Archangel

Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: This is a fantastic, precisely paced thriller. It also doubles as alternate history. The writing is crisp and tight. The plot moves fluidly through all the necessary dramatic twists and turns that are necessary to make a very good thriller. This is highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Great adventure in post-Soviet Russia
Review: What if Stalin tried to carry a secret to his grave--but Lavrenti Beria (head of Soviet secret police and fellow homicidal maniac) got wind of it? What if the evidence of that secret were in a notebook buried somewhere in Moscow? Why would such a secret be so dangerous that people start ending up dead over it in post-Soviet Russia? That's what an American historian who specializes in the Soviet Union wants to know after an old retired KGB agent pays him a visit at his Moscow hotel room. The historian follows up some leads, acquiring an unwanted assistant in the form of an eager cable news reporter. They end up heading north to Archangel, a city on Russia's Arctic coastline, to chase the story down.

The adventure is a good one, with believable characters acting on believable motivations throughout the book. I had a hard time putting it down.