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Title: Tepid Cold War Story
Review: I admit it: I'm baffled by the other reviews describing this book as a page-turner. I managed to force my way through the first 285 pages before I gave up on it, and skipped ahead to see if there were any interesting turns of plot that might have made it worth the while to keep reading. Nope, no surprises.I did enjoy some of the observations about Soviet life, which were interesting from a cultural standpoint. However, the characters are cardboard cutouts, and the story moves at a glacial pace. There are many long scenes composed entirely of dialogue that doesn't advance the plot.As you will see by reading the other reviews posted here, most readers found something very different in this book. However, I found it much less enjoyable than a Fredrick Forsyth thriller, or even an Ian Fleming novel. It's just too bland to be interesting.
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