Legends

by Robert Littell

For his new novel, Legends, Littell focuses on the life of one great agent caught in a "wilderness of mirrors" where both remembering and forgetting his past are deadly options.Martin Odum is a CIA field agent turned private detective, struggling his way through a labyrinth of past identities - "legends" in CIA parlance. Is he really Martin Odum? Or is he Dante Pippen, an IRA explosives maven? Or Lincoln Dittmann, Civil War expert? These men like different foods, speak different languages, have different skills. Is he suffering from multiple personality disorder, brainwashing, or simply exhaustion? Can Odum trust the CIA psychiatrist? Or Stella Kastner, a young Russian woman who engages him to find her brother-in-law so he can give her sister a divorce.

As Odum redeploys his dormant tradecraft skills to solve Stella's case, he travels the globe battling mortal danger and psychological disorientation. Part Three Faces of Eve, part The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, and always pure Robert Littell, Legends—from unforgettable opening to astonishing ending—again proves Littell's unparalleled prowess as a seductive storyteller.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Espionage, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Suspense

386 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

An American author residing in France. He specializes in spy novels that often concern the CIA and the Soviet Union. He became a journalist and worked many years for Newsweek during the Cold War. He's also an amateur mountain climber and is the father of award-winning novelist Jonathan Littell.

Reviews

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Littell's "Legends" is a pleasantly offbeat spy novel. It aspires to a degree of depth by attempting to investigate psychological effects of assuming different identities for different undercover assignments, but despite the pretentious subtitle "A novel of dissimulation", it does not quite work. The title word, 'legends', refers to fictitious life histories made up for an operative of a spy agency when preparing for a mission.

Martin Odum is a private detective in Brooklyn, who - in his earlier incarnations as a CIA agent - might have been Dante Pippen, an Irish specialist on explosives, and Lincoln Dittmann, a college history professor and a Civil War expert. Or maybe these are three different people? Martin does not quite know.

A Russian émigré, Stella, hires Martin in Brooklyn to find her sister's missing husband. The case takes Martin (and maybe also Dante and Lincoln) to such places as Israel, Prague in the Czech Republic, an island on the Aral Sea, banks of river Neman in Lithuania, and Moscow, Russia. This current-time (1997) plot thread is interleaved with various stories from Martin's, Dante's, and Lincoln's past. The stories are set in the 1987 - 1997 period and we travel to a Palestinian training camp in a Lebanese village and to the Triple Border region (where the borders of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet), which is the favorite meeting area of arms merchants. The book's most inspired story offers a nightmarishly vivid and sarcastically funny glimpse of the battle of Fredericksburg.

It is hard to call "Legends" a novel. It is rather a collection of stories strung together by the Martin and Stella's thread. Some stories are hilarious, for instance, the one about Saint Gedymin's bones, while others are just standard spy fare. I like the juxtaposition of the explosive limb dispersal motif and the artificial limb distribution theme. If one skips the psychological pretense and occasionally boring stories, "Legends" is a good read.

Three stars.

[Kinga · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I didn't read it, I listened to it. I can still hear the voice of the man, as he switched between accents and genders.
The author has definitely a handle on details.
His story is not drawn in pastels, but rather in pen with all the details clearly visible. It is the details themselves that sometimes make the narrative dry - on the other hand it is the details that make the book good. Go figure.
I never tought people can lie so much - is the first thought that jumps into my head when I think of the novel.
It seems that most characters who spoke - lied. And not just the spooks. Everyone lied about everything most of the time. And that made me wonder ...
The main character and all of his personalities had one thing in common - they seemed not to experience their emotions conciously. They seemed silent - all of them- when it came to fear, anger, grief. They said nothing.
What kept the story interesting for me, what drew me in wasn't so much the story itslef, but rather the inherent courage that the 'trio of the main character'possessed. I am fascinated by anyone who possesses that kind of a strength while being perfectly powerless.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Odum is a former CIA agent with some memory issues and a few former aliases--called legends in agency parlance--that continue to haunt him. Now out of the game and working as a private detective based in Brooklyn he's unable to recall large swathes of his adult life, and most of his childhood. He's not even sure if Martin Odum is his real name.

When he gets hired to find a husband who skipped out on his wife without giving her a 'get' (Jewish divorce decree), he unknowingly stirs up a hornet's nest that might end up killing him, or could ultimately help him reconnect with his history and rediscover his most critical legends.

