Reviews
PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS BLACKFORD OAKES NOVELS "A spy novel that knows how to tango."-- The Village Voice "A remarkably . . . compelling and literate thriller."-- The New York Times Book Review "Tense, chilling, unflaggingly lively . . . A romp and something more."-- The Wall Street Journal, Master spy Blackford Oakes hies to Russia to thwart yet another assassination plot against Soviet Communist Party chief Mikhail Gorbachev in Buckley's 11th Cold War intrigue starring the aging but still intrepid CIA agent. Back in the U.S.S.R., he's introduced to attractive, 40-year-old Moscow urologist Ursina Chadinov by his former partner Gus Windels, a CIA agent-cum-public affairs officer with the United States diplomatic legation. Immediately smitten by Ursina, Oakes asks her to marry him, but their romance takes a backseat once Oakes encounters Andrei Fyodorovich Martins, akahis old nemesis, spy and defector Kim Philby. The plot to assassinate Gorbachev soon resolves itself, shifting the suspense to the battle between the two master spies. The struggle quickly goes awry for Oakes, who must then make tough, life-altering decisions. As always, Buckley imparts erudite sidebars about American history, literature and his famous acquaintances as he spins a lively, entertaining tale. Readers with a longstanding attachment to Blackford Oakes will be saddened by the novel's culmination, telegraphed by the title, but Buckley hints in the acknowledgments that the spy may "rise again" under the supervision of his researcher for this book, Jaime Sneider., Blackford Oakes, who by sheer wit and charm might have won more liberals over to the conservative side than his creator Buckley ever managed on Firing Line, has been sent to Moscow by President Ronald Reagan (in 1987) to look into preventing yet another plot to assassinate Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. A previous attempt had failed, thanks to Oakes and colleagues, but the brother of one of the failed conspirators vows revenge. Oakes tackles the problem head-on but is challenged even more by his newfound love for brilliant Soviet surgeon Ursina Chadinov and his life-or-death struggle with notorious double-agent Kim Philby. Buckley purposefully if artlessly weaves real-life figures Reagan, Gorbachev, Philby, and author Graham Greene into his narrative, and he applies a credible, if rightist, historical context without seeming to lecture. Perhaps as a result, this eleventh Blackford Oakes tale is too chatty for its own good and will have to rely on the series' popularity--rather than the strength of its plot--to pull fans along. But those fans remain numerous. , PRAISE FOR LAST CALL FOR BLACKFORD OAKES "A consistently engaging piece of cloak-and-daggitude . . . [that] again validates Buckley's considerable fiction skills." -THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW "Buckley's main charm as a novelist, besides the wit, is his easy familiarity with the political and journalistic heavyweights he inserts into his fiction."-LOS ANGELES TIMES
