Rating: 
Summary: Highly Enjoyable
Review: While certainly not a classic in any sense, this is a well-written, highly entertaining thriller. Some may find the episodic nature irritating--England, Canada, Japan, the Northern Passage, Siberia--but I personally loved it. I know nothing of Siberia, and while I suspect that the descriptions of it here are, ahem, somewhat romaticized, they certainly *are* fascinating, at least for me. The descriptions of the other locations, especially those of shipboard life on a tramp steamer, are also well-done and interesting. And of course Johnny Porter, for all his supposed emotionlessness, is a great character, full of suppressed rage (at least to me).Davidson is a wonderful writer, the story moves along well, and the final chase scene across Siberia is, for me, almost worth the book by itself. The small touches of irony that Davidson adds (a Jewish writer lovingly mentioning the highly non-kosher meals that Porter eats, for example, or the obvious point made by the damage done to Porter at the end and how it relates to what he was trying to get out of Siberia) make the book enjoyable on second reading as well. I think thriller lovers will really enjoy this book. It is nothing at all like LeCarre; it's more like what Crichton would write if he was a much better artist with the language.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Enjoyable
Review: While certainly not a classic in any sense, this is a well-written, highly entertaining thriller. Some may find the episodic nature irritating--England, Canada, Japan, the Northern Passage, Siberia--but I personally loved it. I know nothing of Siberia, and while I suspect that the descriptions of it here are, ahem, somewhat romaticized, they certainly *are* fascinating, at least for me. The descriptions of the other locations, especially those of shipboard life on a tramp steamer, are also well-done and interesting. And of course Johnny Porter, for all his supposed emotionlessness, is a great character, full of suppressed rage (at least to me). Davidson is a wonderful writer, the story moves along well, and the final chase scene across Siberia is, for me, almost worth the book by itself. The small touches of irony that Davidson adds (a Jewish writer lovingly mentioning the highly non-kosher meals that Porter eats, for example, or the obvious point made by the damage done to Porter at the end and how it relates to what he was trying to get out of Siberia) make the book enjoyable on second reading as well. I think thriller lovers will really enjoy this book. It is nothing at all like LeCarre; it's more like what Crichton would write if he was a much better artist with the language.
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