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jakewritesbooks's review
3.0
Was disappointed in this one. Church vs. Soviet bloc politics should have been right up my alley but this read like the transcript of a game of Hide-The-Cardinal. The end was good enough but the rest of the book was meh.
vraper's review
5.0
The best book I've ever read. It's a thriller, but light years above a beach read. A tour-de-force of spare writing that poses fascinating ethical questions about the relationship between church and state in a communist society. The writing is elegant and spare, menacing and atmospheric. The character of Stephen Bem is fleshed-out and non-cliched. He's a flawed man faced by meaningful personal dilemmas. Moreover, it's a novel of violence with rare gunplay or physical brutality. Instead there's a brooding sense of 'polite menace'. When shots are fired, they mean something. The world has changed - emotionally and politically forever... A wonderful, brilliant book that truly values human life and decision-making.
agmaynard's review
3.0
3.5 ish. Economical and fast-moving and still relevant. These sorts of books are way more bloated these days.
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