Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
Random House Audio Price-less (2003), Edition: Abridged
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:"True master" and #1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille presents a chilling, relentlessly suspenseful story of Cold War espionage perfect for fans of the hit FX show The Americans (Dan Brown). On a dark road deep inside the Russian woods at Borodino, a young American tourist picks up an unusual passenger with an explosive secret: an U.S. POW on the run from "The Charm School," a sinister operation where American POWs teach young KBG agents how to be model U.S. citizens. Their goal? To infiltrate the United States undetected. With this horrifying conspiracy revealed, the CIA sets an investigation in motion, and three Americans�??an Air Force officer, an embassy liaison, a CIA chief�??pit themselves against the country's enemies in a high-powered game of international int… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Clara53
Excellent spy thriller, set in Soviet Union during the 1980s, with a surreal plot ("spy story of the century") but with writing that lacks in a number of ways (dialogues are a bit artificial, failed attempts at lyricism - to name a few). BUT it reads well - as the plot carries the book. I also
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appreciated the author's attempt to be fair to both sides by pointing out the negative aspects of both American and Russian politics, as well as other vital issues. Show Less
LibraryThing member Noisy
With the temperature cooling towards another Cold War, when reading this story of a despicable Russian 'spy school' it is starting to seem less like paranoiac fantasy than something heading towards the realms of possibility.
It's a long book (as are all of DeMille's), but the tension is maintained
As to the story, well it's certainly an interesting premise that a spy school of this form may exist. I've come across the idea before, although I can't dredge up a reference from my memory - perhaps somewhere in Ian Fleming? What does beggar belief is that it should be anywhere near Moscow, but that was obviously necessary for the plot. Luckily, enough of US culture has seeped in that the phrase 'Charm School' was easily understood to refer to a prep school for teaching people how to behave in 'society'. All of the characters were so far away from any sort of reality that I am familiar with that it's hard to judge if there was any sort of realism to them. I was content to accept them as part of the story and found nothing to complain about.
What did let the story down was the ending. Things were tied up neatly enough, but I still came away with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. Perhaps it was that things ended too neatly?
Still, this certainly fits the bill for an intelligent Cold War spy thriller, and - if you can steel yourself to face a book that thick - it's worth the effort.
It's a long book (as are all of DeMille's), but the tension is maintained
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throughout. It didn't flag at all, and closing it each time was always a struggle. I found the writing to be very good: I'm starting to weigh style and fluidity as highly as ideas and structure when rating a book, and this was certainly in the top bracket. As to the story, well it's certainly an interesting premise that a spy school of this form may exist. I've come across the idea before, although I can't dredge up a reference from my memory - perhaps somewhere in Ian Fleming? What does beggar belief is that it should be anywhere near Moscow, but that was obviously necessary for the plot. Luckily, enough of US culture has seeped in that the phrase 'Charm School' was easily understood to refer to a prep school for teaching people how to behave in 'society'. All of the characters were so far away from any sort of reality that I am familiar with that it's hard to judge if there was any sort of realism to them. I was content to accept them as part of the story and found nothing to complain about.
What did let the story down was the ending. Things were tied up neatly enough, but I still came away with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. Perhaps it was that things ended too neatly?
Still, this certainly fits the bill for an intelligent Cold War spy thriller, and - if you can steel yourself to face a book that thick - it's worth the effort.
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LibraryThing member sandif
One of my all time favorite books by one of my favorite authors. Read it a long time ago, and it's time to read again.
LibraryThing member caroren
Popular espionage thriller that takes place in Russia, painting a very detailed picture of life in Russis in last part of 20th. century. Intelligence officer Sam Hollis investigating the so-called accidental death of an American tourist who claimed to have met an American Vietnam POW who had
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escaped from a prison camp in the middle of Russia. Great storyline, slowed down a bit by love affair. Show Less
LibraryThing member ejj1955
As one might expect from DeMille, this is a page-turner. It begins with a young American tourist, Gregory Fisher, driving his Pontiac Trans-Am across Soviet Russia. He unexpectedly comes across an American in the woods near Borodino, a man with a fantastic story of having been a Vietnam War POW who
Fisher reaches Moscow and calls the American Embassy, reaching Lisa Rhodes, an information officer. She immediately calls Sam Hollis, an attache who is also a naval intelligence officer; the two of them share the information with Lisa's former lover and the CIA station chief, Seth Alevy. Lisa and Hollis become attracted to each other and set out to find the truth behind Fisher's story, particularly as he soon disappears and turns up dead, the victim of a supposed automobile accident.
