Reviews

• Very deep dive into the world of spies. The plot is extremely intriguing and realistic. It lacks just a bit of action, of rithm. Well designed characters, vivid dialogues. Littell remains a master

• This is a readable, interesting, intelligent book on spying and spycraft. The other reviews describe the book well. My only issue with it is that it is brief, more like a novella or a long short story than a novel. It lacks density and texture. It's best to read on a coast-to-coast flight. It makes sense that the author has movie and television experience.

• Lewinter plans his defection to the Russians via the Tokyo Embassy but the shambolic affair leaves him convinced he had 'ended up on the set of a Hitchcock film'. Is Lewinter an eccentric minor USA academic with delusions of grandeur or is he the crucial factor in swinging the whole Cold War in favour of the East? Does he possess vital missile trajectory codes or does he possess nothing more harmful than hay fever pills? No one is sure on either side and a battle of 'duplicity' ensues. Both the heart of the novel, and its main drawback, is the bluff, double bluff, triple bluff ...ad infinitum. After a while the reader loses interest in who is bluffing who and the whole thing appears as pointless as the Mutual Assured Destruction from the missiles themselves. Mr Littell uses the extended 'chess' metaphor, even extending to chapter headings of 'Gambit' and 'Passed Pawn', to describe the East/West battle of wits. No doubt this owes a lot to the Spassky/Fischer battle a year prior to publication in 1972. Lewinter himself is a vaguely comic character and a 'pawn' in the overall story. Got the message that the espionage was just as pointless as the arms race itself. Lewinter is also a bit of an early eco-warrior given his real love of 'waste disposal'. To Mr Littell's credit he is even-handed between the devilment of both sides. Worth a read but not one to linger in the memory.

• I recently read Legends by Robert Littell so I had high expectations. This did not live up to my epectations, it picked up in the second half but the ending was rather disappointing. Will not recommend to a friend. I do recommend Legends however.

• To be honest, until the TV series "Legends", which I've been binge-watching, I wasn't aware of Robert Littell. My loss! This, his first novel, was a masterful read and I can't wait to of his books. My only complaint has nothing to do with Mr. Littell. There were more typos in this book than any other I recall reading. I hope the publisher attends to this. It's an insult to some great writing.

Purchase links