To begin with, the book isn't worth a minute I have spent reading it. I am surprised at the raving reviews it has been getting.

Firstly, I did not get, why read the book. Beautiful language? No. Clever though-provoking mess? No and No! The only idea that I got was that one …more a a family of Super Heroes fighting the evil. The author could have left it to the cartoonists.

Secondly, if the main goal of the author was to reveal the evil nature of Stalin and Russia, failed again. It made me laugh immensely tovresd about "straw beds" in Siberian prisons. No matter howvicious the system was or how tough the system fell upon the political convicts, there were never such medieval conditions.

Also, about Harry's trial in Leningrad. Come on, dear author! Do you really believe that should a foreign citizen being charged with whatever serious crime he has committed I the USSR, there wouldn't be international law regulations involved? The first thing to happen would be the involvement of the ministry of foreign affairs and the embassy. In the book, a foreign citizen was just kidnapped and no one could be bothered to ask any questions. OK, the first person to worry and seek for assistance of the embassy has to be Emma, Harry's wife, who was preoccupied with her own problems. If Harry had not been released, of course, she would have started to ask questions and get the authorities involved. However, Harry was threatened with 12 years of imprisonment in Siberia, which, he should have realized, was not likely to happen. I mean, should he had been imprisoned, there would have been foreign affairs lawyers involved!
More to that! It was Brezhnev's time. Of course, KGB was not that absolutely lawless! Plus, Stalin's personality had already lost its power over Soviet people. So, stop inventing!

So, total rubbish, sorry. (less)