There are plenty of tense moments as the tale moves along, and there's an action-packed, bloody finale in which there's a staggering death toll and a final twist. It's interesting reading this story (written in 1988) with the history of the pivotal period since then, especially the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. In DeMille's tale, the Cold War is very much a reality--and not all that cold.
To give a nod to my usual hobbyhorse, let me note that DeMille's Lisa Rhodes comes across as a fairly typical female character (written by a male author): she's pretty, she's sexy, she falls immediately in love with our hero and runs into his arms at appropriate moments; she cries quite often but sticks steadfastedly by her man even when enduring hardships, horror, and torture.
About the only thing really interesting about her is that she's interested in Russian history/art/religion/people, having Russian heritage herself, so she carries around an icon and takes Hollis to church services (an occasion he uses to make contact with a Russian double agent).
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has spent 15 years at a KGB school dubbed 'Mrs. Ivanova's Charm School,' a facility training Russians to infiltrate American society and pass as Americans.Fisher reaches Moscow and calls the American Embassy, reaching Lisa Rhodes, an information officer. She immediately calls Sam Hollis, an attache who is also a naval intelligence officer; the two of them share the information with Lisa's former lover and the CIA station chief, Seth Alevy. Lisa and Hollis become attracted to each other and set out to find the truth behind Fisher's story, particularly as he soon disappears and turns up dead, the victim of a supposed automobile accident.
There are plenty of tense moments as the tale moves along, and there's an action-packed, bloody finale in which there's a staggering death toll and a final twist. It's interesting reading this story (written in 1988) with the history of the pivotal period since then, especially the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. In DeMille's tale, the Cold War is very much a reality--and not all that cold.
To give a nod to my usual hobbyhorse, let me note that DeMille's Lisa Rhodes comes across as a fairly typical female character (written by a male author): she's pretty, she's sexy, she falls immediately in love with our hero and runs into his arms at appropriate moments; she cries quite often but sticks steadfastedly by her man even when enduring hardships, horror, and torture.
About the only thing really interesting about her is that she's interested in Russian history/art/religion/people, having Russian heritage herself, so she carries around an icon and takes Hollis to church services (an occasion he uses to make contact with a Russian double agent).
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LibraryThing member sjmccreary
I saw someone describe this as DeMille's best book. I think I'd agree. First published in 1988, before the fall of the Soviet Union, this spy-thriller is based on the premise that there is a training camp someplace deep inside Russia where American MIA's and POW's from Vietnam, never accounted for,
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are being held captive and used to train KGB agents to pass as American. A sort of "charm school" for spies before they are sent to the United States. A page-turner. I loved it. Show Less
LibraryThing member luvlylibrarian
Listened to the NLS Talking Book. The novel was long. Very, very long. I was very bored in the beginning. After a while, I got to like the characters a bit more. The ending wrapped things up too neatly, and didn't seem believable to me.
LibraryThing member buffalogr
Would be a page-turner if I'd gotten the content in that way. Another Demille favorite. This time an Air Attache searches and finds a Soviet camp containing US Vietnam POWs. the read was exciting and lots of fun.
LibraryThing member pnorman4345
DeMille has lots of ideas, some wonderful theatrical scenes, and little control.
