The Cain Conversion

by Richard Aellen

Investigating an overwhelming and inexplicable urge to assassinate the president, Secret Service agent Bill Sullivan learns that he is a victim of a KGB psychiatric engineering experiment. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction

387 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Theron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Aellen is the uncle of a good friend of mine & I actually make an appearance in this book. :) I got together with my friend recently and he loaned me a copy.

[Shelley Alongi]

This book reminded me of another one called the Second Lady which I hadn’t thought about for a long time. My mom recommended that book to me which kind of surprised me at the time especially when I read the sex scene but I found a couple of similarities between that book and this one although the plots are a little different, they both involved the president but They both end differently. I guess it depends on what you think of the authors writing, and how he handled the story. This ending was a little more secure than that one I think. It was more like OK now we’re going from this bizarre situation to a happily ever after ending.

I was looking for a different book when I found this one but since I used to be, a reader of Robert Ludlum novels and Russian spy thrillers in general, I thought I would give this one a try. It was suspenseful I read it in three days. It takes me lately a lot longer to read a book but I managed to get that one read in three days. I guess I just wanted to see how it ended. I thought OK I can’t stand this I need to see how it ends. There were parts of it that didn’t quite believe like OK you didn’t explain that enough. I’m trying to think of something to illustrate my point. You just have to find the situation and say yeah that doesn’t quite make sense. But then there are other parts that I thought Were very plausible. For instance, I wonder with the insertion now of AI into our lives if you could actually make someone like that. The situation with this character is that it was human and so there is always a chance for programming to go in a different direction. The possibilities of this Are endless. I kept wondering how he was going to get Bill Sullivan to stay focused on who he was and not remember Mischas so much that it affected the integration of both personalities into one personality. I’m not an expert on multiple personalities, but I wonder if it’s possible to integrate Two separate personalities. I would have to read psychological analysis to fully understand that. I do like to read things, but I don’t know if I want to read that much about multiple personalities badly enough to do it. But it was an interesting idea and actually it was interesting. Yes, but it was kind of creepy. It reminded me of the twilight zone. I kept imagining myself waking up to realize I was someone else. Maybe we all do that in a way.

I thought the name of Guy German was different. . Was that supposed to be a throwback to the war? I don’t know. I just wondered about that. And I thought that Claire the all-around nice person as somebody described it in one of their reviews was very brave to take on this person, born in a different country, whom she thought was an American after she found out that his roots were different than she had originally imagined. Of course, that was the focus point for Bill Sullivan to Concentrate on his American identities so he could integrate Misha into his personality and then hold Cain at bay. I thought the inclusion of the Cain part was very interesting. Kane represents anger which they were trying to use to activate him to assassinate the president.

I thought that he did a good job of making some reprehensible and Believable characters. I can’t think of too many instances where KGB agents in their many forms are represented as good characters at least not in 1980s novels. Well, maybe I’m forgetting something. Someone will probably point something out but that’s OK. And I thought it was interesting that the person who was trying to activate him was his father. That was the most interesting because I suppose you could not get a reaction so strongly And embedded in the memory except from someone who is related.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good read and creepy. But I stuck with it because I really did want to know how it ended. I think I would’ve been disappointed if it ended any other way.

[Susan]

1990's thriller about a Secret Service agent programmed to kill the President

[Debra Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun espionage thriller

[Denise F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slowish start establishing the main characters, a variety of scientists in Cold War USSR, a small child being conditioned for service with the KGB and the, in the USA Bill-a secret service agent, his wife,Claire- all round nice person, and 2 children Megan and Matt.
Once the story gets on the road, it's good. A rogue ex-KGB angent tracks down Bill to 'activate' him, leading to a failed attempt on the president's life and the revelation that Bill has previously had episodes of missing memory. This is where Bill's hunt for his history and real identity begins and inevitably leads to the endangerment of his family. It was a good read with twists and turns and left some unanswered questions which avoided the potential for a predictable ending.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, not riviting, but well written and different.