The Russian Enigma

The hardback copy I've just finished reading was published in 1982 by Atheneum publishing company. It's interesting to note that at the moment only two hard bound copies are available on this site. The book is fairly typical Clive Egleton, i.e., good story line with historical aspects worked in, and a good assortment of characters, some fictional, some from real life. The timeline of this novel is shortly prior to President Kennedy's assassination with his administration in midst of the 1962 Cuban and Krushchev Russian missle crisis. British M15, CIA, and Prime Minister Macmillian are dependant on KGB intelligence feeds from GRU Lt. Colonel Oleg Vladimirovitch Penkovsky and other double agents. One British double agent turns up dead and presents the center of the novel's problem, with most of the book focused on whether Deakin died a natural death or the KGB killed him. The ups-and-downs, ins-and-outs, of the novel spin around this question and a few others, with the book's ending leaving a low level chill for most readers. The locale of the book is split between Great Britain and Washington, D.C., with a small amount of action in France. I've recently discovered that "The Eisenhower Deception" released in 1981 is the first volume of this book, so I would read that one first, rather than second as I'm now forced to do. Should you enjoy historical espionage fiction from Clive Egleton or simply that you are just searching for a good read, try this one from a generation back. It is still very interesting. Semper Fi.