ACPL Online Book Club discussion

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As a group we gave Smith's book 3.6 out of 5 stars. Personally I found the story an invigorating blend of an examination of life in the U.S.S.R. under Stalin and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions. I would be inclined to read the sequels...

I have to give this one credit for being a page turner. I consider myself a slow reader, but this one I finished in record time. Details about life in Stalin era Soviet Union were grim, as were the gory details of the murders and political violence. As more and more coincidences occurred, and Leo and Raisa continued to survive seemingly impossible things, it started to feel like an action adventure movie script. But by that point, it didn't matter, I was hooked! I agree with the groups overall rating of 3.5 stars. Seems fair.

I liked the details about life under Stalin; expect it was pretty much true, no one could be trusted - the serial murders were a little too much, the motive for this not real (but then are serial killers ever realistic in their motives). And Leo and Raisa survived despite everything which was again not really believable But I too found it a page turner and liked it and would agree with the 3.5 rating. The ending was pretty satisfactory.

Kris wrote: "I have to give this one credit for being a page turner. I consider myself a slow reader, but this one I finished in record time. Details about life in Stalin era Soviet Union were grim, as were the..."

It's interesting because I read a fairly positive review of the book on Kirkus or somewhere and they gently accused Smith of writing a book aimed at Hollywood's heart. = )

Mildred wrote: "I liked the details about life under Stalin; expect it was pretty much true, no one could be trusted - the serial murders were a little too much, the motive for this not real (but then are serial k..."

For me, the fact that Leo and Andrei were brothers stretched the limits of my imagination. It was a fairly nice narrative device, but the fact that Leo, out of all of the disaffected state security agents, should be the one to track Andrei was almost too much.