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Frank Pagan #2
Mazurka
For Frank Pagan of Scotland Yard, it begins with the daylight murder of a Russian at crowded Waverley Station, Edinburgh, Scotland.
From that moment on, Pagan's life becomes an ever-darkening nightmare, as he follows the thread of a brutal murder everyone wants to forget. With the help of Kristina Vaska, a beautiful and mysterious Estonian with a score to settle, Pagan makes an incrdible discovery: a terrifying international plot that extends into circles of power from Washington to Moscow, from Eastern Europe to the deathbed of a KGB mastermind. Now, Pagan knows too much. Now, he is trapped in a coplex web of intrigue, treachery and murder. Now, suddenly he is running for his life from an unknown assassin, racing against time to destroy a staggering worldwide conspiracy of evil that began because of a single word: glasnost.
From that moment on, Pagan's life becomes an ever-darkening nightmare, as he follows the thread of a brutal murder everyone wants to forget. With the help of Kristina Vaska, a beautiful and mysterious Estonian with a score to settle, Pagan makes an incrdible discovery: a terrifying international plot that extends into circles of power from Washington to Moscow, from Eastern Europe to the deathbed of a KGB mastermind. Now, Pagan knows too much. Now, he is trapped in a coplex web of intrigue, treachery and murder. Now, suddenly he is running for his life from an unknown assassin, racing against time to destroy a staggering worldwide conspiracy of evil that began because of a single word: glasnost.
608 pages, Paperback
First published September 28, 1988
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83 people want to read
About the author
Campbell Armstrong
43 books20 followersaka Thomas Altman, Campbell Black, Jeffrey Campbell (with Jeffrey Caine), Thomas Weldon
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Campbell Armstrong got a degree in philosophy before taking a position teaching creating writing. After his excellent series about counterterrorism expert Frank Pagan, Mr. Armstrong has written several compelling novels of crime and life in his native Glasgow.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Campbell Armstrong got a degree in philosophy before taking a position teaching creating writing. After his excellent series about counterterrorism expert Frank Pagan, Mr. Armstrong has written several compelling novels of crime and life in his native Glasgow.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 17, 2017
Not an easy read, but I enjoyed it anyhow.
October 15, 2022
A story of murders, conspiracies and revolutions.
May 22, 2024
A overall good book, just really drawn out and too many sides to pick. History and literature hand in hand and yet an expectation that you already know the outcome.
November 6, 2025
Still good writing, but this one is a little too complicated. Also a couple of technical errors.
April 25, 2016
It is unsettling to read a cold-war thriller now when, in hindsight, the historical events were so different. I missed Campbell Armstrong’s Estonian-related “Mazurka” when it was first released under the title of “White Light” in 1988 and only caught up with it in 2016.
It is quite a contrast between a fictional revitalized group of “Metsavennad” (Forest Brotherhood in Estonian) planning an 11th hour assault on a dying Soviet Union while the historical Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania were in the midst of the Singing Revolution and acts of passive resistance such as the 2-million person human chain of the Baltic Way. However, the idea that factions of the CIA and KGB would be the secret guardians of such a plot in the hopes that the resulting repressions would lead to a return of the cold-war status quo perhaps isn’t that far-fetched given such historical events as the failed 1991 coup d’etat against Brezhnev. The book was also likely inspired by the real-life event of German pilot Mathias Rust’s landing his Cessna aircraft in Red Square on May 28, 1987 despite a supposedly impregnable Soviet air defense system.
So how does it read as a thriller now? It is big on betrayals and stretching out the mystery of why seemingly opposing forces would be somehow cooperating in a conspiracy. So that does keep you reading although some might find it too stretched out. There isn’t that much action until the final pages. The CIA and KGB henchmen seem to get off too lightly in the end, but that isn’t much different from reality either. So even if it is all a bit far-fetched in hindsight, it was a reasonable fictional extrapolation by the author using some ideas from the late cold war period. It also earns an extra accolade for the research on the Baltic Nations which seems to have been primarily sourced from Bruno Laan and JBANC (Joint Baltic American National Committee).
