Agent 6

Sep 02, 2012 Maddy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, tops

PROTAGONIST: Leo Demidov, secret police agent
SETTING: Moscow, US, Afghanistan
SERIES: #3 of 3
RATING: 4.75

AGENT 6 is the final installment in the Child 44 trilogy, which features Soviet secret police agent Leo Demidov. It is a wonderful conclusion to a series that is epic in scope. AGENT opens in 1951 in Moscow, where the young agent Leo is assigned the prestigious duty of escorting a black American singer, Jesse Austin, around Moscow. Austin has espoused the Communist cause; the Russian governmen...more PROTAGONIST: Leo Demidov, secret police agent
SETTING: Moscow, US, Afghanistan
SERIES: #3 of 3
RATING: 4.75

AGENT 6 is the final installment in the Child 44 trilogy, which features Soviet secret police agent Leo Demidov. It is a wonderful conclusion to a series that is epic in scope. AGENT opens in 1951 in Moscow, where the young agent Leo is assigned the prestigious duty of escorting a black American singer, Jesse Austin, around Moscow. Austin has espoused the Communist cause; the Russian government hopes to use his visit to popularize their cause in the US. When Jesse asks to deviate from the planned itinerary, Leo takes him to the school of a woman he met on the subway. Thanks to their visit, Leo reconnects to Raisa, who later becomes his wife.

It’s several years later, and Leo has left the secret service. He and Raisa have two daughters, Elena and Zoya. Raisa has been assigned to direct a children’s choir who are scheduled to visit the United States to perform jointly with an American group. The performance in New York goes exceptionally well, until a political assassination ruins the spirit of accord that has been achieved. Elena had been asked to meet with Jesse Austin, who has been a recluse for some time due to the shabby treatment he has received in his home country. She convinces him to speak outside the event. He is still revered in the Soviet Union; however he and Elena have unknowingly become pawns in a deadly political game. The result is that Leo loses one of his loved ones, and he vows to avenge that death, despite the fact that he no longer has any power.

Leo’s attempts to go to New York end up with him being placed in exile in Afghanistan, where he teaches young men and women to become secret agents. In an effort to escape his grief, he becomes an opium addict and floats through life. Seven years go by. It isn’t until one of his female students, Nara Mir, faces extreme danger that he is able to shake his torpor and come back to life. Ultimately, they end up in the United States; and Leo is able to complete his quest, 16 years after the murder.

AGENT 6 is an amazing achievement, its major flaw being that it is overlong. The section that takes place in Afghanistan could have been reduced significantly without any real loss to the plot. Overall, Smith has done a masterful job of creating a narrative that spans more than 30 years. Although the plot is extremely complicated, its various threads are woven throughout like a beautiful tapestry. The revelation of the killer was surprising yet made perfect sense, leading to a satisfying conclusion.

AGENT 7 is a thriller, a historical treatise and a love story all in one. Along with the other 2 books in the trilogy, CHILD 44 and THE SECRET SPEECH, Smith has created a real tour de force. I am in awe of his accomplishment.

(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 21, 2012 Helen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: espionage

Here’s the good news; Agent 6, Tom Rob Smith’s final installment in the Leo Demidov trilogy, is just as breathtakingly good as Child 44.

This is a beautifully written book, with a plot almost too complex to summarize. His spare, bleak prose, his masterful descriptions of place, love, grief and betrayal, his sympathy for the powerless of this world, his grasp of the way the past returns to influence the present, easily catapult him to the strata of writers like Graham Greene and John leCarre.

Y...more Here’s the good news; Agent 6, Tom Rob Smith’s final installment in the Leo Demidov trilogy, is just as breathtakingly good as Child 44.

This is a beautifully written book, with a plot almost too complex to summarize. His spare, bleak prose, his masterful descriptions of place, love, grief and betrayal, his sympathy for the powerless of this world, his grasp of the way the past returns to influence the present, easily catapult him to the strata of writers like Graham Greene and John leCarre.

Young Leo Demidov, a rising star of the Russian secret police, is being tutored on the intricacies of reading a confiscated diary. Read in just the right tone of voice, twenty two words are twisted from an innocuous sentence praising Stalin to a sarcastic barb meriting the writer's arrest. Welcome back to the USSR.

