March 15, 2011

Review: The Trinity Six


I love a good thriller, and so was excited to get this review copy in the mail last month. The premiseis interesting, the characters mainly believable, and the well-layered plot drives you along, just not as intensely as I would have liked. I won't offer any spoilers, but the general idea is that the five Cambridge spies were actually six, in that one more associate spun off to Oxford, worked for the Soviets for awhile, then flipped into a double agent.

The first part of the book is all about a London prof and biographer of the current Russian leader (Sergei Platov, a paper-thinly-veiled riff on Vladimir Putin) who is in financial straits and needs a new bestseller book deal. And certainly a book revealing a sixth spy in the infamous ring would lead to that. But when the main character turns over that rock it reveals all manner of slimy and unpalatable creatures, deaths ensue, there is international travel and intrigue, a chase, and a new, deeper, darker mystery unfolds, one that British intelligence has been hiding for decades.

Again, the idea and premise of the plot is good. I just found the execution too predictable. I knew who the sixth man was too quickly and the essence of the second secret, if an interesting idea, was neither surprising nor entirely credible (some scenes drawn in the Kremlin might have helped). Maybe I just read too many thrillers. The main character, Sam Gaddis (a choice of last name as homage to one of the great Cold War scholars, perhaps?) is well drawn and believable, if a bit more adventurous than one would expect a college prof to be. And the story is entertaining enough and full of some interesting bits of history.

Koroche, in the end, this is a decent beach read that could have used a bit more tension and might have benefited from a bit more Russian flavor.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
October 01, 2013

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955