Nick's review
The Man From St. Petersburg
by Ken Follett
Nick's review
The Man From St. Petersburg by Ken Follett
Nick's review
rating:
recommended for: anarchists, masochists
I've learned to always be extremely disappointed with Ken Follet. He establishes promising situations, but then he always lets you down. This book is no exception.
The eponymous character is pretty sufficiently complicated - he's been driven insane, first from a terrible love with a pretty lady who's pretty much unavailable, and then from being in a gulag. Then there's the pretty lady, who can't resist torrid animal sex with The Man (from St. Petersburg). And then she goes ahead and marries a boring and uncomplicated Englishman (who's the hero of our story. Yay!).
After this setup, as I remember, the book goes nowhere. The plot spins forward, as Follett's book's plots do, but it's super boring - Anarchist wants to blow up London, or something. Winston Churchill has a feel-good cameo. Oh Follet, I keep reading more, but there's no satisfaction...
I'll tell you the ending: The Man creeps onto the Englishman's estate, has sex with his wife, sets fire to the manor, and then saves ...more
The eponymous character is pretty sufficiently complicated - he's been driven insane, first from a terrible love with a pretty lady who's pretty much unavailable, and then from being in a gulag. Then there's the pretty lady, who can't resist torrid animal sex with The Man (from St. Petersburg). And then she goes ahead and marries a boring and uncomplicated Englishman (who's the hero of our story. Yay!).
After this setup, as I remember, the book goes nowhere. The plot spins forward, as Follett's book's plots do, but it's super boring - Anarchist wants to blow up London, or something. Winston Churchill has a feel-good cameo. Oh Follet, I keep reading more, but there's no satisfaction...
I'll tell you the ending: The Man creeps onto the Englishman's estate, has sex with his wife, sets fire to the manor, and then saves ...more
