OK, but got a bit long and improbable! JKato
It is time for Leo Demidov to retire, and go away. This is the third and highly anticipated book in the Demidov series. The first two were incredibly tense, dealing with the Cold War period of the USSR. This was told in more recent times, i.e. the war in Afghanistan. Because it is now familiar to us as a current event, it is much less tense. Because he is in a foreign country, it is less mysterious. Leo becomes an opium addict after the sudden loss of his wife in NYC. He is forbidden to go to America to solve her murder. Instead, it takes well over 400 pages of effort and war to get through. Many chapters felt irrelevant and could have been left out entirely. I agree with the previous reviewer: this book was too long and too slow to get to the point. Will still look forward to reading this author, however. His prose is smooth and descriptions thorough. You feel as if you are right there with the characters. Hope he can now move on to new territory and leave the Soviets completely. Just sayin'. D.