Agent 6 begins in the past, with the events that brought Leo and his beloved Raisa together. Seeing her on a subway platform, he falls instantly, irrevocably in love. When he picks up the courage to introduce himself, she snubs him. At the same time, Jesse Austin, a famous black American singer, is visiting Moscow, and Leo is assigned to ensure that he only sees what the Party wants him to see. Simultaneously, he is inadvertently responsible for the arrest and death of his trainee's new girlfriend at the hands of the KGB. The prologue culminates in a concert given by the Communist singer, tying together the threads of the tragedy to come.

The story leaps forth in time to 1965. Raisa is alone in New York with their daughters, Zoya and Elena, leading a joint Soviet/American concert for peace. Secretly using Elena as a go between, the American Communist Party requests that Jesse Austin, who has been ruined by his association with Communism, attend a demonstration outside the UN. Catastrophe strikes, altering the course of Leo’s life.

Fast forward to 1980. Leo is an adviser in Soviet-controlled Afghanistan, living in an opium-colored trance that shields him from his feelings. His new trainee is a pretty young Afghan girl, as blindly enthusiastic about the brave new world that the Soviet state has to offer as he once was. The progression couldn't be more clear. The people of the Soviet Union were enslaved by corrupt leaders, American blacks were first slaves, then enslaved behind prejudice. Women, all over the world, are still slaves.

I can’t tell you any more. Agent 6 has compelling, believable characters and a heartbreaking juggernaut of a plot. Tom Rob Smith has enough compassion for everyone, for heros and villains, for perpetrators as well as victims. You will not be able to put this down.
(less)

6 likes · like · see review

May 01, 2013 Tim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Agent 6" is the third book in Tom Rob Smith's trilogy centered on Leo Demidov, which started with "Child 44" and continued with "The Secret Speech."

After leaving the KGB, Leo is working as a factory manager while his wife, a political teacher, has advanced in her career and become an important figure in education. Leo and Raisa (his wife) have made a small family with their adopted daughters, Zoya and Elana. Because of Raisa's position within education, she is given the opportunity, with the gi...more

like · see review

Nov 05, 2012 Richard rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rating: 2* of five

The Book Description: THREE DECADES.
TWO MURDERS.
ONE CONSPIRACY.

WHO IS AGENT 6?

Tom Rob Smith's debut, Child 44, was an immediate publishing sensation and marked the arrival of a major new talent in contemporary fiction. Named one of top 100 thrillers of all time by NPR, it hit bestseller lists around the world, won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and the ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
In this spellbinding new novel, T...more

22 likes · like · see review

May 24, 2012 Schmacko rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tom Rob Smith’s newest book strays away from the darkness – the Stalinist paranoia – that made his first, Child 44, so good. Instead, this is a more meandering international thriller that brings Russia and Smith’s Russian hero Leo Demidov into modern times. Because the sickness of the serial killer is absent, this is a little less thrilling. The threats of the KGB are also weaker. Think slightly watered down John Le Carre.

Leo and his wife Raisa are raising their two daughters when a unique oppor...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 21, 2012 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Agent 6, by Tom Rob Smith, A. Narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris, Produced by Hachette Audio, Downloaded from audible.com.

This book is the third and final book in the series introduced by Tom Rob Smith in Child 44. Leo Demidov is no longer a member of Moscow's secret police. But when his wife, Raisa, and daughters, Zoya and Elena are included in a "Peace Tour" to New York City, he is immediately suspicious. Forbidden to travel with his family and trapped on the other
side of the world, Leo watches he...more

like · see review

Apr 23, 2012 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the third book in the Leo Demidov trilogy and I'm quite sad to see it end. I've grown quite attached to Leo.

In this book, Leo's family leaves him behind in Russia while they take the trip of a lifetime to America. Raisa has been chosen to head up a concert involving students from America and Russia, sort of a unifying, peace act. Leo's gut feeling is that Raisa and the girls shouldn't go, but he has no good reason for them not to, so he says goodbye. This time, it's Elena that gets embro...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 19, 2012 Michael Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who've read the first two in the series

Tom Rob Smith is an extraordinary and unique author and his first two books, Child 44 and The Secret Speech, are marvelous in ways I’m not sure I can articulate. Their historical take on Soviet Russia reverberates deeply, far beyond the fascinating thriller aspect of both novels.

