The Moscow Club

by Joseph Finder

Book Overview

It's 1991. The Cold War is over. Charlie Stone is a brilliant analyst for the CIA who made a name for himself during the height of the Cold War. But today his expertise is needed yet again: A top-secret tape--one that foretells a coup d' tat in the Kremlin--has been smuggled out of the Soviet Union by one of a few remaining moles. Stone's assessment of the transcript is two-fold: Not only is a very real, very violent power struggle underway but the...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312934939
• ISBN13: 9780312934934
• Release Date: December 2012
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.1" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Not even people in high places know everything.......

Charlie Stone is a CIA analyst who is asked by his boss to find more information on a document reference called "the Lenin testament". Charlie is reluctant to pursue this, even though he is aware that both his father and another old family friend might be able to help him, because of old scandals within his family.However, against his better judgement, he does follow up this information, which leads him deeper and deeper into a conspiracy involving people in high places in both the USA and Russia - where people's motives are not what they seem.Finder has crafted a well written, well paced and enjoyable post cold war novel with this book. It's a what-if situation that could have happened in Russia - but if it did we would probably never know about it. His use of terrorists as scare-mongers to initiate official action is almost eerie in the light of events over the last few years, yet this book was written in 1991, when terrorists did not have the cachet they have now.With a great story and characters you care about this book is worth picking up to read if you enjoy a good thriller.

Top Shelf

Hey, a new story. In this category of books, it is getting a tough to find something new but this was. I think this has been one of the author's best books, if not the best. The story is very believable and tight. It had it all, a great story, good characters, wonderful action and a quick pace. This is just a good old exciting book. The author peppers the book with plot twists that keep the reader on his toes. This author writes in a way that is tight and slick that keep you interested through out. Great detail of the way the Russian government works (or doesn't). Sit back and enjoy this book.

The Best Spy Novel Ever Written!

As a longtime reader of cold war spy thrillers, I stumbled across "The Moscow Club" when it was first released in paperback in 1991. It's out of print now, but worth looking for.This is, bar none, the best, most engrossing spy novel I've ever read. Not only is it brutally realistic and eerily prescient (it was written just months before the Soviet Union fell), it's also the most accurate representation of Soviet/Russian politics I've ever read, and I'm a former Soviet Studies major.This is true can't-put-it-down novel. Intelligently written and probably a lot more real than we want to think--the concept that a few wealthy and powerful individuals really run the world isn't that far off--the fact that it was Joseph Finder's first novel is pretty impressive. His other books have been good, but nothing matches "The Moscow Club," which is not only a non-stop thrill ride, but also the most intelligently-written political thriller I've ever picked up. Nothing Tom Clancey has written even comes close to the brilliance of Finder's "Moscow Club." Don't miss it!

excellent read if you suspend some reality

Despite having exams to study for I could not put this book down for 3 days straight! As a student (and always will be) of Russia and Former Soviet Union I found it engrossing. Stone and his race across 3 continents against assassination of Cold War leaders and himself really built up to an excellent climax. Even better was some of the juicy tidbits of Soviet culture he put in there. However, Finder's accounts of the Katyn Forest were quite fictionalized. Perhaps, this was already in the press before the Soviet Union confessed to and reveal how it was perpetrated? He also speculated too much on Stone's reasoning that no matter what happened Russia would never let Ukraine be independent. Again this is hindsight and this was the classic Sovietologist belief at that time. One problem I had was the CIA-KGB conspiracy, this has been so beaten to death already. Has anyone ever seen the movie "The Package"? This sounded too much like too many overbaked KGB-CIA Kennedy assassination theories already out. At any rate if you enjoy reading about the FSU (glasnost period) and love a good thriller, I highly recommend this book.