LibraryThing member loralu
A great read about a "fictional" time during the 80's about the impacts of politics on the morals and ethics of actions (and inactions) surrounding USA-Russia relations. The story follows the lives of those in the US Embassy in Russia as they try to live their lives in a KGB-run Moscow and what
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happens when they are given information by a scared American who knows too much and could unravel the peace talks between each nations' capitals. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
DeMille was recommended on The Ultimate Reading List for World of Honor. I chose The Charm School instead because it's the favorite DeMille book of a friend whose reading tastes I trust. Mind you, this same friend feels conflicted about DeMille. She says she finds a misogynist streak in DeMille's
The book is set in the Soviet Union right before the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet empire broke up. When, whatever the talk of glastnost, the cold war between it and the United States was still fairly chilly and people feared Nuclear war. Into that land comes a young American, Gregory Fisher. As he puts it, the "excitement of being a tourist in the Soviet Union, he decided, had little to do with the land (dull) the people (drab) or the climate (awful). The excitement derived from being where relatively few Westerners went...a nation that was a police state. The ultimate vacation: a dangerous place."
That pretty much sums up the appeal--and the excitement--of the novel itself. Fisher soon encounters a man claiming to be an American POW held against his will at "Mrs Ivanova's Charm School." The major premise is farfetched, but I have to give DeMille credit, he dealt with my major objections just well enough to suspend my disbelief for the course of the novel.
Soon three people at the United States Consulate are involved in investigating Fisher's claims. Lisa Rhodes, a press attache who loves the old Russian culture perhaps too much; Seth Alevy, the CIA station officer who hates the regime perhaps too much, and Colonel Sam Hollis, a defense attache who having served in Vietnam cares perhaps too much about the fate of missing POWs. None are objective, and the three have a messy entangled relationship with each other. But it's not so much those three characters as the portrait of the Soviet Union, it's Czarist past and the hints of the future to come that fascinated me.
Besides which it was an engrossing espionage thriller that not only never stopped being suspenseful through over 600 pages, but turned the screws with each part. And the twist at the end was pretty stellar.
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novels and stopped reading him after Plum Island. This particular book, even though I was alerted to the issue the book didn't strike me as misogynistic and the major female character was capable and sympathetic. There were a couple of moments a bit jarring that way I might not have noticed if the issue hadn't come up. A remark of the female love interest that our hero shouldn't worry she's one of those "liberated women" who think they can do anything a man can, and my she does seem a bit clingy, and the man a bit all, who can understand women? But, not on the whole anything that bothered me.The book is set in the Soviet Union right before the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet empire broke up. When, whatever the talk of glastnost, the cold war between it and the United States was still fairly chilly and people feared Nuclear war. Into that land comes a young American, Gregory Fisher. As he puts it, the "excitement of being a tourist in the Soviet Union, he decided, had little to do with the land (dull) the people (drab) or the climate (awful). The excitement derived from being where relatively few Westerners went...a nation that was a police state. The ultimate vacation: a dangerous place."
That pretty much sums up the appeal--and the excitement--of the novel itself. Fisher soon encounters a man claiming to be an American POW held against his will at "Mrs Ivanova's Charm School." The major premise is farfetched, but I have to give DeMille credit, he dealt with my major objections just well enough to suspend my disbelief for the course of the novel.
Soon three people at the United States Consulate are involved in investigating Fisher's claims. Lisa Rhodes, a press attache who loves the old Russian culture perhaps too much; Seth Alevy, the CIA station officer who hates the regime perhaps too much, and Colonel Sam Hollis, a defense attache who having served in Vietnam cares perhaps too much about the fate of missing POWs. None are objective, and the three have a messy entangled relationship with each other. But it's not so much those three characters as the portrait of the Soviet Union, it's Czarist past and the hints of the future to come that fascinated me.
Besides which it was an engrossing espionage thriller that not only never stopped being suspenseful through over 600 pages, but turned the screws with each part. And the twist at the end was pretty stellar.
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LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
Listened to this because my boss recommended I listen to it. An OK spy action from DeMille. Only book I have read by him...would possibly consider another if I were in a spy-ish mood and there were no LeCarre books laying about. And I head read all the Bond books. Of which I have read none so far.
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So I won't likely read any more DeMille books. Show Less
LibraryThing member readingwithtea
“Hello. Anything exciting happening?” “Yes, but it’s happening in Rome.”