So I’m sorry I can’t extend this same feeling to the third book in the series, Agent 6. I find myself wondering whether the publisher somehow snatched a second draft away from the author before he was finished with it, t...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 28, 2012 Bonnie Brody rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Agent 6 is the third book in the Child 44 trilogy by Tom Rob Smith. We again encounter agent Leo Demidov and, as the book starts, he is an agent in the MGB, forerunner or the KGB. The book begins in 1950 and progresses to the 1980's. Leo gets married and adopts two children. His beloved wife is Raisa and his two adopted daughters are Elena and Zoya, both in their late teens. The Soviet Regime is in full bloom and the cold war is a challenge to both the USSR and the US. Each country has a large s...more Agent 6 is the third book in the Child 44 trilogy by Tom Rob Smith. We again encounter agent Leo Demidov and, as the book starts, he is an agent in the MGB, forerunner or the KGB. The book begins in 1950 and progresses to the 1980's. Leo gets married and adopts two children. His beloved wife is Raisa and his two adopted daughters are Elena and Zoya, both in their late teens. The Soviet Regime is in full bloom and the cold war is a challenge to both the USSR and the US. Each country has a large stake in coming out ahead. Leo trusts no one and he is an excellent agent. However, he gets tired of living a life of paranoia and gives up his place in the KGB to run a small factory, a choice frowned upon by his superiors.

Jesse Austin is a folk singer roughly based on the real character, Paul Robson. He is an American communist who is a great singer but the Americans want to silence him as his loyalties are to the USSR. The reader gets to see how close the McCarthy Era and the Stalinist regime are to each other. Both countries use power, intimidation, and fear to rule. The FBI and the KGB are shown as not very different in their methodologies.

Raisa is a teacher of music and gets the chance to go to New York City and bring her two children. She has directed a concert of students from the USSR who are scheduled to sing with students from the US. Leo is not happy about this as he is worried about Raisa and the children traveling without him. He is not allowed to go with them because of his defection from the KGB. Once Raisa reaches the U.S., their daughter Elena, gets involved in a plot to get Jesse Austin to give a speech at the concert that is planned. The concert is to be a peace offering that involves U.S. students singing with students from the USSR. After the concert, as Jesse Austin is speaking, he is killed. In an impulsive gesture, Jesse's wife kills Raisa who she thinks is having an affair with Jesse. It is all FBI spin but Raisa is dead nonetheless.

After Raisa's death, Leo dies emotionally. He swears to avenge Raisa's killing and to mete out justice. He tries to defect to the U.S. but is caught and as punishment is banished to the harshest place the Soviets can think of, Afghanistan. There the Russians are involved in a war to take over Afghanistan and most people don't live out their six month stretches of appointment there. Leo gets addicted to Opium to clear out his pain and is an emotionally dead man. His job in Afghanistan is to train Afghans to become communist secret police.

The book progresses slowly, too slowly for me. I became tired of it at about page 300 though I plodded through the whole thing. My husband, on the other hand, just loved the whole book. I loved Child 44 but found that this book, though better written, had a slower plot and was more burdensome to read.
(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 31, 2012 Peter Boysen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The transition between "The Secret Speech" and this book is just about the only logical leap in this trilogy that doesn't make sense. Leo Demidov leaves the KGB to be a factory manager, accepting a serious demotion in pay -- and earning the suspicion of the State. At the same time, though, his wife, who had at one point been suspected of being a spy, is selected to be the leader of a student delegation to the United Nations and Washington, D.C.

While there, she is shot in a New York City police p...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 30, 2012 Mal Warwick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A Superb Suspense Novel Set in the USSR, Afghanistan, and the U.S.

The third book in a trilogy, Agent 6 concludes the story of Leo Demidov, a hero in the Great Patriotic War (as the USSR termed World War II) and later an agent in Stalin’s secret police. By way of introduction, the book opens in 1950 with Leo in thrall to the Sovet State, a senior officer in the MGB (predecessor to the KGB and to today’s FSB) charged with training newly recruited agents. Jesse Austin, a world-famous African-Americ...more A Superb Suspense Novel Set in the USSR, Afghanistan, and the U.S.

The third book in a trilogy, Agent 6 concludes the story of Leo Demidov, a hero in the Great Patriotic War (as the USSR termed World War II) and later an agent in Stalin’s secret police. By way of introduction, the book opens in 1950 with Leo in thrall to the Sovet State, a senior officer in the MGB (predecessor to the KGB and to today’s FSB) charged with training newly recruited agents. Jesse Austin, a world-famous African-American singer closely resembling Paul Robeson, is visiting Moscow, where he will perform and publicly extol the accomplishments of the Soviet regime as he sees them. Leo is detailed to help ensure that Austin is shielded from the realities of life in Moscow. In the course of this challenging assignment, Leo comes into close contact with Raisa, a beautiful and brilliant young teacher with whom he has been infatuated from afar.

