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A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the master of the novel of international intrigue comes a riveting new book as timely and unsettling as tomorrow's headlines. It is summer 1999 in Russia, a country on the threshold of anarchy. An interim president sits powerless in Moscow as his nation is wracked by famine and inflation, crime and corruption, and seething hordes of the unemployed roam the streets. For the West, Russia is a basket case. But for Igor Komarov, one-time army sergeant who has risen to leadership of the right-wing UPF party, the chaos is made to order. As he waits in the wings for the presidential election of January 2000, his striking voice rings out over the airwaves offering the roiling masses hope at last--not only for law, order, and prosperity, but for restoring the lost greatness of their land. Who is this man with the golden tongue who is so quickly becoming the promise of a Russia reborn? A document stolen from party headquarters and smuggled to Washington and London sends nightmare chills through those who remember the past, for this Black Manifesto is pure Mein Kampf in a country with frightening parallels to the Germany of the Weimar Republic. Officially the West can do nothing, but in secret a group of elder statesmen sends the only person who can expose the truth about Komarov into the heart of the inferno. Jason Monk, ex-CIA and "the best damn agent-runner we ever had," had sworn he would never return to Moscow, but one name changes his mind. Colonel Anatoli Grishin, the KGB officer who tortured and murdered four of Monk's agents after they had been betrayed by Aldrich Ames, is now Komarov's head of security. Monk has a dual mission: to stop Komarov, whatever it takes, and to prepare the way for an icon worthy of the Russian people. But he has a personal mission as well: to settle the final score with Grishin. To do this he must stay alive--and the forces allied against him are ruthless, the time frighteningly short. . . . Praise for Icon "Vintage Forsyth, intricate, exact and gripping."--The New York Times Book Review "Another strong performance by a writer who knows exactly what he's about, and who here catalyzes narrative with another memorable protagonist, the stealthy and daring Monk."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "One of his best works for a long time, which provides an all-too-real look at a chilling new millennium."--The Sunday Times, London… (more)
User reviews
The first half of the novel has an odd structure that I don't really like. It jumps back and forth from the
Despite that, once the book does get going, it does not let up until the last pages. A very fun novel.
The story is fast paced but lacks the punch and
The plot revolves around post-Soviet Russia circa 1999. It's falling apart, is broke, its leadership in shambles. Up steps a charismatic leader named Igor Komarov, who's expected to become president in the upcoming election and who vows to return Mother Russia to its glory. However, he's not what he seems to be. He's a Hitler wannabe who is going to practice genocide on Jews, ethnic minorities, the military leadership, etc. And he's got all of his plans written down in a "Black Manifesto," of which there are three copies. One of them is foolishly left on his secretary's desk and an old ex-soldier who now cleans Komarov's headquarters sees it, reads some of it, realizes its importance and steals it. He then gets it to the British embassy, where it works its was back to British intelligence. The document is shared between British and American governments, but they choose to do nothing, so a group of highly influential and secretive world leaders meet to discuss the situation and come up with a solution -- to send in a spy to destabilize Komarov's platform and discredit him, thereby ensuring he loses the election. The person chosen to do this is ex-CIA agent Jason Monk. Monk fights it, but Sir Nigel Irvine (a great character!) convinces him to do it, and so he goes in.
When Monk arrives in Moscow, he immediately calls in a favor of a particular Chechen who is head of the Chechen underworld and he gains their support and protection. He then starts making the rounds, contacting the military's leadership, the state police's leader, the head of the Russian Orthadox church, and a major bank president who also presides over the television media. These people, after being confronted with the facts of the Black Manifesto, turn on Komarov and his security chief, Colonel Grishin. Meanwhile, Grishin finds out Monk is in the country and has an old score to settle with him, so he puts his Black Guard troops at work trying to locate him. Monk moves around, and this is a weakness of the book I think, and is almost omniscient in anticipating their moves and making adjustments for himself and his Russian collaborators. Sir Nigel makes it to Russia to meet with the clergy and comes up with the idea of returning Russia to a czar-based country, which is accepted by said clergy. He then comes up with a distant heir to the throne and promotes his return to Russia to take over.
When Komarov and Grishin realize their time is almost up, they do something completely crazy -- attempt a New Year's Eve coup in Moscow. But Monk anticipates this and helps prepare the military the the police, so the coup attempt fails and everything works out beautifully. The climactic scene between Grishin and Monk is largely anticlimactic, though, and that was disappointing.
It's not Forsyth's best book, but it's an entertaining one, with a lot of research having gone into Russia, their crime scene, politics, etc., and it's certainly worth reading. Monk is a bit too super human to be very believable, but he's a likeable character, so one can overlook that. Recommended.
This is a solidly written thriller, on par if not better than many offerings by Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum. There is a sufficient amount of action and intrigue. There are some definite believability issues associated with this novel and some plot holes, but overall it was an entertaining read.
Carl Alves – author of Blood Street