[F.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s interesting reading Robert Littell’s ‘Legends’ at this particular moment of time. The world news is full of those Russian spies arrested in the US, while the British papers claimed this weekend there are about 300 Russian spies in this country. (What they’re all doing here, I don’t know. The reports have had the odd effect though of making me think of every Russian person I’ve ever met in the UK and then trying to calculate how suspicious they are.) This is very much a modern cold war novel. Set in the nineties it deals with the fall of the iron curtain and the (supposed) collapse of the KGB – touching on gangsters in Moscow, dodgy American dealings and how a band is rising in the Middle East determined to fill the vacuum.

Martin Odum is a former spy turned Brooklyn private eye, who is hired by Russian defectors to locate an errant husband. Within moments of him being approached though, the CIA is on his tail.

The character of Martin is an interesting one, as he has no idea who he really is. During his operational time he had a number of identities, or ‘legends’, and now has no clue whether he’s actually ‘Martin’ or ‘Lincoln’ or ‘Dante’ or someone else altogether. Littell gives the book a clever structure which flashes back to each of his identities at work, so the man starts to become flesh even through the veil of mystery. It also allows for a lot of smart twists which this reader didn’t see coming (although I’m not sure the shoehorned appearance by Osama Bin Laden really works).

After a superb opening chapter, the book keeps moving at a cracking pace to a Hitchcock McGuffin which even has the name attached. I’m not sure it would all make sense if examined it closely, but it’s certainly an entertaining ride.

[Nico · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Spy who lost his minds"

I admit what made me pick up this book it the TNT television series starring Sean Bean..

Surprise, surprise the book is entirely different from the series and the only common denominator seems to be the main characters' name and occupation...

That being said I find the book an engaging and an entertaining read, however if you expected a thriller a la "Jason Bourne" as Sean Bean's character in season one or a more classical spy story a la "John Le Carre" as in Sean Bean's character in season two you will be sorely disappointed..

So lets move on to the actual book:

It is a Kafkaesque affair about a spy who thinks his name is Martin Odum dealing with the trifecta of mental blights of

1) PTSD or Shell Shock for the older generation
2) Alzheimer's or Dementia
3) Depression or Melancholy which seems to be a common thread in the classical Spy novel..

So if you have a friend or a family member who will gladly tell you about his army days but will never ever say a word about the actual time he spent in combat and you are a more cerebral type who likes to read classical literature you will enjoy this book.

Ditto if you have seen off an elderly parent or family relation to the clutches of dementia and the paranoid delusions that accompany this terrible disease to the persons final breath..

Ditto for having to deal with depression you will enjoy reading this book.

Finally you will be relieved that the spy named Martin Odum overcomes his trifecta and beat the bad guys to a pulp in a "happy ending"

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave "Legends," by Robert Littell, a marginal second star because the last third pulled together somewhat, but I found it to be a deeply flawed book.

Let's back up. "Legends" is the book that the recent TNT show with Sean Bean was based on. Yet other than a few names in the TV series that carry over from the book, there is almost NO similarity to either of the vastly different seasons of the TV series. Season one of the TV show was very "American" and season two was re-booted to be very "European." Neither season was much like the book, however. And the series was cancelled after burning off the remaining episodes of season two.

The novel "Legends" is about a retired CIA operative named (probably) Martin Odum who is operating as a small time detective in Brooklyn. When he was in the CIA, his specialty was to assume different identities and go undercover for long periods of time in criminal or terrorist organizations. At some point, he suffered a mental breakdown. So he is unclear which of his "Legends" (meaning covert undercover identities) is the "real" him and which are created.

At different parts of the book, it seems that the protagonist is suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder and that his legends are actually split personalities. And it seems the book itself is suffering from the same splintered focus. Different chapters focus on different personas at different times. And the chapters appear out of chronological order, making for a disjointed "Memento-style" read that can be frustrating to follow.

The main story is about "Martin Odum," the detective chasing down a Russian gangster who left his Israeli wife without a proper religious divorce. The problem is that the gangster is the nephew of a powerful Russian Oligarch/mob boss who resents any of his family affairs being looked into. Yet we also get a lot about "Dante Pippen," a former IRA bomber who worked undercover with terrorists teaching them the craft of bomb-making. And in the most crassly "designed to sell a mediocre book" portion, "Lincoln Dittmann" has the first CIA contact with Osama Bin you-know-who. By the way, Lincoln also thinks he was actually in the Civil War and witnessed the Battle of Fredricksburg, because that's, you know, pretty likely.