Stray observations
• Lead character Frank Pagan of Scotland Yard (who was a series character, Mazurka is the 2nd of 5 novels where he is featured) meets several Estonian characters during the course of the book, so it is odd that not a single one of them mentions that his last name “pagan” is also a mild curse word in Estonian, along the lines of saying “drat” or “damn".
• Several passages of Estonian are quoted in the text, with some minor misspellings. The best known are the concluding lines of the verse epic Kalevipoeg: The Estonian National Epic:
"Küll siis Kalev jõuab koju
oma lastel õnne tooma,
Eesti põlve uueks looma!”
(Surely Kalev will then come home to
Bring his people fortune true,
Build Estonia anew.)
• Author Campbell Armstrong also wrote under his own name of Campbell Black, including movie novelizations such as Raiders of the Lost Ark.
It is quite a contrast between a fictional revitalized group of “Metsavennad” (Forest Brotherhood in Estonian) planning an 11th hour assault on a dying Soviet Union while the historical Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania were in the midst of the Singing Revolution and acts of passive resistance such as the 2-million person human chain of the Baltic Way. However, the idea that factions of the CIA and KGB would be the secret guardians of such a plot in the hopes that the resulting repressions would lead to a return of the cold-war status quo perhaps isn’t that far-fetched given such historical events as the failed 1991 coup d’etat against Brezhnev. The book was also likely inspired by the real-life event of German pilot Mathias Rust’s landing his Cessna aircraft in Red Square on May 28, 1987 despite a supposedly impregnable Soviet air defense system.
So how does it read as a thriller now? It is big on betrayals and stretching out the mystery of why seemingly opposing forces would be somehow cooperating in a conspiracy. So that does keep you reading although some might find it too stretched out. There isn’t that much action until the final pages. The CIA and KGB henchmen seem to get off too lightly in the end, but that isn’t much different from reality either. So even if it is all a bit far-fetched in hindsight, it was a reasonable fictional extrapolation by the author using some ideas from the late cold war period. It also earns an extra accolade for the research on the Baltic Nations which seems to have been primarily sourced from Bruno Laan and JBANC (Joint Baltic American National Committee).
Stray observations
• Lead character Frank Pagan of Scotland Yard (who was a series character, Mazurka is the 2nd of 5 novels where he is featured) meets several Estonian characters during the course of the book, so it is odd that not a single one of them mentions that his last name “pagan” is also a mild curse word in Estonian, along the lines of saying “drat” or “damn".
• Several passages of Estonian are quoted in the text, with some minor misspellings. The best known are the concluding lines of the verse epic Kalevipoeg: The Estonian National Epic:
"Küll siis Kalev jõuab koju
oma lastel õnne tooma,
Eesti põlve uueks looma!”
(Surely Kalev will then come home to
Bring his people fortune true,
Build Estonia anew.)
• Author Campbell Armstrong also wrote under his own name of Campbell Black, including movie novelizations such as Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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December 17, 2012Mazurka... meaning music for polish ballroom dance.An unusual analogy for the joint colloboration of America and KGB to force Russia to dance to their own old staus que tune for some hidden vested interests. .but a detective from Scotland yard, glue togather certain pecies scattered over all of Russia,Europe and united states scampered to outtuned their symphony...For a change someone saving Russia from some choas and air attack.
A very gripping international plot with precise characteriasation of Rank and File of KGB.
A very gripping international plot with precise characteriasation of Rank and File of KGB.
June 18, 2014
Very interesting, especially since I'd just been born when the Sovjet union fell I've never really understood the immense tension between West and East. It took almost half the book though before my interest rose.
June 2, 2015
It was pretty good. It was actually the only thriller that didn't allow me to predict the big plot twist in the first 100 pages. Armstrong's prose is strong as well. I wish his books were easier to find. Looking forward to Jig.
March 18, 2009
Great espionage novel!
November 1, 2011
At times captivating, but most others, dragged on. I liked how the ending was written, though.
December 4, 2013
I enjoyed all the books in this series. Carefully thought out, nice character development - only slightly dated, but even that was ok.
July 20, 2015
A bit far-fetched but still a good read, in part calling attention to the occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews