Moscow 5000

by David Grant

The 5000 metres final has the crowd on it’s feet. But there’s more than one stopwatch ticking in the Lenin Stadium.
Federenko, from the Russian squad, was being programmed to lose. But that wasn’t his idea of things.
The terrorist Shubin, from Ukraine, saw the race as his golden opportunity. So many people all in one place.
Friendly Kazantsev from the KGB refused to let things take their course. He knew he had to win.

Genres: Fiction

445 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a work of fiction that traces all the competitors (and their storylines) for an Olympic event – the men’s 5000 meters (3.11 miles) race – of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
The book has a lot of side angles baked into it. There is a bit of sexual intrigue with a mix of athletes defecting to the U.S under the cover of the games. There is a backdrop of Soviets fixing events to have a chosen winner. There is a deep CIA Agent in the Soviet government who is plotting her escape. There is also a Ukrainian separatist group plotting a terrorist attack during the Olympic games. All these events are planned for the precise moment of the conclusion of the race.
I thought some of the story lines were a little bland. Although most of the characters were well developed by outlining their lives outside of the track, I was unable to really get into any of them.
This one falls right on the average fence of 2.5/5.

[Steve Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a pretty run of the mill story set during the Moscow Olympic Games of 1980. The three major plot lines are a CIA double agent is feeling the heat and needs to be pulled to safety before the KGB can identify them, a terrorist cell of Ukrainian nationalists threatening to disrupt the Games in a spectacular fashion and the men’s 5000 metres race with the determination of the Soviet team to win the gold medal at all costs. As the tension builds throughout the book with several minor sub-plots developing along the way the whole thing fizzles to a very unsatisfactory anti-climax. The final chapter was a real disappointment that left me reflecting that my assertion that time spent reading is never wasted may not always be true! I would suggest that you stick to reading the thrillers that David Grant published under his real name; Craig Thomas.

[Mary Slowik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rubbish!

I made the mistake of picking this up based on the title alone. Thought it was sci-fi, set in Moscow in the year 5000. Quite the let-down when I learned what it was really about. I forced myself to finish it. The author's British, evidently, and it's kind of funny to read the Russian thugs' dialogue featuring British slang like "blokes" and "bugger" and "bloody." I love watching the Olympics, believe me, and I'm a Russophile, too, so you'd think a story set during the Moscow Olympics would be right up my alley... but like ice cream on pizza, two good things don't necessarily go well together.

Also, didn't the US boycott the 1980 Olympics? That decision must have been reached right as or after this was published, considering there's an American runner in the (anti)climactic 5000 meter race. Makes this read like alternative-history.

[Barry Bridges · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can understand why this was released as a Grant book rather than Craig Thomas since I found more tension in the story of the race than that of the terrorists. A good premise reasonably executed but nowhere near on a par with Rat Trap or Firefox....

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not great writing, but it's a fun read.

[Tim Martin]

very readable thriller