Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter (or possibly multiple chapter 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.

Well, we had two chapters last time as we focused on Op-Center. We’re overdue to go back to Commie Op-Center so it looks like that’s where we’re headed this time.

I really did poorly time when I’m going over this book. I didn’t know that there would be a Russian/Ukraine element before I started reading. Obviously I knew this would be one of those “the commies want to restore the USSR” stories because the Cold War made for more interesting bad guys. Not everyone is Russia was a bad person. It’s just the government was being run by bad people. The US press back in those days fawned over Mikhail Gorbachev, which is why I find it interesting they hate the guy currently trying to restore the Soviet Union. I have theories, but that’s getting even more into politics, and while going over this novel means current event discussion is kind of inevitable, I’m still trying to keep it out of discussions, harder as it is with activists playing storyteller and failing.

Plus we live in a time where being patriotic has sadly become less celebrated even on Independence Day. When this novel came out it was still considered a good thing, as was fighting against communism as an enemy of the people. Communism claims to be for everybody but forced equality is a lie because you can’t force equality and expect growth, and because there is still inequality. The people in charge enjoy more freedoms and better lives while the workers have terrible lives. “Bread lines” in the old Soviet Union wasn’t a joke, it was a reality guys like Gorbachev and Putin never worried about. You have no rights, no chance for personal advancement for you and your family. Fighting against that is a good thing, and you can see that the trio behind Commie Op-Center and the various planned attacks are not working in Russia’s best interest, but their own. Like most elitists they can even fool themselves into believing it, but ask someone who grew up during those days or the modern commie countries, and they’ll tell you why they left.

With that padding done, it’s time to get back to the book and see what the bad guys are up to.

Monday, 8:00 PM, St. Petersburg (Russia)

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