The scene shifts abruptly to 1965, with Leo and Raisa married and living in poverty with their two adopted daughters (minor characters earlier in the trilogy). Raisa has persuaded Leo to leave the secret police. Meanwhile, she has risen far in the Ministry of Education and has been named to head a peace delegation to the USA — a student group in which she insists including her daughters. With great misgiving, Leo agrees not to stand in the way of their leaving for New York.

There, in New York, still in 1965, a tragic series of events involving Raisa, her younger daughter, Elena, Jesse Austin, and a senior FBI agent named Jim Yates swiftly unfold. Leo is unhinged by the tragedy and devotes his life to unraveling the mystery behind it.

Again the scene shifts. It’s 1973, and Leo has just failed again in his frantic attempts to leave the Soviet Union and make his way to New York to investigate the mystery. Seven years later, in 1980, we find him in Kabul, where he had been given a dangerous assignment as punishment for attempting to flee the Soviet Union. He is now the longest-surviving Soviet “advisor” to Afghanistan’s Communist Party, training the new Communist regime’s secret police. Here, in the shadow of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the ferocious resistance by the mujahedeen, Leo becomes embroiled in a series of violent and troubling experiences that eventually make it possible for him to travel to New York at last.

In the concluding scenes of this extraordinarily compelling novel, we find Leo in New York, scrambling to unlock the mystery that has bedeviled him for a decade and a half.

Agent 6 is the conclusion of Tom Rob Smith’s Leo Demidov trilogy, which began three years ago with Child 44, his debut novel. Child 44 was an instant success, both critically and commercially, and won numerous awards both as a thriller and as a work of literature. It was followed in 2009 by The Secret Speech. All three books are brilliant, and all can be read without reference to the others.

Tom Rob Smith is a young, Cambridge-educated British writer, son of a Swedish mother and an English father. It’s difficult to understand how he could have acquired such a fine sensibility about life in Stalinist Russia, let alone in Afghanistan under Soviet occupation. Smith was born in the year the USSR invaded Afghanistan, a quarter-century after Stalin’s death. Yet Agent 6 rings true throughout.

(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 24, 2012 Alecia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I think parts of this book, and perhaps the overall concept, deserve 4 stars. If it was available, I'd give it 3.5 stars. But I did not care for the rather trite, redundant chapter titles, and I also wasn't crazy about all the dialogue presented in italics. It's a very good, ambitious story spanning 20 years or so. Tom Rob Smith knows his Communist history and makes surviving under oppressive regimes come alive for the reader. He does not spare the United States in this book, making the parts of...more

like · see review

Jan 03, 2012 Vicki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A thriller featuring a former KGB agent as a sympathetic hero? Who knew it could be done? Well, author Tom Rob Smith did, and he has created a masterful fast paced mystery featuring the former agent Leo Demidov in what is actually the last of an incredible trilogy. This volume stands alone and can easily be enjoyed by the reader who has not yet read the first two in the series. It will make one want to go back and read them in a hurry though!

Leo's experiences in the KGB/Secret police cause a sl...more A thriller featuring a former KGB agent as a sympathetic hero? Who knew it could be done? Well, author Tom Rob Smith did, and he has created a masterful fast paced mystery featuring the former agent Leo Demidov in what is actually the last of an incredible trilogy. This volume stands alone and can easily be enjoyed by the reader who has not yet read the first two in the series. It will make one want to go back and read them in a hurry though!

Leo's experiences in the KGB/Secret police cause a slow and steady transformation of his unquestioning loyalty to the state into a deep and loving relationship with the woman Raisa who becomes his wife. The atmosphere of mistrust and fear that is so prevalent in the Soviet Union becomes a repellant thing to him when he sees it through the eyes of his wife and daughters.

As the third volume, Agent 6 begins, we see some of the situations that open Leo's eyes to the damage he can do to innocent people while doing the work that good agents do. On one occasion he becomes a tour guide of sorts for Jesse Austin, an American Communist whom the party is glad to have visiting because of the propaganda they can produce featuring the popular black American singer. Austin is trying to prove to himself that the Communist system is really superior to the American by insisting that his guides take him on unscheduled visits to see actual citizens and businesses, not staged events. Leo learns much and comes to admire Jesse Austin even through some very uncomfortable circumstances.