I will say that the author makes Lincoln's descriptions and ruminations about the Civil War quite a bit more interesting than the surrounding material. There is a passion in those Civil War passages that is notably absent from the rest of the novel.

Most of the first hundred pages of "Legends" are a real struggle. The author is trying so hard to be "writerly" that the narrative suffers greatly under the weight of him trying to impress the reader with his intellect and fancy turns of phrase. The book is also a lot of "inside baseball" elements about the CIA that do not really move the story forward, it's just the author trying to show off.

Speaking of showing off, the characters in this book don't really converse like real people. They declaim their rhetoric like a bunch of boring college professors locked in the same room together. They make speeches and deliver monologues. You would think the writer has never had a good editor or has never heard real people talk to each other.

The book does improve somewhat as the story goes on. But it happens so late in the book that the average reader can't be expected to stick with the narrative--or try to decipher it. The "Martin Odum" story is too weak to sustain a whole novel. And the "Dante" and "Lincoln" stories don't have enough to say to make a whole novel. So these three narratives are grafted together willy-nilly and the reader is left to try to make sense of the turducken (or possibly just "turd") that ensues.

Reading this book reminded me of one of my experiences as part of a creative writing cabal/workshop. We had one aspiring writer--a high school track coach approaching retirement--who was writing possibly the dullest novel known to mankind (for the record it was about some kind of Olympic-style marathon with flat, stereotypical characters from all around the globe competing). What made me think of his horrid novel was that he, too, felt that any real character development could wait to take place after over a hundred pages and that readers would stick with his crap until he was ready to get around to start trying to make his characters interesting. Robert Littell is a much better author than that high school track coach. So he should know better than to do exactly what that track coach did.

There is a romance (of a sort) in the book, which did come as a great relief to me as a reader (as it broke up the monotony of the novel), but the romance seems tacked on and not terribly realistic. For example, the lady in question rushes off to get a tattoo in a semi-intimate area just so she can match the description that Martin gave of her (recalling an Alawite prostitute he once knew...but, hey, at least I learned what an Alawite was from reading this book) at a security checkpoint. That's what the author feels is an appropriate romantic gesture from a woman.

The last third of the book has a Graham Greene-like absurdist quality, which I appreciated more than the earlier, "speechifying" sections of the book. But the narrative never really gets that interesting. For example, a section that should be thrilling--the escape from an abandoned Soviet biological weapons lab full of barbarian lowlifes, led by a psychotic dwarf named Hamlet--is told in a dry, matter-of-fact way without mining any of the dramatic possibilities. The author doesn't seem interested in making anything exciting. It's as if he has "risen above" writing about things that an average reader would find interesting.

"Legends" takes a long time to get going. The author has a tin ear when it comes to dialogue. The book itself is dry and pedantic and very satisfied with itself (or at least the author seems to be). And the section with Bin Laden is just a naked cash grab attempt to sell copies of a novel that otherwise should have sunk without a ripple. I can't believe it won any kind of book awards. That's just sad. I have no idea why "Legends" inspired a wildly uneven TV show (or won any awards of any kind). But both the book and the TV series are, in the end, best left unexamined.

[Thomas O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one, like a few on here I got onto it due to the show, which is very different. I love the concept of a spy living through so many identities that it becomes muddled and lost.
As to the story as a whole, the bridging narrative was ok, a little confusing at time as to what was going on as it kept jumping to prior legends, but at least it gave us a year to follow, and it gave a good background on the ones prevalent to the story being told.
It does keep an air of mystery as to weather, in the present day he can keep track or not, but seems to utilize skills where necessary almost by rote. I would say sections seemed a little rushed, while others that we less relevant rambled on, but there was enough to keep a reader engaged to the end.
Also it may be the time it was set, but some of the conversations or characters next actions seemed stilted or unrealistically confusing. But as a whole, glad I got around to having a go at it.

[Garth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent writing and exceptionally built characters. Now I know why people mention Robert Littell and John Le Carre in the same breath.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I watched the first season of the tv show and always like a good spy thriller. It didn't take long to realize the show was only extremely loosely based on the book. It's like they took only the concept of the character and select names, took away the specific plot and plopped him in a very current America instead of the 90's. Honestly, it sounds reasonable to me so they could make a tv show that's current. It plays better to today's audience to have had him be in Afghanistan than to play early 90's politics. So, I quickly let the two medias part their significant ways and read the book for itself.