Rich frat boy Gregory Fisher is driving his Trans Am across Europe. Because he can. When he gets to Russia he is mildly amused by the Big Brother control – until he meets an American war pilot, MIA since Vietnam, in
This thriller had plenty of potential. Gormless rich boy screwing things up? Check. Russians doing bad things? Check. American embassy two steps behind all the time? Check.
However, after 100 pages, the plot didn’t seem to be going anywhere (I had endured a lengthy restaurant scene where the American hero from the embassy dallies over Afghani food with another embassy employee before heading out to the aid of the MIA pilot), and there were just too many editorial errors! A date which should clearly have been 1969 was given as 1989 (the year of publication of this book, I believe), and on two occasions, sentences with very similar structures (“This, he thought, was a xxx thing”) occurred in the same paragraph; the structure is unwieldy once but twice it is careless.
I didn’t fancy wasting another 587 pages on something that hadn’t been properly proof-read, so on the DNF pile it went. Others may will be rewarded for being more patient than me.
Rich frat boy Gregory Fisher is driving his Trans Am across Europe. Because he can. When he gets to Russia he is mildly amused by the Big Brother control – until he meets an American war pilot, MIA since Vietnam, in
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the woods. He races on to Moscow to pass the message on to the attaché there, but something sinister seems to have happened to him since he made that phone call…This thriller had plenty of potential. Gormless rich boy screwing things up? Check. Russians doing bad things? Check. American embassy two steps behind all the time? Check.
However, after 100 pages, the plot didn’t seem to be going anywhere (I had endured a lengthy restaurant scene where the American hero from the embassy dallies over Afghani food with another embassy employee before heading out to the aid of the MIA pilot), and there were just too many editorial errors! A date which should clearly have been 1969 was given as 1989 (the year of publication of this book, I believe), and on two occasions, sentences with very similar structures (“This, he thought, was a xxx thing”) occurred in the same paragraph; the structure is unwieldy once but twice it is careless.
I didn’t fancy wasting another 587 pages on something that hadn’t been properly proof-read, so on the DNF pile it went. Others may will be rewarded for being more patient than me.
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LibraryThing member Ellenm33
This book was enlightening as DeMille described live in Russia with great detail, including nuances that made me think about what I was saying in my office! Living in America I take for granted my freedom of speech and movement. The main charactors are charming and intriging...this is a real 'page
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turner'! Show Less
LibraryThing member Lettypearl
This was an audio book...A young American tourist driving his fast car through Europe before the fall of the Soviet Union. On his way to Moscow, he runs across an American POW from the Vietnam War who tells him about a camp dubbed the Charm School where American POWs and other kidnapped Americans
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are forced to teach Soviet KGB agents to think, act, walk and talk like Americans. When the rich kid reaches Moscow he calls the US Embassy to pass on this information and to get help as he feels he is being followed and targeted by the KGB. But when the air attaché, Sam Hollis, gets to the hotel the tourist is not there & the KGB swears he never arrived, but was killed in a car accident before reaching Moscow. Hollis's investigation lands him in big trouble with the KGB & he winds up being taken to the Charm School along with collegue Lisa Rhodes. The rest of the book tells about others being held there, and trying to effect an escape. Good listening! Show Less
LibraryThing member ecw0647
Good story if somewhat farfetched.
LibraryThing member toad97
Interesting premise of having a mock US town in Soviet Russia to train moles.
LibraryThing member kristina_brooke
A bit predictable and I wish it had not been abridged. Well read for an audiobook, however.
LibraryThing member debs4jc
Old school thriller, American CIA agents vs the Soviet Union's KGB. At stake--former American POW's who were forced to be instructors at a school that teaches Soviet spies how to look and act exactly like Americans. I found it very engaging.