As the story unfolds, Leo is no longer a Soviet Agent, having taken a severe cut in pay and in status when he quit the Soviet Secret Service to manage a factory so that he could spend more time with his family. Raisa, a teacher, has risen in the school administration to a level where she can plan and participate in an international exchange trip with teenagers from Moscow. They are flying to New York and will sing with American counterparts to the diplomatic community at the UN. Leo is against his families' participation, but he does not forbid the mother and two daughters from participating.

It is this fateful trip that changes the rest of Leo's life. His beloved wife does not return to Russia and has in fact been killed after a public encounter with none other than Jesse Austin. Leo is horrified and insists on traveling to America because he does not believe the official party line which strongly implies an illicit affair between Raisa and Mr. Austin which led to a double murder. His country flatly refuses to allow him to go. He stays home, welcomes his daughters back and literally waits years before he has another opportunity to get to New York and investigate the death of his wife.

But when his daughters have married, Leo finds himself an advisor to the fledgling Afghani government and then to the Soviet Union military after it has invaded Afghanistan. Author Smith does a masterful job of moving the story along with short scenes/chapters which keep the reader very involved in the action.

I highly recommend this work of historical fiction that is also a fast paced FBI/KGB thriller and great detective story, as Leo resumes his quest to discover the real truth of Raisa's death 16 years after the fact. I predict that you won't be able to put this one down! (less)

1 like · like · see review

Sep 28, 2011 Jennifer (JC-S) rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jennifer (JC-S) by: fionnabhair@bigpond.com

Shelves: librarybooks

‘Dreaming of a better world was not without its dangers.’

Agent 6 is the concluding book in a trilogy featuring Leo Demidov, a former Russian Secret Service agent (the other two books are ‘Child 44’ and ‘The Secret Speech’). The book opens with a flashback to the younger Leo in 1950: a committed, idealistic, member of the secret police who has discovered the secret diary of a young artist, Polina Peshkova. A single sooty fingerprint led Leo to deduce that the diary may be hidden in the chimney. T...more ‘Dreaming of a better world was not without its dangers.’

Agent 6 is the concluding book in a trilogy featuring Leo Demidov, a former Russian Secret Service agent (the other two books are ‘Child 44’ and ‘The Secret Speech’). The book opens with a flashback to the younger Leo in 1950: a committed, idealistic, member of the secret police who has discovered the secret diary of a young artist, Polina Peshkova. A single sooty fingerprint led Leo to deduce that the diary may be hidden in the chimney. The consequences of the investigation begin a journey which takes Leo into a different life by 1965, when we meet him and his family in Moscow.
Leo discovers Elena’s secret diary, but stops himself from reading it. He will have cause to regret this. Leo’s wife, Raisa, and daughters Zoya and Elena, have been chosen to travel to New York as part of a ‘Peace Tour’ meant to foster better relations between the USSR and the USA. Leo is forbidden to travel with them. Leo’s paranoia about this proves to be prescient. A tragic crime is committed in New York, and Leo is determined to find the truth.

The action in this novel takes us from the civil rights unrest in the USA in the 1960s, to the USSR’s involvement in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Leo is working as an adviser in Kabul, still a long way from solving the central mystery in the novel. The mystery is eventually solved, after a number of interesting but at times frustrating diversions. The plot is complicated, and some of the twists and turns detracted from the overall story. While I kept turning the pages, I found this story less interesting than the earlier novels in the trilogy: Leo Demidov is a less compelling and more deeply flawed anti-hero. I think that, ultimately, the action overwhelmed the story.

I’m glad I read it, but I think that it is by far the weakest link in the trilogy.

'I don’t know what he is going to say so I can’t predict what I’m going to do.’

Jennifer Cameron-Smith
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Aug 18, 2011 Carole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Set in 1965 onwards, this is the final instalment in the story of Russian secret agent Leo Demidov, following on from Child 44 and The Secret Speech, neither of which I’ve read. I didn’t feel that I needed to in order to understand Leo’s past life as early on we are given an insight into the brutal regime in 1950’s Soviet Union.

Leo is no longer an agent, he has a mundane job and is now married to Raisa. When she and her two daughters are invited to New York as part of a delegation of students pe...more Set in 1965 onwards, this is the final instalment in the story of Russian secret agent Leo Demidov, following on from Child 44 and The Secret Speech, neither of which I’ve read. I didn’t feel that I needed to in order to understand Leo’s past life as early on we are given an insight into the brutal regime in 1950’s Soviet Union.