The book was interesting and complicated. Former CIA agent Martin Odum is an amnesiac, uncertain of his true identity but in his case he also has multiple personality disorder and drops completely into his alter egos rather than just taking them as a CIA cover. The plot is twisty and full of surprises. It also occasionally drags. The reader has to pay close attention to the heading of each chapter as they jump all over, between "present" 1997 and past years. That means jumping between present day Odum, past Odum as well as his other two personalities. The jumping lends itself to some repetition, but it really goes too far. A better editor could certainly have helped here.

Overall, a twisty tale lovers of spy thrillers would enjoy that's altogether different than the show. (So let that go, people.)

[Lorin Cary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Odum is a retired CIA covert field operative who now works as a detective in Brooklyn, NY. When a new client asks him to track down a missing husband in Israel so her sister can get the paper which will allow her to divorce, the trek across countries is a voyage through his past as well. Odum seemingly suffers from multiple personality disorder. The various covers, legends, he has used in the past are so real that they permitted him to penetrate the Mafia and Hezbollah, for instance. But he is confused now as to who he really is. Littell's tale here is not linear; he flits back and forth in time, a fractured plotting which allows us to see Odum in his various roles and in his visits with a CIA shrink. At times this gets a bit confusing, as do occasional point of view shifts. Underlying the unfolding of the tale is a secret as to what happened originally to cause the protagonist's real identity to be hidden from him. His former employer doesn't want that secret exposed. I enjoyed the real and Littell does a fine job of creating distinct personalities for his main character. The fractured time line can be confusing.

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I've been enjoying the television series, but this is nothing like what is on TV except for the title and the name of main character. In fact, there is so much repetition that a good editor could probably knock off a hundred pages from the novel without any loss. There are numerous typos and misspellings, unusual for a Penguin book. The one thing that WAS clever was that the main character has multiple personalities, thus allowing the author to be totally inconsistent. Of course, these multiple personalities know about each other but operate independently, go figure. It took forever for me to plow through what I'd hoped would a fast, fun read.

[Christopher Culp · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Littell's better espionage novels, Legends is an interesting mix of a good old-fashioned spy novel with an analysis of the psychological impact of being under deep cover on the man. More than his other works, Legends crosses over into the territory normally dominated by Graham Greene and John le Carré. This is not Littell's bread-and-butter territory, but he makes the crossover effectively. The result is a very nice (albeit long and sometimes slow) book and a significant contribution to Littell's Oeuvre.

[Bill Scott-Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling, smart, sophisticated and knowing, this book shows how and why Robert Littell is the genius of the American spy thriller. The Company is an impossible-to-beat classic of the genre but Legends admirably demonstrates just how many ways there are to skin the cat.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concept that is fresh, fun, and exciting.Follows a deep-cover operative named Martin Odum, who has an uncanny ability to transform himself into a different person for each job. But his own identity comes into question when a mysterious stranger suggests that Martin isn't who he thinks he is.

[Talha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved it. In the beginning, it was hard to grasp the thread of the story. But as I kept on reading, I got hooked.

Ending seems a bit rushed. I have hard time believing, even in the fiction, that character managed to blackmail and coax CIA DDO into cowering down.

[Jim Crocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plenty of twists and turns and an interesting POV from 15 years ago.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

735 - 2015

Cari bukunya karena sudah nonton serial TV-nya.

Well, kecewa sih, karena jalan ceritanya jauh. Mungkin cuma konsepnya yang diambil untuk bahan serial TV.

I like the TV version better.

[Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars - A twisted tale of an agent with multiple personalities or "legends" who isn't quite sure who he really is.

My first Audible listen was The Company which, although a 40 hour listen, reeled me in and I have been a Littell fan ever since. Each of Mr. Littell's novels have been interesting reads for me.

In Legends the idea of cover stories or "legends" is explored and what happens when an agent gets so wrapped up in these legends that it is difficult for him to separate the real person from the legends. It features Littell's attention to detail and gives the reader a glimpse into what could happen within our security agencies. Although a completely different story, parts of the book reminded of The Sisters in the level of planning that goes on in an operation and what happens when all that planning unravels.

This book was on my backlog for a while and when the TNT series came out, I opted to watch that first. Be aware that the TV series is loosely based on the novel, features a character named Martin Odum, has hints of some of the situations depicted in the novel. However, the novel is completely different and can be enjoyed as a new experience with the TV series providing no spoilers. The book trades high-energy action for a richer narrative of who and what Martin is.

