I've read and loved many of Ken Follett's novels. This one was no exception. Beautifully drawn characters, great plotting and a wonderful storyline set just before the start of the First World War. It took me forever to read as I've been in a rare non-reading rut. Hopefully reading the last 250 pages today in one gulp has cured me. I've literally not been reading books at all - totally unlike me. (I've been weirdly obsessed with watching the circus in our capital these days...it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion and I have to look away...)

Another cracking tale from the pen of Ken Follett.

Both the books I have read by him, Eye of the Needle (1978), and this one, The Man From St. Petersburg (1982), have been "what if" tales based on actual historical events which cleverly mix fact and fiction.

In the run up to WW1, a Russian anarchist is in England to try to assassinate the son of Czar Nicholas. The Prince is in London trying to negotiate an alliance between England and Russia against Germany in the upcoming war.

Ken Follett really is a wonderful storyteller, and The Man From St. Petersburg is a great example of his ability to combine drama, romance, suspense, politics and action into a fast paced, engrossing, clever and credible novel which embraces anarchism, suffragettes, assassinations, debutante balls, diplomacy and a whole host of dramatic and violent set pieces.

4/5

3.5


I really enjoyed this book. It was super interesting though sadly I didn't love it as I was expecting to do so


Me gustó bastante este libro. Fue super interesante aunque lamentablemente no lo amé como esperaba

Me encantan los libros que hablan sobre la nobleza y sus intrigas. También me ha gustado la persecución de Félix a Álex.
Me ha gustado que se nombrara el principio del feminismo, cuando las mujeres se manifestaron para votar.
En fin, he disfrutado de todo, de la historia, de la intriga, y de todo lo que ha tenido este libro.

Set just before WW1 starts this spy thriller is intense. England with France ask Russia for help against Germany against the backdrop of increasing turmoil.

To be honest, this was kind of a silly historical thriller, but plenty of fun with coincidences and secrets and redemption arcs

2.5 stars

Loved this book. Started & finished it in about a day.
The whole puzzle was compkete: the description of the relations, the historical context, the race against the clock to prevent a murder.

3-1/2 stars. an energetic thriller set just prior to the beginning of the Great War, as a Russian anarchist stalks a czarist negotiator to England. Threads of coincidence and lost passion begin to unravel him and his mission. A compelling adventure

Another solid offering from Follett with interesting characters, timelines, and locations. I love learning a little history in my fiction, and this book was really fun that way.

This was a fascinating, invigorating read. Set in post Victorian era, the narrative was incredibly immersive in the time period, building up the setting and characters layer by careful layer. While the pacing increased very gradually for the first half of the book, it never lost my attention, but did quite the opposite, drawing me in and making me ever more invested. The storyline starts out simple, then grows more and more complex, interweaving and twisting the narratives together. It was very difficult to decide which character to root for, because each one had been crafted beautifully. The ending was intense and satisfying and also saddening. As always, Ken Follett did not disappoint.

Last year i read Pillars of the Earth, by Follett. I found that book to be somewhat course, but overall entirely captivating. It was a massive book, but i still managed to remain interested through the length of it. Someday i am going to read the sequel to that book. While looking for said sequel i happened upon this book, which was intriguing by virtue of being by an author i knew i found interesting, and by virtue of hitting on topics that draw my attention - Russia and political intrigue/spying, and because it is much shorter than the other epic i was looking into.

Well, i'm not sure what to say about this book. As i started to read it i was, again, struck by the coarseness of the writing. It reads something like what one would expect from a teenager trying to produce a worldly and realistic piece - just not refined or beautiful enough to have come from a practiced writer. More so, perhaps, than Pillars did, and i almost gave up on the novel a number of times. And yet, somehow, i found myself drawn into the story, into the characters (who seemed wooden in the beginning but entirely sympathetic and realistic in the end), and captivated by the portrait of a moment in history. The details which seem so stilted in the beginning of the book add up to give us the depth in pictures that is necessary to drive the plot naturally.

That said, i like this type of historical fiction. While the characters are made up people (i assume), and therefore the details of the story are made up, they are surrounded by enough of the details and feel of the historical period to not only make them entirely believable, but also to elucidate to us some of the human drama that made history turn out the way it did. Follett humanizes history, which is good for someone like me, who can't retain a date, but does enjoy having a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that brought us to where we are today.