When a shadowy Russian mole threatens to undermine the Free World s defenses by infiltrating President Eisenhower s National Security Council, CIA ...
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reviews
Aug 23, 2009
Carole
rated it: 
Continuing my series of William F Buckley readings, I read this spy story. One of my all time favorite genres, being a child of the 50's & 60's but even I found this rather dated. Our world has gone so far beyond doctoring a xerox machine to make extra copies of everything & hide them in a secret drawer! Nothing of Buckley intrudes on what is a plain old-fashioned spy story, based on the Gary Powers U2 spy plane incident. He went down in the USSR & was held, put on trial & later exchanged fo
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Apr 25, 2009
Kevin
rated it: 
Another fabulous Blackford Oakes novel. Oakes is cool, calm, and collected, as usual...even while facing imprisonment in the Soviet Union. This guy is smart, compassionate, handsome, suave... you name it. A regular James Bond without the smugness or the gadgets. His boss Rufus...low-key, impreturbable, and deadly decisive. Great dialog throughout, especially the rantings of President Eisenhower about his staff's incompetence and "Kroo-cheff's" bumblings. This is (as are all of Buckley
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Nov 11, 2011
"Mixes politics, humor, suspense, and ingenious espionage capers in an enjoyable blend." - Publishers Weekly
Listen to Marco Polo, If You Can on your smartphone.
Listen to Marco Polo, If You Can on your smartphone.
Sep 20, 2011
Ashley
rated it: 
Just didn't do much for me. It's a pretty straight forward Cold War era spy story. But, when reading it in 2011, it feels too dated. Hard to get too excited about espionage being conducted via photo manipulation and xerox machine. Plus, having read several of William Buckley's son Christopher Buckley's books, I was expecting a bit more wit than was present.
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