It is disturbing and perhaps predictable that Martin's multi-personality disorder is recognized and exploited by his employer who even helps him create new personalities/legends to fit the operational mission. When they realize what they created and his usefulness is at an end, they must find a way to neutralize him with innocents being killed.

[Mark Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin Odum is an ex-CIA operative making a living as a New York City private detective. A woman asks him to take a seemingly small case, but his former CIA boss warns him off without specifying a reason. Martin takes the case and finds himself embroiled in an international adventure, pursued by criminals and spies, and eventually unearths an international conspiracy of historic proportions.

Sounds trite, right? The surface-level plot is, indeed, conventional enough. But, Martin Odum (like Robert Ludlum’s famous Jason Bourne) isn’t quite sure who he is. He has done so many deep-cover operations over the years, and experienced enough trauma, that his various cover identifies (or “legends”) all seem equally real. So, via flashbacks, Litttell explores each of Odum’s alter egos, and those personalities make their own appearances in the present. The present-day international intrigue is secondary; the real story is Martin’s quest to figure out who he is and who he wants to be.

Littell is a masterful writer and Legends is masterfully written. Like John le Carré, Littell extends the spy thriller genre, creating subtle and complex stories and characters to match. Those who enjoyed The Company (also by Littell) or Red Sparrow will be delighted with Legends.

[Jack Lively · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read "Legends" by Robert Littell, and it was a thrilling, mind-bending journey. The novel centers on Martin Odum, a former CIA operative who grapples with multiple identities, or "legends," as he attempts to uncover the truth about himself. From the first page, I was hooked by the intricate plot and the layers of mystery surrounding Martin’s past.

Littell’s writing is both sharp and immersive, drawing me into the world of espionage with ease. The characters are well-developed, and I found myself particularly intrigued by Martin's psychological struggle. His quest to distinguish between his true self and his many fabricated personas kept me on edge and constantly guessing.

What I loved most about "Legends" is how it combines a gripping spy story with deep psychological exploration. Littell doesn’t just tell a great espionage tale; he also delves into the complexities of identity and memory. This added depth made the book not only entertaining but also thought-provoking.

Overall, "Legends" is a fantastic read for anyone who loves spy novels with a twist. It’s a smart, engaging story that kept me captivated until the very end. I highly recommend it to fans of the genre and anyone looking for a well-crafted thriller.

[Sudhagar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull, pretentious and convoluted - Give it a miss.

The premise promised much but the execution is piss poor.

The author writes well and does have some knowledge about the countries and espionage trade craft. However the protagonist takes himself too seriously and comes across as a narcissist and an ego-maniac. The characters speak like they are a bunch of liberal arts college professors and the author tries his best to show his knowledge about espionage or politics at every available opportunity instead on focusing on plot.

The plot that the retired CIA agent having MPD is rather a bit hard to believe, at least as described in this novel. And that the character will go the extent described in the book to build his legends is simply unbelievable and unrealistic.

The author while obviously has some knowledge about Middle East yet make fundamental mistakes of mixing up Shia and Sunni Muslims. Blunders like this just destroys his credibility.

The whole book come across as the author trying show off how smart he is, how good a writer he is and how knowledgeable he is.

Boring. Boring. Boring. DNF.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only recently discovered this author and I have now read three of his novels in a month. I really enjoyed THE COMPANY. LEGENDS is different as it is telling stories while the reader is trying to discover if the main character, a retired CIA agent struggling as a private detective, is stable. Martin seems a bit frazzled in the beginning, but we know that he was a successful agent in various places around the world with various identities.

It becomes apparent that something is amiss. He sees a psychiatrist who determines that he is working through a trauma and that he has some repressed memories also. Martin/Lincoln/Dante/Jozef had an interesting life. The CIVIL WAR details provided by Lincoln made for interesting reading. If Martin was really suffering from Multiple Personality disorder, he was still able to get all of them to unite with the goal to right some wrongs! It was nice that the four of them also found Stella and get to live “happily ever after”.
Don’t worry. Be happy!

