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Seven Days To Petrograd
During the First World War, American agent Harry Bauer is called on to infiltrate a train carrying a party of Russian revolutionaries, kill their leader--a man named Lenin--and complete a mission that could change history
Mass Market Paperback
First published February 24, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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July 5, 20191917 Russia when Lenin returns to Russia and assasin
September 9, 2015
"Good thriller about a part of history I didn't know in detail"
I picked this up because I'm a huge fan of alternate history, and this novel is about events I wasn't familiar with - the material wasn't played out and facts I didn't know added to fictional devices.
The intro makes clear that Bauer survived and didn't kill Lenin, which seems mystifying because it gives away a lot of the end. Still, I kept reading for the details of how that happened.
Both sides were competent, rather than a perfect hero with hapless foils - Bauer sometimes made mistakes and his adversaries often figured out what he was up to. There were some dead ends from this imperfection, but those didn't spoil the overall story.
I knew Lenin ended up a dictator, but this made clear how authoritarian he was from the beginning. His petty rant about people who didn't want to switch calendars highlighted that. His popular appeal was visceral.
Bauer had many chances to make the kill, but not ones that would have let him survive, so I don't blame him.
I picked this up because I'm a huge fan of alternate history, and this novel is about events I wasn't familiar with - the material wasn't played out and facts I didn't know added to fictional devices.
The intro makes clear that Bauer survived and didn't kill Lenin, which seems mystifying because it gives away a lot of the end. Still, I kept reading for the details of how that happened.
Both sides were competent, rather than a perfect hero with hapless foils - Bauer sometimes made mistakes and his adversaries often figured out what he was up to. There were some dead ends from this imperfection, but those didn't spoil the overall story.
I knew Lenin ended up a dictator, but this made clear how authoritarian he was from the beginning. His petty rant about people who didn't want to switch calendars highlighted that. His popular appeal was visceral.
Bauer had many chances to make the kill, but not ones that would have let him survive, so I don't blame him.
January 28, 2017
great, fast paced bit of historical fiction that covers a large detail much neglected...
a fulcrum point where everything hung in balance and the question was which way were things going to tip...and to the very end Hyman draws you in to believing maybe the outcome will be different from what we know as history and a little more about how we are where we are today. It's a little crazy.
Really liked it---from the big picture world stage stuff with Churchill, the Mexican Revolution, Wilson, Parvus, Lenin and the Bolshevks to the details in life about baseball, gypsies, hoboes and old trains; it is an incredibly well researched piece.
Should be a movie.
a fulcrum point where everything hung in balance and the question was which way were things going to tip...and to the very end Hyman draws you in to believing maybe the outcome will be different from what we know as history and a little more about how we are where we are today. It's a little crazy.
Really liked it---from the big picture world stage stuff with Churchill, the Mexican Revolution, Wilson, Parvus, Lenin and the Bolshevks to the details in life about baseball, gypsies, hoboes and old trains; it is an incredibly well researched piece.
Should be a movie.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews