Rating: 
Summary: Reasonable start - poor ending
Review: I bought this book because of all the hype, but I was sadly disappointed with the story. Having set the scene with what we all imagine to be the "bad old Stalinist Russia", we were left with a cheap film script "Die Hard" type ending which was totally implausible. I read this book in bed and it got me off to sleep in no time at all!
Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: Yes, this is a good book. That means it is readable story. Where is exceeds most is the taut, cold atmosphere of urban Russia and the Icy desolation of the Siberian countryside. The story's twist is a nice one.The book I think is a little too quick. The story seems to run away from itself with the reader playing catch up. There are also a couple of uninteresting and irrelevant sub plots involving the Russia intelligence units. In England Archangel was greeted with massive critical acclaim. I think it was a bit overdone, but it's a compelling, well researched read. Even if he rips off the idea from "Boys from Brazil"
Rating: 
Summary: Wasted Premise
Review: I enjoyed very much the first part, where the true thrilling factor were the ghosts of Stalinism conjuring over Russia's future. Then something happened to the author (I guess this is the greatest mystery of the book) and once Fluke and his journalist pal leave Moscow, the book degrades into a cheap "page-turner". Understanding institutional violence under Stalinism is no easy task, but the answer cannot be sought in the Archangelsk tundra. The Guy who lives in the wilderness, and who owes his discursive identity to Stalin, is a recycled version of Huxley's Savage, in "Brave New World"; but Harris (or whoever wrote the second part of the novel) has no time to develop the idea into a full-blown allegory. I enjoyed the portraying of the various "Soviet" dinosaurs as much as I did enjoy the atmosphere of the post-communist Moscow: the analogy with Weimar is quite to the point, but it so happens that Harris, in search of some more "twist", hits on the remote control, and takes us to the Tundra, where everything is much simpler. The premise is wasted, the reader frustrated.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best thrillers I have read in years...
Review: I have enjoyed Harris's previous books (esp Fatherland) but I think this is the best yet. The plot is both exciting and psychologically interesting. And contrary to what previous readers have stated, I think this is a rare suspense novel that keeps the quality of the plot line up until the final page. Harris is also a gifted writer and has done a lot of thinking and research to come up with this plotline. I emphatically recommend it, esp. to readers with an interest in Russia.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Start, Disappointing Conclusion
Review: ARCHANGEL starts off with great atmosphere and detail, and the suspense builds through three-quarters of the novel. Unfortunately, the ending was contrived and absurd by comparison. It almost read as "X-Files Visits Siberia"!
Rating:
Summary: what happened to Robert Harris?
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Harris' previous books, which seemed well-written (though occasionally over-written) and engrossing. I was excited to get hold of this...but wow! what a disappointment! This book was a terrible dud--hard to get into, full of nothing but laughable stereotypes. It simply plays to the moronic caricatures of Soviet Man that we were raised on and does not even begin to suggest the causes for the terrible state of much of Russia today. This is a book strung together out of cliches of thriller fiction, including the boring anti-hero--and furthermore the writing is just plain bad. Cheap thrills for the ignorant. I suppose Harris is hoping it sold as a film. I hope the star I gave it is taken as a zero, which was not an option. By the way, I've been to Russia several times, and it was nowhere in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Loved the book, but for one niggling problem...
Review: I loved this book, even the ending others have found ridiculous or straining credibility. It was a flight of historical fantasy, yes, but it is not impossible and a riveting story. But there's one flaw that's bothered me in the months since I read it - Fluke passes the stadium where Russia is playing somebody in soccer. The game is tied, goes into overtime, and ends 3-2. But hey! International soccer goes into overtime very, very rarely - only in certain playoff matches - and tied games end tied 99% of the time. This could have been the 1997 Italy-Russia playoff, but that didn't go into overtime. Was this just an edit made for Americans? Or did Harris really not know how the game works? Either way, I found that to be a bothersome, insulting part of an otherwise excellent novel.
Rating:
Summary: Moscow and Archangel: a tale of two cities
Review: This book is two thrillers, not one. The first establishes the truth behind the notebook, the second, after an interlude en route to the freezing depths of Archangel, confronts the truth. Half way through, I found it difficult to predict how or why the awful truth hidden away in the forests should be so terrifying, but all becomes clear as the book unravels. The potential horror of resurrected Stalinism is highly plausible, while the ending translates what had apparently been a series of chance encounters into premeditated history. This is where truth and fiction blur - Harris has woven his fiction so closely with reality that the tale quite possibly contains a grain of truth or rumour. There are loose ends, particularly the motivations and hidden agendas some characters have stored away. However, to pick holes is somewhat churlish, for Harris knows how to enter the reader's psyche and to create a page-turner. I look forward to the next Harris saga with keen interest. At the current rate, should be due about 2004!
Rating:
Summary: It is, too, believable!
Review: After reading all 40 of the reviews, I am amazed that so many readers found the ending unbelievable. I lived in the Soviet Union before and after its demise. The comment I heard so often from the common person was a desire for a strong leader, "like Stalin." The ending of the book was frighteningly believable down to the political posturing and manipulation of the media. I'm pondering how so many readers could find the ending so unbelievable. Perhaps you must live in a culture to really entertain the possiblities. Given all of this, I am still disappointed with the last few paragraphs. I'm not sure how it ended. I wonder if that was the author's intent or whether it was a typical television, movie question-mark ending that leaves rooms for sequels. Nevertheless, the book captured the Russia I experienced so profoundly that I had to set it aside several times because of the deep emotional impact his very clear descriptions evoked.
Rating:
Summary: Good page-turner
Review: A lively thriller that I found I couldn't put down. Not great literature but well-written and well-constructed enough to keep you reading long after bed-time. Very well-researched too with everything smacking of realism.
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