Leo is no longer an agent, he has a mundane job and is now married to Raisa. When she and her two daughters are invited to New York as part of a delegation of students performing concerts to improve relations between the two countries Leo has to stay at home and worry....... with good reason! As something terrible happens there that will change all their lives forever.

The slow build up to that terrible event was incredibly gripping, you knew something was going to happen but you had no idea what it was.

We next meet Leo 8 years later as he is shot and badly wounded trying to cross the Russian border into Finland …............ he is desperate to leave the Soviet Union and get to the USA for revenge.

The story then jumps to 7 years later in 1980 in Kabul, Afghanistan where Leo is a soviet advisor providing counsel to the Afghan communist regime. Doing a job no KGB officer wanted. He is disillusioned, addicted to opium and the USA seems further away than ever. He just lives for the night-time when he can forget everything and fill his body with the opiate.

I did feel that some of the writing dragged a little here and I found it hard-going for a while until the action picked up again.

I had a lot of sympathy for Leo, I think that deep down he was a good man, the drugs helped to block out the reality of his situation as he couldn’t find a way out of his sad and lonely life, and he had forgotten what his goals and incentives in life were.

Since returning from the arrest of the deserting officer, Leo had smoked for several hours in an attempt to suppress an almost unbearable sense of restlessness. Listening to the plans hatched by the two lovers hoping to embark on an impossible journey reminded him ........ of his own thwarted ambitions to reach New York.

I enjoyed the writing style, it flowed very easily and apart from the few chapters in the middle, I was engrossed in the story. I look forward to Tom Rob Smith’s next book.

From Carole's Book Corner (less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 07, 2011 Marleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Book reviewed for Book Dagger's Real Readers programme. I received a beautiful limited edition bound proof copy which was both signed and numbered.

Before I start on my thoughts on this book I have to stress that although I did read Child 44 I never got around to reading The Secret Script, therefore I read Agent 6 out of order which may or may not have influenced the reading experience.

The story in Agent 6 starts in 1950 with a visit from a Black American singer, Jesse Austin, a big supporter of...more Book reviewed for Book Dagger's Real Readers programme. I received a beautiful limited edition bound proof copy which was both signed and numbered.

Before I start on my thoughts on this book I have to stress that although I did read Child 44 I never got around to reading The Secret Script, therefore I read Agent 6 out of order which may or may not have influenced the reading experience.

The story in Agent 6 starts in 1950 with a visit from a Black American singer, Jesse Austin, a big supporter of communism, to Moscow. It is also the time when Leo Demidov meets the love of his life and wife to be, Raisa.
The story then jumps ahead 15 years to 1965 when we find Leo no longer working as a secret agent and living quietly and happily with his wife and two daughters. But, although Leo is happy to have left politics and conspiracies behind him, it seems that politics are not done with him and his family yet.
When is wife and two daughters travel to the United States as part of an orchestra organised as an effort to relax relations between the USA and the USSR, Leo has his suspiscions. But even in his worst nightmares Leo could not have foreseen the disastrous outcome of the trip. An outcome that will leave him heartbroken. Unable to investigate what happened in America and not believing the official version of events, Leo desends into dispair.
Seven years later we find Leo in Afghanistan, managing to stay alive against the odds and addicted to opium. When he finds an opportunity to at last investigate the events that destroyed his life he takes it, but the question is, will the answers he finds set him free?

Tom Rob Smith is a wonderful writer. His words flow with an ease that makes his stories an almost effortless read. The pages are virtually turning themselves as the reader shares Leo's pain, dispair and need for answers.
Having said that, the subject matter is defenitely not an easy one. The horrors of the Sovjet regime in the USSR and the subsequent horrors in Afghanistan make for bleak reading, all the more so because they sound so very authentic. I found myself on several occassions wondering how anyone could possibly live under such circumstances, how I would deal with life if forced to live under such a regime, consequently making me very aware how lucky I am to live where I do, taking all my liberties for granted.
Although I did find the whole section in the book set in Afghanistan fascinating in a gruesome sort of way, I do feel that the story could have done with that part being shorter. While it did give a good insight into the level of Leo's pain, it didn't add a lot if anything to the solving of the mystery at the centre of the story other than provide a means for Leo to get to America.