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read a spy thriller in some time. I picked this up because it had become a series for TNT. It got shuffled away on a shelf, but I was looking for a quick read, so I picked it up. It was very entertaining, highly plotted with a satisfactory wrap-up. The basic premise is Martin Odoum, retired CIA operative, is now a private eye in Brooklyn. It becomes apparent he had not left the CIA unscathed. Each time he went out into the field, he was provided with a backstory, a legend, of who his identity would be on this assignment. Jumping back and forth in time we meet each of these personalities. The problem is Martin doesn't know who he is originally...his first detective assignment is to find Samat, a Russian Jew who left his wife in Israel connected to a Russian millionaire. There is a grisly preface, and then jumps through time, many countries, subterfuge, mayhem, hit squads, violence...ya know...your spy thriller.

[David C Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spy story that takes place between the fall of the USSR and 9/11 that begins with the seemingly simple search for a runaway husband. Or not so simple since he turns out to be a member of the Russian oligarchy who has reasons to run beyond an unhappy marriage. The overstory is the strip mining of Russia after Gorbachev with the rise of the kleptocracy. The personal story of the main character is whether spies inhabit their “legends” to the extent that they have multiple distinct personalities. Probably closer to 3.5 stars because it tries to do too much (eg there’s a lengthy first person account of the battle of Fredericksburg because one of the “legends” is a civil war historian.)
Also, I don’t believe a Hasidic Jewish woman would eat baloney sandwiches. But I’ll give a little back because Littell knows that Walt Whitman preferred being called Walter. On the other hand I’ve never heard of Robert E Lee wearing a white uniform.

[Liz Etnyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone is very clever with witty dialogue. The chapters are short, so nice if you don't have large blocks of time to devote to reading. Just didn't grab me at this time. Maybe because I had watched the series (well, season one anyway) fairly recently? I generally don't find differences between book and tv/movie version all that off-putting if both are done well, as they certainly are in this case, so I don't think that's it. Honestly, I enjoyed what I read, but it just didn't make me want to pick it up again. I just finished yet another book that distracted me from this one way too easily and decided I will just put this on my DNF shelf and revisit it a year or so. Good stuff! Just not doing it for me at this time... 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 - because it really is not you, it's me. (This may be the highest I've ever rated one of my dnfs!)

[Barry Smirnoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting plot device combines 3 narratives based on the false identities of a former spy. The spy is now living in Brooklyn and has become a private detective. He is hired by a former KGB officer to find his daughters missing husband. The daughter has become a religious zealot living on the West Bank in a settlement, and needs a religious divorce to carry on with her life. The search takes him to Israel, Siberia, Latvia, and back to Brooklyn as one lead takes him to the next. It is entertaining, but some of the story becomes confused, as the former spy is being hunted by both the Chechen mob and the CIA. I read it in preparation for Littell’s new book, A Plague on Both Your Houses. He is a very interesting writer, who is an American living in France, but writes about Russia and espionage.

[Randall Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because of the television series based on it, since I really enjoyed the show. Sean Bean was great, and the plot kept me interested. I cannot say the book did the same. The beginning was pretty slow and disjointed. The middle really didn't get a whole lot better, but then it started to build up toward the end and made up a little for the slow beginning. However, this is one of the first times I have felt the show or movie was so much better than the book it was based on. The show had much more suspense, and a better plot. I liked the different legends and the overall connection of events, but I never did feel any sort of suspense, which is what I usually look for in what I read.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting take on the spy genre. It mixes and matches some of the memory loss of the Bourne Identity with the trope of an old spy/ field operative turned private eye and throws in some serious conspiracy on top of it, all set against the stretch of years around the fall of the Soviet Union.
The protagonist, Martin Odum/ Dante Pippen/ Lincoln Dittmann is a really interesting character to experience this novel through as he learns about his past and uncovers more and more of a very dangerous case.

[Greg Turnquist · Rating 1 out of 5]

After watching the killer TV series with Sean Bean, I was sadly let down. The head hopping from this NYT best selling author was VERY distracting. And there were times where a character would elaborate a "let's do x, y, and z to avoid blah", only to have in the next scene, another character say "why did you do x, y, and z?" "So we could blah". A bit tell-y. The sloppy writing made it hard to get into the story.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m new to Littell, who’s been described as the American Le Carre. While I’ll need a few more to make that assessment, this one is quite good. (Previous epic The Company is a good, if myopic, tale of the CIA). Martin Odom is a “Retired” company man who has a few more tricks up his sleeve as he searches for a wayward husband. The basis of the Sean Bean show of the same title. No idea if they kept the story arc(s).

I’ll go at least one more round with Littell for sure.