Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter (or possibly multiple chapters for this one) of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
I’ve wasted over a year on a book I can best defend as “they fixed one of their mistakes from the first book”. The only reason this isn’t outdoing Seduction Of The Innocent is that this book didn’t make me rage or take multiple days a week to digest all of the stupidity being shoved into my eyes and up to my brain. Whatever problems I have with this book, it isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever read. There are even books I haven’t covered that would rank between the two easily.
I will give it credit for handling the fallout from the previous chapters well in the two I reviewed last time. We now have victory for the heroes, but now we need to tally up the price and see if it was worth it. With four short chapters left to go, this is the penultimate review as we look at two chapters and finally get this book over with. I’m ready to read something else.
Chapter 75: Tuesday, 4:22 PM, St. Petersburg
Orlov calls the military for word about his son, but it’s Paul Hood who calls back to tell him Nikita is safe and on the transport. He also tells him about the man lost thanks to Nikita’s fighting him to escape. It’s all very cordial. Orlov is happy his son is alive and sorry for Hood’s loss. Hood relays a story from Striker’s second (I think it’s Honda) about how a great warrior tries to get victory without taking lives. I’m paraphrasing and probably very well, but that’s the essence: Nikita could be a great man. And with that, Orlov does something he hasn’t done in about 24 hours: he goes outside and home to hug his wife.
Orlov has easily been one of my favorite characters in this book. He loves the country but wouldn’t let it return to its dark past. He did his job by defending his government from a coup and reducing as much bloodshed as he could. I’m glad he gets a happy ending, and that he shows as much respect for opposing allies and enemy comrades. In order to save current Russia he had to work with the country’s former enemies against his own former allies. That’s got to hurt. This book isn’t taking side necessarily. These are the actions of these men both good and bad. It’s up to the reader to decide who was right and to what extent. Did their goals justify their actions or were their goals already flawed? It’s what makes the book work, or it would if not for all the unnecessary padding we’ve had.
Chapter 76: Tuesday, 10:00 PM, Helsinki
The jumping timeclock hasn’t helped, either. It’s time for the resolution for George and Peggy’s “vacation”. We actually see them getting on and riding the train to Helsinki and how they keep track of each other while pretending to be strangers. When the two finally get to speak in Helsinki, she tells him to let Mike know that she got “back some of what I lost”. I don’t know if she knows the woman she fought was the same woman who killed Fields-Hutton, or that the guy she shot was her opponent’s boss, the one who probably ordered the assassination, but I called it either way. Well, the actual killer, anyway. We don’t get any sort of similar ending from George and how he feels about the ordeal. Of course he doesn’t know about Squires at this point.
These were both good chapters. It’s just a shame it took so long to get here. Next time, the last two chapters and the final end of this book.
BW Media Spotlight 