Helpful Score: 2
This was the first book by Kanon that I read. I'm on the fence about his writing style - it seemed choppy and rushed, but at the same time, it read fast and easy. I can't think of one time that I got bored and skimmed a paragraph. I was surprised at the romantic twist and glad to see it wasn't written hastily or overly lengthy. It followed the style of the novel and added to the plot/storyline rather than taking away. The twist at the end ties up the loose ends magnificently and the turn is unbelievable. You won't be disappointed if you follow this story to the end! I have to give it 5 STARS and am working on Los Alamos already!
I LIKED IT ALOT. GREAT LISTEN A+A+A+
I started this book, but kept getting the creeps, so I hope someone else can read it and enjoy it.
Washington, 1950. The trouble with history, Nick Kotlar's father tells him, is that you have to live through it before you know how it'll come out. And for Walter Kotlar, a high-level State Department official, the stakes couldn't be higher: an ambitious congressman has accused him of treason. As Nick watches helplesslu, his family's privileged world is turned upside down in a frenzy of klieg lights and banging gavels. Then one snowy night the chief witness against his father plunges to her death and his father flees, leaving only an endless mystery and the stain of his defection. It would be better, Nick is told, to think of him as dead.
But twenty years later Walter Kotlar is still alive, and he enlists Molly, a young journalist, to bring Nick a disturbing message. He badly wants to see his son; after two decades of silence and isolation, he is desperate to end hid own Cold War. Resentful but intrigued, Nick agrees to accompany Molly to Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia for the painful reunion.
Once in Prague, Nick finds a clandestine world where nothing is what it seems--not the beautiful city, shadowy with menace; not the woman with whom he falls in love; and most of all not the man he thinks he no longer knows, yet still knows better than anyone. For Walter Kotlar has an impossible request: he wants to come home and he wants Nick to help. He also has a valuable secret about what really happened the night he walked out of Nick's life--and about the deadly conspiracy that still threatens them.
But twenty years later Walter Kotlar is still alive, and he enlists Molly, a young journalist, to bring Nick a disturbing message. He badly wants to see his son; after two decades of silence and isolation, he is desperate to end hid own Cold War. Resentful but intrigued, Nick agrees to accompany Molly to Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia for the painful reunion.
Once in Prague, Nick finds a clandestine world where nothing is what it seems--not the beautiful city, shadowy with menace; not the woman with whom he falls in love; and most of all not the man he thinks he no longer knows, yet still knows better than anyone. For Walter Kotlar has an impossible request: he wants to come home and he wants Nick to help. He also has a valuable secret about what really happened the night he walked out of Nick's life--and about the deadly conspiracy that still threatens them.
A very good spy thriller.
In the Red Scare of 1950 Nick Koltar tried to save his father, Walter, from angry questions, from accusations, from a piece of evidence that only Nick knew of but destroyed-for his father.
Walter was branded a spy, fled the country, left behind a wife and young son and a key witness lying dead below her D.C. hotel room. Twenty years later a beautiful jouralist brings a message from Nick's father. Nick follows her into Soviet-occupied Prague for a painful reunion. Nick knows he must return to the place where it all began: to unravel a lie, to penetrate a deadly conspiracy and to expose the one person who knows the truth and watched a family be destroyed.
Walter was branded a spy, fled the country, left behind a wife and young son and a key witness lying dead below her D.C. hotel room. Twenty years later a beautiful jouralist brings a message from Nick's father. Nick follows her into Soviet-occupied Prague for a painful reunion. Nick knows he must return to the place where it all began: to unravel a lie, to penetrate a deadly conspiracy and to expose the one person who knows the truth and watched a family be destroyed.
Easy to Follow, Narrator very good.
like father ,like son in a time of accusations ,treachery, and lies some secrets were heartbreaking .other were deadly
In a time of accusations, treachery and lies, some secrets were heartbreaking....
Others were deadly.
Once, Nick Kotlar tried to save his father. From the angry questions. From the accusations. From a piece of evidence that only Nick knew about and that he destroyed--for his father. But in the Red Scare of 1950 Walter Kotlar could not be saved. Branded a spy, he fled the country, leaving behind a wife, a young son--and a key witness lying dead below her D.C. hotel room.
Now, twenty years later, Nick will get a second chance. Because a beautiful journalist has brought a message from his long-lost father, and Nick will follow her into Soviet-occupied Prague for a painful reunion. Confronting a father he barely remembers and a secret that could change everything, Nick knows he must return to the place where it all began: to unravel a lie, to penetrate a deadly conspiracy, and to expose the one person who knew the truth--and watched a family be destroyed.
Others were deadly.
Once, Nick Kotlar tried to save his father. From the angry questions. From the accusations. From a piece of evidence that only Nick knew about and that he destroyed--for his father. But in the Red Scare of 1950 Walter Kotlar could not be saved. Branded a spy, he fled the country, leaving behind a wife, a young son--and a key witness lying dead below her D.C. hotel room.
Now, twenty years later, Nick will get a second chance. Because a beautiful journalist has brought a message from his long-lost father, and Nick will follow her into Soviet-occupied Prague for a painful reunion. Confronting a father he barely remembers and a secret that could change everything, Nick knows he must return to the place where it all began: to unravel a lie, to penetrate a deadly conspiracy, and to expose the one person who knew the truth--and watched a family be destroyed.
