"Red Sky at Noon" is the third book in Simon Sebag Montefiore's Moscow Trilogy, which begins with the terrific "Sashenka" and ends with "Red Sky at Noon." Of these, the first novel is by far the best, the second a disappointment, but the third book, this one, is somewhere in between. It covers a lesser known event in Soviet history when Stalin released prisoners from the Gulag to fight in penal battalions during World War II. Writer Benya Golden has been working in a mine in his particular Gulag and jumps at the chance to serve his country, survive his sentence, anything, anything. The brutal whimsicality of the Soviet system is again on display, but there is a chance that it will work out for Benya.

Sequentially, this book falls in the middle of the story, and there's no reason to read them in order. Not wanting to toss spoilers in to the mix, you may know what happens to Benya in "One Night In Winter", but go along anyway. "Red Sky" lacks the emotional charge of "Sashenka" but it is a still a gripping story with characters who grow on you.

It's amazing that between one Terror or another, there were any Soviets left to fight in WWII and survive into the further horrors of the late '40s and early '50s. Montefiore does an excellent job of personalizing the history and showing the human cost of these programs.

It’s a shame that this book is the conclusion to Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Russian trilogy. Red Sky at Noon, while it has an interesting premise, is laden with a ludicrous romance plot and ahistorical scenes featuring Josef Stalin and Svetlana Stalina that made it hard for me to take the book seriously. I was so excited about this book since I’m a sucker for books about the Red Army during World War II and novels set in Russia before the end of the world in general. If this book had left out the subplots and focused on its protagonist, Benya Golden, I think it would have been an excellent read. Instead, it’s a melodramatic mess.

Benya Golden, like many people sent to the gulag during the purges of the 1930s, has only one option to rejoin Soviet society. He must volunteer for a prisoner battalion. As a shtrafniki, Benya has to serve in whatever function the Red Army gives him and survive being wounded. Only then will he “redeem” himself. Benya is fortunate in that he’s not just sent to the infantry. Instead, he’s turned into a cavalryman, trained by Don Cossack prisoners and a purged general. After receiving more training than many of the Red Army’s draftees and volunteers, Benya is sent to Ukraine in the days before the Battle of Stalingrad. He has a greater chance of dying, given the way the high command threw their men against the Nazis. I lost count of how many times Benya almost got killed.

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Soviet cavalry (Image via Gettyimages)
The chapters with Benya just trying to survive at the best parts of Red Sky at Noon. Unfortunately, the good parts are mixed in with a far-fetched romance plot in which Benya falls in instant love with an Italian nurse who instantly falls in love with him. While armies are raging across Ukraine, they somehow find time to dally. And then, even worse, there are chapters centered on Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana, that I just couldn’t believe. I hate it when fiction creates dialog and scenes for actual historical figures that can’t be supported by actual history.

I was very disappointed by Red Sky at Noon. It tried to do too many things that I just found ridiculous. If you choose to read this, skip the Svetlana sections entirely. The book works just fine without them.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 2 January 2018.