Rating: 
Summary: Great start, dreadful ending
Review: Give Harris credit where it's due -- I spent almost 10 years in Moscow and he has certainly done his homework, setting the scene for what should be a gripping tale of what happened to Stalin's secret notebook. But the book veers wildly off track as it approaches the climax and I hate to think what Harris was smoking when he wrote the last few chapters. What a disappointment
Rating: 
Summary: Good story and interesting backdrop
Review: Harris's latest shows plenty of research and insight into the 'new' Russia. He supports that expository information with a fast=paced plot. It strains credulity at times but it is fiction after all. Couple other thrillers you might want to check out-- R. Mayer's CUT OUT or ETERNITY BASE; J. Dalton's The Omega Missile.
Rating: 
Summary: A waste of time and money
Review: Normally I buy books; this one was borrowed and I'm happy for not having spent the money.What will the next "secret paper, hidden offspring" blizzard of titles consist of, "The Clinton chronicles"? Between the hackneyed plot, floridly gratuitous descriptions of everything from sounds in the halls to mid-hangover vomiting, and boring, overworked, scenarios - a total waste of time - and someone else's money. The jacket writers and critics who cite this piece of work as depicting an accurate view of the "new" Russia obviously didn't experience (or otherwise know) the "old" or "new" Russia. If "Archangel" is this author's "third and best", let's hope there is no fourth.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, exceptional - truly a remarkable book.
Review: This fascinating tale brings together a firm histroical basis on which Harris brings a thriller/detective storyline. The book was "frighteningly" realistic, un-put-downable and sent Russian chills up my spine at every turn. Harris has an incredible talent. Be prepared for a roller-coaster ride that won't stop, even after you've finished this amazing book.
Rating: 
Summary: Robert Harris. Among the elite in thriller wrtiting.
Review: Robert Harris, Archangel. Purchased at the airport in Sydney in Nov. for my return travel to Europe. It took some time to get into the book, but when I did I could feel as I almost was there together with Fluke.A very good plot, very in much in time with the world scene. When I closed the book, 10 to 11 hours had pased and I said to my self, oh great, I am nearly home. 11 hours of booring flight is gone. As good as Fredrick Forsythe,Robert Ludlum,Ken Follett and Colin Forbes.
Rating:
Summary: Harrison writes with a wicked sense of humour
Review: I'm not sure if Harrison has a wicked sense of humour or not but Fluke's spotting the passports on those unfortunates that had come across mad Stalins son made me shed tears of laughter. I felt I was in the room with Fluke laughing in the corner with my get out of jail free card while. fluke worked out a way to save his sorry soul. Absolutely brilliant. Harrisons research was immaculate and brought to life what can be Volkogonov's complicated historical writing. I'm off to buy Enigma.
Rating:
Summary: This book is an extremely good read-
Review: the sort of book that is a great read on a long train journey or just on the daily trip to work. Not quite as good as Enigma, but, none the less a great read. The author obviously has a good feel for, and gets across to the reader, the post-Communist era in Russia.
Rating:
Summary: A chilly spellbinder portraying the decay of modern Russia
Review: While Robert Harris performs remarkable task in bringing to life the despondency of a nation desperately trying to survive amid urban decay and civic apathy, he challenges a reader's patience while setting the scene for the chilling chase and finale. Few details escape his keen eye as a writer and, for this talent, he writes with a camera's clarity, right down to every cemented crack and rusty rivet. However,he's best at describing the all-pervasive odors, the stench of forsaken buildings, the stink of unwashed bodies and the rot of a people abandoned by events over which they have no control. Against this backdrop the plot seems incidental.
Rating:
Summary: A fun historical thriller
Review: Archangel, by Robert Harris, focuses on a notebook left behind by the evil Joseph Stalin. Historian Kelso and reporter O'Brien and Stalin-loving Manammatov want this notebook. This novel is better than Fatherland, which asked what would life be like if Germany won WWII. Kelso is told a story about the night Stalin died by a former guard of Stalins. This sets Kelso on a quest to find an infamous notebook that Stalin carried with him during all the final days. While set in modern Russia, the novel is filled with segments of history on Stalin which enlighten us about the type of person he was as well as in a way set up the ending. The conclusion of the novel happens a-matter-of-factly, with no great surprise or relevation on the part of the author. This is a good novel with the writing somewhat shifty making me wonder if I missed something. But there is nothin hidden in this novel of a few characters on the quest for a long-buried secret. The premise of the secret is somewhat foolish yet still entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Another gem for Harris
Review: Robert Harris doesn't just give you mysteries, he tweaks the genre by adding his own "what if" historical twists. This latest is a gem. It begins somewhat slowly then the pace picks up until it reaches high speed in the frozen wastes of northern Russia. His protagonist is far from the usual adventurer; he's Fluke Kelso, a cynical, down on his luck academic attending a symposium in present day Moscow. The notorious Joe Stalin is, in a sense, the villain. Soon after he arrives in Russia Kelso is presented with evidence of secret papers of Stalin. From there he investigates a decades-old mystery. Along the way he meets unusual characters including a scholarly prostitute, an over-eager reporter and some scary old-guard Russians. The plot is more than a simple mystery. Harris challenges you to imagine what will happen to the new Russia and what some of the forces were that shaped the old Soviet Union. His characters, realistic descriptions of the Russian landscape in winter and the imaginative plot will keep you reading until the last sentence.
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