the Western armies, had it come to an open conflict. "Aquarium" and "The Liberator" (also a must-to-read) provide the general picture of an army that is both mighty and pathetic, strong and weak, a picture very familiar to any Russian man.

This book is a true description of how the less known and more dangerous of the two biggest soviet spy agencies - the GRU - operated. They were well trained, highly effective, motivated and ruthless. I'm afraid they did much better during the Cold War than the West's intelligence agencies. And don't think GRU ceased to work in the Yeltsin Russia - these guys, maybe even some of the Suvorov's colleagues described in the book - are still out there, doing their job...I would also recomend another book by the same author - "The Liberators" - describing in more detail his career in the soviet military before he joined the GRU.