Ken Follett the Man From St Petersburg Review
Ken Follett spares non an ounce of genius in bringing his characters to life and weaving them together in electrifying narrative. His artistry is one that burdens the reader with sorting the protagonists from the antagonists, enriching each character's complexion and back story with such brio that y'all may simply finish up pulling for the whole lot as the novel winds to a shut.
The Human From St. Petersburg is of form no exception, with Follett'south tried and true, World War era-themed cat and mouse thriller once once again taking center stage. Ever the epicure of historical fiction, Follett treats his settings with care, honoring the historical minutia and injecting them with multiple shots of hair-raising drama. The global tensions and dis-ease surrounding the two largest global engagements to date provide blueprints aplenty for building an engrossing alternate timeline.
Situated in the lead-up to the First World State of war in 1914 London, nosotros find Britain pushing to secure an brotherhood with the Russian Empire. State of war seems all but inevitable, and intel indicates a low take chances of Allied success unless the whole of the Triple Entente is prepared to throw their martial weight against Deutschland.
The man chosen to correspond Russian federation in the negotiations is the courtly admiral Prince Orlov, nephew to British aristocrat Lord Walden. Importuned by no less a figure than Winston Churchill, Walden is tasked with brokering the hush-hush bond and saving his nation from impending defeat. A frail consignment, no doubt, simply i fabricated all the more than perilous by a shrewdly intelligent and combat-skillful anarchist, whose life is interwoven with the Walden household's in variously surprising ways.
Enter Feliks Kschessinsky, who might merely exist the most unforgettable covert agent this side of Jason Bourne. The Russian idealist is fed upwards with his female parent country's penchant for embroiling its citizens in wars in which they have no option in participating and vows to sever the alliance talks with Great Britain by assassinating the admiral.
Fearless all the same stringently cautious, unflinchingly determined, almost too capable of evading his pesky pursuers, and ornamented with the occasional wink of charisma and sensuality, Feliks is the cloak-and-dagger character you lot just tin't help but cheer for. (If you're a pacifist at middle, yous may have all the more reason to get behind him.) His frequent bouts with Walden and the full armada of the British police ratchet up the intensity as the walls close in around the Muscovite assassin. Just Feliks finds assistance in the most unsuspecting of places…
Beyond the instant allure of Feliks and his skirmishes with Walden and company, Follett has also arranged equally enticing female leads who are not subordinately tossed in but who control central roles in the narrative. Walden's wife, Lydia, whose Russian past is dredged upwards in plot-twisting style, and their girl, Charlotte, with her closeted upbringing and subsequently affinity with the suffragette move underway in Britain at the fourth dimension, round out the exquisite cast. At that place isn't likewise much that can be shared near these two characters without giving major plot shifts abroad, merely their presence is integral to the whole and compete with Feliks on every page for rights to the most memorable graphic symbol.
Closing Thoughts
Follett'south 1982 thriller has a lot to offer, from the international intrigue of anarchist subversionism hurled against the British hush-hush police, an endearing and dynamic bandage, Ludlum-esque chase scenes, sensual simply non at all complimentary sex, to the masterful pacing and pitch-perfect dialogue, all encased in a historical backdrop that volition lend the reader an osmotic familiarity with prewar London. Certain, a few of the plot turns are a scrap too precipitous and escape sequences faintly implausible, but the gripping prose and fluorescent cast are more than than adequate to go along yous anchored firmly to your seat.
It may not be as polished around the edges asEye of the Needle, or as seductive as his massively medieval opus,Pillars of the Earth, simply Follett'sThe Man From St. Petersburg is surely just as absorbing, insisting you delay that next repast just a little while longer so you lot tin can see how the current scene plays out. This is smooth escapism, enclothed in classic Follett garb.
The only question that remains: which character will you root for?
Annotation: This review is mirrored over at Goodreads and at Amazon.
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Source: https://www.waivingentropy.com/2014/02/12/review-the-man-from-st-petersburg/