Topaz Paperback – September 27, 2011

For a person that was 23 years old at the time in the novel this was interesting reading. I recommend it

Of course now, I do not yet know if the actors in this book are fictional, real players only dressed to impress and actually historical.

Leon Uris' books follow a similar pattern, and this novel of cold war intrigue, set against the background of the Cuban Missile Crisis, is no different in several respects. The main character, a French diplomat named Andre Devereaux, is an intelligence officer at the French embassy in Washington DC. He agrees to help the Americans interrogate a Russian defector who asked for him by name.The story moves from Washington to France and Cuba, pitting Andre against his political adversaries in France and the corrupt and vicious government in Cuba. That part of the book - the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the anti-American political situation in France in the 1950's and 1960's - is a well-written and researched story of historical fiction. Now, for the themes that run through many of Uris' novels... first, most of Uris' main characters are not what we would consider really heroic; in fact, they are pretty much personally unlikeable individuals. They are mostly self-absorbed men who treat their wives terribly, drink far too much, and are not very friendly - except to the several (sometimes literally dozens) of female companions they consort with. After I read a few of these books, I began to realize that Uris used himself as the model for these anti-heroes, merging parts of his own life with the fictional characters he wrote about. The second theme that began to tire me, I've dubbed the "regressive factor". This story starts out in the timeframe just before the US discovered that the Russians were surreptitiously installing missile sites in Cuba. We follow the storyline with the Russian defector for awhile, then Uris takes us backward in time to Devereaux in the setting of German occupation of France and World War 2, giving us a "mini-novel" in the middle of the original story. While this literary device provides useful background information, much of the "regressive" story is unnecessary and somewhat distracting to me - especially after wading through it in several books.Having said all this, I still give this book 4 stars. Uris is the master of the historical fiction genre; I've not read any other author who researches his books so meticulously that it's difficult to realize these are fictitious characters set in historical events.

This isn't a spy novel like Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. It is more like the "realistic" spy novels of John Le Carre. However, I like this novel much better than the few I've read by Le Carre. This novel takes place during the Cuban Missle Crisis in October of 1962. Therefore, there are many historical personages in the novel as well as fictional characters. I felt this made the novel more realistic even though Uris rarely uses these people's names. One character that is in the book is the French president Pierre La Croix. I felt that this was a thinly disguised version of Charles De Gaulle. If this is the case then I Don't think Uris had a very high opinion of De Gaulle. In this book he is arrogant and somewhat of a dictator. Also he doesn't seem to be that intelligent and is easily manipulated. It makes me wonder if the real De Gaulle was like this. The main character in this novel was a French intelligence agent by the name Andre Deveraux (I don't know if I spelled that right). He is not an agent like James Bond or Jason Bourne. He is a flawed man doing what he feels is right. I felt this character was well written and made for a great hero in the book. Finally, the situations in the novel made for a tense story. This was a well made thriller that moved along rapidly. It isn't my favorite spy story but it still is a great read. One final comment, I never saw the movie so I don't know how close that is to the book. Still if you like spy stories you should like this one.

Leon Uris books are outstanding!

Another page-turner by the master story-teller, Leon Uris! Set around the events of the Cuban missile crisis, Uris weaves an intricate web of suspense and political intrigue that gathers the reader in and holds on until the very last page is read. France's Prime Minister is being fed disinformation by an undercover Soviet KGB agent who has infiltrated the French administration. The central question of the novel is whether the French Ambassador to the US can find the agent in time to save his country and perhaps the world from nuclear war. Uris' characters are so realistic, and so fleshed out, that we can picture them easily in our mind's eye. This is his strength as a writer, and the time he takes to develop each character is done in such a way that one learns history while learning about how the historical events shaped the character. This brings the story to life, and the drama around the Cuban missile situation as the world holds its collective breath is spellbinding. Highly recommended to all readers who love history, who love suspense, and who love to read well-written literature. Uris is one of my favorite authors, and in this book he does not disappoint. I don't give a lot of books 5-stars, but this one is worthy of that award.kone

This is a book I read about 30 years ago and remembered it as being really good!Unfortunately I must have changed a great deal since then as I found it tedious, predictable and not very well written. I will try Armageddon and Mila 18 again to see if they have the same effect.

I'm a lover of Leon Uris' well researched and well written historical fiction novels.They bring life to the history of the time with believable characters and provide an understanding of what took place at troubled times in critical places of our world.

.I just finished re-reading this after a few decades. Enjoyed it once again.

Excellent

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