Overall I thought this a fascinating and very well written book that could have done with being a little bit shorter. Therefore I rate this book 4.5 stars.(less)

like · see review

Jul 05, 2011 Sharon Goodwin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don’t get to read this genre very often as it is not one I would usually buy for myself so when a proof copy arrived in the post from Simon & Schuster (via BookDagger) to review I started reading with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. Trepidation because I am not a political person at all and wondered if this would affect my perception of the story and excitement at reading a different genre.

Although this is the third book involving agent Leo Demidov it was very obvious from the beg...more I don’t get to read this genre very often as it is not one I would usually buy for myself so when a proof copy arrived in the post from Simon & Schuster (via BookDagger) to review I started reading with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. Trepidation because I am not a political person at all and wondered if this would affect my perception of the story and excitement at reading a different genre.

Although this is the third book involving agent Leo Demidov it was very obvious from the beginning that I didn’t have to have any previous knowledge. Leo’s character is very understandable from his actions – but there is also an inference that although he is following Communist doctrine, there are underlying doubts.

At the beginning of the story the foundations are laid for how life is in the Soviet Union. We meet American singer Jesse Austin who is a Communist and is a key figure to the plot.

Fifteen years later we join Leo, his wife Raisa and their two adopted daughters on the eve before Raisa and their two daughters are leaving for America. Raisa is leading a diplomatic mission using singing as a bridge between the two countries.

On American soil we are introduced to FBI agent Jim Yates who is another central figure to the plot.

The change of events is sudden and dramatic and what follows is Leo’s journey to reach America to avenge the tragedy. Along the way we spend time in Afghanistan until events conspire to get him back on track.

There are politics in the story but for me they were far outweighed by the psychological profiles of the characters we meet and the change in them as they examine their beliefs and become more humane. One of the major shocks for me was the power of the media – I’m not naïve and do know how it works – but this story brings it home how powerless people can become because they have enemies who are people in high-powered positions. I was also made to think about how a symbol in one country can mean something totally different in another and the strong emotions attached to that. Emotionally, family betrayals affected me quite powerfully.

The one thing I really want to happen in a story is that everything ties-up to a satisfactory conclusion (not necessarily a happy ending!). I loved it that a character central to the plot during the diplomatic mission appears later on – not just that the character makes an appearance! but does something that effects Leo’s emotions. Also, Leo’s actions on American soil left me feeling very satisfied. I loved it that an inconsequential personal possession in Russia became key to finding Agent 6 in America.

This is a story of political intrigue focussing on humanity and emotions. The main theme running through the story is Leo’s over-riding and unconditional love for Raisa and his daughters. We finish on a cliff-hanger. I’ve been thinking there is only one possible conclusion …………… but then again, does an event send ripples that change things ……………………….
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 13, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The conclusion of the trilogy featuring Leo Demidov is sweeping, from his early days as a KGB agent to his exile in Afghanistan and beyond. Especially interesting is the Russian occupation of that beleaguered nation and the beginnings of the United States involvement there as Russian lost face in its defeat.

More important to the plot is the intrigue, obfuscation, double-dealing and plotting of the Soviet Union and United States during the Cold War. The story begins with Leo meeting a Paul Robes...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 12, 2012 Marie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: deckare

It's the holidays so I was looking for easy and relaxing reading. In that the book meets the criteria. I selected this one as I had read the first Leo Demidov book and thought it was well written and seemed to have such a good feel for 1950's USSR.
This is book three in the series and I was disappointed. It started well enough but then there is a 14 year skip forward to Afghanistan after the Russian invasion. Where I was left frustrated at having to wait for the strings to get pulled together and...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 03, 2012 Cyndi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Russian thriller mystery where a former Soviet Secret Police Agent is determined to find out how his wife died while on a diplomatic mission with school children, including their daughters, to the United States. The Cold War is raging mixed with the Civil Rights Movement and the HUAC hearings marking people as traitors for exercising their right to free speech. Leo's daughter is innocently caught up in the situation and blames herself for her role in what ends up being the murder of her mother.

