Title: The Russian Affair
Author: Michael Wallner
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Publication Date: April 12, 2011
Hardcover: 400 pages
ISBN: 978-0385532396
Genre: Fiction
A Book Synopsis:
Russian Affair is about twenty-nine-year-old Anna Viktorovna. She lives in Moscow with her son and father. Her husband is a junior officer in the Red Army, living seven time zones away. As much as she’s trying to stay strong through the difficulties of corruption and the police state, she meets a powerful Soviet official, Alexey Bulgyakov. As she gradually falls in love with a married man almost twice his age, she is told by the KGB colonel forces to spy on Alexey. But Anna isn’t the only character playing a double game.
For a more detailed description, please check out the Publisher’s site.
My Review:
The Russian Affair by Michael Wallner is an intriguing tale of a Russian woman’s life in the USSR, her life mixed with suspense and mystery surrounding her relationships within and outside of her family. In the midst of Anna’s home struggles including unmet medical needs of her son, Petya, and her husband Leonid’s frequent absence to serve the Russian army, Wallner takes readers, along with Anna, on a journey into the secret side of Russian society, including into dealings within the KGB. This is not a typical fast-paced suspense thriller as one might expect from a novel about spies, KGB, and the USSR. Rather, Wallner cleverly crafts a deliberately slower story that cultivates a suspenseful backdrop while exploring the more realistic and delicate side of family relationships. While some may find this slower pace to take away from the mystery and suspense, I found the combination of relationships and suspense to make for a better storyline. I would recommend The Russian Affair to readers looking for an espionage/suspense story that does not conform to the usual mold.
Michael Wallner is the author of the international sensation April in Paris. He lives in Germany, where he is an actor and screenwriter, and divides his time between Berlin and the Black Forest.
I received a complimentary copy of The Russian Affair by Michael Wallner from Doubleday to offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.
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