Charm School by Nelson Demille and James Naughton

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Charm School
Available from Amazon
Price: $12.14
Updated on 12-28-2008.

Features

Audio CD

Publisher: Random House Audio Price-less; Abridged edition (April 29, 2003)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0739303791

ISBN-13: 978-0739303795

Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 4.8 x 1 inches

Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces ()

From Publishers Weekly
This highly charged espionage thriller gets off to a stunning start. On the road from Smolensk to Moscow, an American tourist, Gregory Fisher, is confronted by a man on the run: an Air Force major who was shot down over appears from his hotel and soon turns up dead, the victim of a suspicious car crash. Intelligence officer Sam Hollis, press attache Lisa Rhodes and CIA bureau chief Seth Alevy must discover for themselves what is going on at the Charm School. They must also decide whether public revelation of a horrifying KGB operation during the new era of glasnost might not damage American/Soviet relations. In this exciting, polemic novel, DeMille (Word of Honor) limns an authentic portrait of Russian society. He conveys the claustrophobic life of American Embassy officials impossibly restricted in movement, and he creates spirited American agents who dodge and spar wittily with coarse KGB men. Once DeMille brings readers into the Charm School itself, however, he cannot sustain the magic that has propelled the narrative for two-thirds of its generous length. At this point, the plot becomes predictable, and the finale differs little from standard adventure escapes, with a cruel resolution to boot. Still, it's riveting reading most of the way. 100,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
The sustained action of this chilling vision of modern Russia starts with a young American tourist phoning the U.S. embassy in Moscow to report an unusual encounter with a U.S. Air Force major in the forest near Borodino. The tourist then vanishes and the officer is identified as a Vietnam MIA. Attaches Sam Hollis and Lisa Rhodes eventually uncover a spy school graduating several hundred "Americans" each year and staffed by an unwilling faculty made up of American servicemen missing from Vietnam. The blockbuster ends after a maverick CIA agent pulls off a hair-raising escape to the West, carrying proof of the camp's existence. John North, L.R.C., Ryerson Polytechnical Inst., Toronto
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: The Charm School (Mass Market Paperback) The Charm School is my favorite Cold War novel of all time and one of my favorite novels of any genre, ever. This is a powerful, well-written, and disturbing novel of Cold War intrigue. It takes place in the old Soviet Union circa 1988, and DeMille's research about, and visits to, the USSR around this time have given this novel an authenticity that resonates throughout the novel. DeMille captures the tension of the Cold War conflict, the sorrow of the Russian people and the contradictions in the old Soviet state ("with gravel roads, ICBMs, and a world-class Secret Police service..."). This is a superb novel. Without committing any spoilers, the plot is simple, powerful, and disturbing. Two US diplomats in the Soviet Union discover a terrible secret: that over 1000 US MIA pilots shot down over Vietnam have been spirited away to Russia. The purpose is to allow the Soviets to set up "Mrs. Ivanova's Charm School" which is a KGB academy in which the pilots are forced to teach aspiring Russian spies how to act, speak, and pass as Americans. The KGB will go to literally any lengths to keep the existence of "The Charm School" a secret. The rest would be telling. This is a great story. DeMille literally transports the reader to Soviet-era Russia. His prose dealing with the Russian people, the Soviet government, the vast country, and the long-suffering people to me seemed to capture at least some of the essence of that great and troubled country. The novel moves at a fast-pace without racing to the finish; the reader is allowed to "smell the flowers" along the way, but the storyline never drags. This novel manages to do what very few novels ever succeed in doing: it is a classic of its genre, as well as a ripping page turner. "The Charm School" ranks with DeMille's "Word of Honor" as a true masterpiece that belongs in every reader's library.

Charm School
List Price: $14.99
Available from Amazon
Price: $12.14
Updated on 12-28-2008.