M...more

like · see review

Mar 20, 2013 Bill Thibadeau rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have now completed reading all three of Tom Robb Smith's book. Child 44 was outstanding. The Secret speech dropped a notch with the poor relationship with his two adopted daughters.
Agent 6 has several items which bothered me. The title is a poor choice as it relates to a minor character. Granted that Agent 6 is the focus of 10 pages near the end. I did not think that he was worthy of the title. This book has more extraneous writing than the others combined. There is a bunch of "stuff" that co...more

like · see review

Mar 28, 2012 Gordon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: school

I like this book. I'm sure that it has its weaknesses, most of them in the general style and structure, but it has a powerful and compelling story line based on a character, Leo Demidov, who is the original obsessive compulsive. The theme of the book, stated over and over, is that a good woman can save a man who yearns to believe in something. In return those men (for men are saved, not just Leo), save others, often as an afterthought. The book is a bit more revolutionary than its reviews would...more

like · see review

Mar 21, 2013 Lorin Cary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the third Tom Rob Smith novel I've read, and as I'm not finished I have reached a final sense, a rating. Leo Denidov, a war hero, is a Moscow secret police agent., r He leaves that service after marrying Raisa, who teaches politics, and is his moral compass. The novel jumps from 1950 to 1965 when Raisa and their two daughters fly to New York on a "Pace Tour." This permits Smith to portray the paranoia in both countries regarding the other.

In the US Jessee Austin an aged Negro Communist (...more

like · see review

Aug 09, 2012 Jan Derksen marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Moskou, 1965. Het is de tijd van de Koude Oorlog. De Sovjet-Unie probeert zich na de gewelddadige moorden van Stalin en de chaotische jaren vijftig die daarop volgden, opnieuw te laten gelden. Voormalig agent bij de geheime dienst Leo Demidov heeft inmiddels een rustig leven opgebouwd met zijn vrouw Raisa en hun twee geadopteerde dochters.
Wanneer zijn gezin wordt gevraagd naar New York te komen als onderdeel van een vredestoer om de verhoudingen tussen Amerika en Rusland te verbeteren, mag Leo n...more

like · see review

Oct 17, 2012 Marie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Leo Demidov is no longer a member of Moscow's secret police. But when his wife, Raisa, and daughters Zoya and Elena are invited on a "Peace Tour" to New York City, he is immediately suspicious. Forbidden to travel with his family and trapped on the other side of the world, Leo watches helplessly as events in New York unfold and those closest to his heart are pulled into a web of political conspiracy and betrayal-one that will end in tragedy. In the horrible aftermath, Leo demands only one thing...more

like · see review

Feb 10, 2013 Melissa rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kind of a let down after the first two books in this series. Leo, the main character, has completely lost himself in a haze of drugs in Afganistan after being exiled there as punishment for trying to escape the Soviet Union. He spends the next 15 years like this until he finally get a chance to go the United States where he learns the same thing we mostly new from the very beginning - how/why his wif was killed. The he gets deported back to the Soviet Union where it is implied that he is execute...more

like · see review

Nov 21, 2011 Cygnus2 added it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Feb 17, 2012 Bookworm Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: written-by-a-smith

An interesting 'thriller' that kept me engaged right until the end. Then it faltered. The ending was a bit lackluster and felt too open ended. I guess I thought there would be more. However, the steps taken to get there more than made up for it.

I took this book out of the library b/c of my 'read books by Smith author's' challenge. It looked cool and sounded like a good spy novel so I gave it a whirl. The story starts with Leo, a secret police agent in communist Russia in the fifties. He has a ch...more

like · see review

Jul 27, 2011 Lindsy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the third book by Tom Rob Smith, about Leo Demidov, a former MGB agent in Soviet Russia. It starts with a flashback to 1950s Russia, where Leo Demidov is taking part in a visit by Jesse Austin, an American. The action then shifts to America fifteen years later, where Leo's wife is leading a group of Russian school children to the United States where a dreadful tragedy takes place. The action then switches to Afghanistan where Leo Demidov is now based.

The novel is a tense thriller, and Sm...more

like · see review

Nov 17, 2011 Jack rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: never-finished

I have previously read two of Tom Rob Smith's other books in this series, Child 44 and The Secret Speech. The first of which was a very good read, the second okay and then Agent 6, which was, quite frankly, abysmal.

Unlike the first in the trilogy, this book was not only slow to get in to, but I felt that the flashbacks within the book were completely unrelated to what it was actually about.

I never managed to finish this book, due to boredom when reading it, so if I had of finished it, it may hav...more

like · see review

title link	preview: Agent 6
avg rating	preview: Agent 6 Goodreads rating: 3.74 (2103 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11313780-agent-6?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327915437l/11313780.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11313780-agent-6?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith[/url]

Agent 6 (Leo Demidov #3)

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (7)

Videos About This Book

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Tom Rob Smith

Books by Tom Rob Smith

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Agent 6