It's the late 1970s, Mao is dead, and tensions are rising between the USSR and China. The US is set on a policy of detente, and doesn't want war between the two major communist powers--especially not a nuclear exchange. The cloud of radioactive fallout would reach the west coast of the US, with potentially major consequences.

The current Communist Party Chairman, Dimitrov, has convinced the President and the Secretary of State that he agrees with him and is the safeguard against a disastrous war. Unfortunately, he has leukemia, and is dying.

The US secretly agrees to send one of the world's leading leukemia experts, fortunately the son and grandson of Russian immigrants and a speaker of Russian, to treat Dimitrov and hopefully keep him alive long enough to attend an international meeting and sign a treaty.

Dr. Alex Cousins, né Kuznetsov, is off on an adventure he never expected or wanted.

It's not too bad at first, treating Dimitrov successfully and bringing him back to greater health, at least for now. But along the way, he learns a dangerous secret about Dimitrov's real plans for China. When it's time to go home, Alex finds himself being given the "gift" of a trip on the Trans-Siberian Express, through Siberia where both his father and grandfather spent important years of their lives, culminating in theory in a boat ride to Yokohama and a plane trip home.

Alex doesn't believe he'll ever make it, unless he can find a way to get his dangerous message to US authorities before he's stopped.

Along the way, we see both the grimness of the Soviet system, and glimpses of what the Russians, especially the Siberians, love about their country. A beautiful Russian history professor, recruited back into KGB employment she left ten years ago, Dimitrov's hatchet man Zeldovich, assorted other KGB agents, a carload full of KGB soldiers, and even the railroad steward staff are all either really watching Alex, or making him feel that they are. The deeper they get into Siberia, the more events and misunderstandings and all too real conflicts ratchet up the tension and the danger.

This is a very solid political thriller set in a half-forgotten period of our recent history, when the collapse of the Soviet Union was still unthinkable, and Mutual Assured Destruction was what was keeping us all alive.

Recommended.

I rarely am overcome by emotion at the ending of a book, especially when I know how it must end. This book was the exception. I met so many interesting and complex characters in the book and I could understand and appreciate all of them. Dr. Cousins, the main character, was richly developed as he gains a new sense of relationship to the world as a result of his experiences. The train itself became a character as it hurtled across Siberia bringing all of the travelers to epiphanies in their lives. The descriptions were good enough to bring the train and the landscape to life, but were never intrusive. It was impossible not to form opinions about all the travelers, and about their eventual ends. The reader becomes enveloped in the story until it seems to be going on around you in life. If you read this book, you should be prepared to be entranced, captivated and totally involved. And you should read this book.

As a child growing up during the Cold War, anything taking place in the USSR interested me. Mr Adlers book about riding across the continent (6000 miles), all the while with KGB intrigue, Soviet defense personnel, "regular" Soviets, Australians, Brits and of course, the famed Soviet efficiency from the service personnel, weaves a mighty fine tale that I rarely skimmed through. Skimming is my personal yardstick of how good a book was. If you yearn for the "good ole days," of the Cold War, you love trains or you just like a good book with interesting people, places and things, this is a book you should definitely buy and read right now.

http://manoflabook.com/wp/?p=10385

An excellent read. Gave you a real feel of how vast Siberia is and the paranoia of the time.