LibraryThing member jimgysin
This one was a re-read for me of a title that just had to be added to my ebook collection when the price was right. When it first came out many years ago, it quickly vaulted to the top of my favorites list in the thrillers category, and the passage of time (and a couple of minor edits by DeMille)
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has done nothing to lessen my love for this one. It's simply a great thriller. Excellent premise, excellent characters, excellent narrative, excellent pacing. The only downside is that it lacks the standout quality of dialogue of most of DeMille's other works. But then again, I consider DeMille to be unsurpassed at writing zippy and simply awesome dialogue, so even a relatively poor effort from him is going to be much better than most others' best efforts. The other thing that stands out in retrospect is that DeMille's poor regard for the CIA is nothing new, as the agency is shown here to be willing to go to great lengths to be messed-up when not being downright evil. In the end, though, if you want a classic espionage thriller, you can hardly go wrong with this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member HenriMoreaux
When I initially came across this book I was not overly thrilled with the blurb and at 671 pages it's a bit of a commitment. However, after having read the General's Daughter & The Gold Coast by this author I thought I'd give Charm School a chance, and I can say I'm glad I did. The author paints a
Would read again.
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vivid landscape of cold war Russia which shines through the pages, the story is good with plenty of developments throughout the novel. Lots of spy (KGB vs CIA) action within and a few interesting car sequences. Would read again.
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LibraryThing member gaillamontagne
Written in 1988, before the Berlin Wall came down, this story typifies the "cold War" and mistrust between the United States and the Soviet Union. Coronal Sam Hollis and Lisa Rhodes work at the American embassy in Moscow. They stumble upon information about a secret "school" in Russia where
in a 2010 FBI investigation, striking similarities were noted to the real life case and Demille's book.[1] according to Wikipedia.Scary to think our POW's ended up in Russian slave camps. DeMille is a little long winded, but I enjoy his main character so much I overlook it. The Sam Hollis character is a lot like his "John Cory" books character (Love those books), and when the story is read by Scott Brick, I just imagine it is John Cory. Not my favorite story, but I still liked it.
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Americans are held against their will and have to teach Russians how to pass as Americans. They study language, slang, history, and culture, and then are sent to the U.S. where they live as Americans and are gradually infiltrating all levels of society. Although this is a work of fiction,in a 2010 FBI investigation, striking similarities were noted to the real life case and Demille's book.[1] according to Wikipedia.Scary to think our POW's ended up in Russian slave camps. DeMille is a little long winded, but I enjoy his main character so much I overlook it. The Sam Hollis character is a lot like his "John Cory" books character (Love those books), and when the story is read by Scott Brick, I just imagine it is John Cory. Not my favorite story, but I still liked it.
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LibraryThing member courtenaybc
Great Book, suspenseful
LibraryThing member LMJenkins
Re-read an old favorite. This was the first DeMille I ever read and it'll probably always be his best in my eyes. Sam Hollis has all the wit of John Corey, the hero of his future books, and the Charm School scenario is mesmerizing to me.
LibraryThing member Carl_Alves
This novel, set in the Glastnost era of the Soviet Union, when relations with the United States are improving as they get out of the Cold War, an American tourist comes across an Air Force major as he is driving toward Moscow. He contacts the US embassy in Moscow. Shortly after, the tourist
There was some good and some bad in this novel. I liked how the author handled the back and forth dealing between the CIA and KGB. This created a lot of tense moments, and it effectively recreated that Cold War feeling, which is more prescient as tensions mount today between the United States and Russia. It was an interesting concept. There were some plodding aspects to the novel, and some of the plot stretches the realm of believability in an otherwise enjoyable novel.
Carl Alves – author of The Invocation
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disappears. This leads to American attaches Sam Hollis and Lisa Rhodes uncovering a spy school where they are teaching Soviets how to become Americans. The teachers at the spy schools are Vietnam MIAs. All of this leads to a thrilling escape of the MIAs by a CIA agent.There was some good and some bad in this novel. I liked how the author handled the back and forth dealing between the CIA and KGB. This created a lot of tense moments, and it effectively recreated that Cold War feeling, which is more prescient as tensions mount today between the United States and Russia. It was an interesting concept. There were some plodding aspects to the novel, and some of the plot stretches the realm of believability in an otherwise enjoyable novel.
Carl Alves – author of The Invocation
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Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1988
Physical description
5.67 inches
ISBN
0739303791 / 9780739303795