The Charm School

Sylvester walks nonchalantly into the apartment, a stack of today's mail in his hand. There is an advertising flyer from the florist. "Say it with flowers." He enters the dining room. Roses on the table. Moving quickly and quietly into the living room, he views a plain wicker basket of plants on top of the tv cabinet, overflowing with an abundance of intensely purple petals. Violets on television. He reflects on the video game he saw being played by a youth at the corner convenience store. Measurable levels of health, strength, weapons, and funds were prominently displayed to the side of the on-screen virtual-reality activity. You must maintain a high level of energy to continue the battle against a tough, well-armed, skilled, and resourceful opponent. Otherwise game over. He sits on a sofa cushion, opens a long envelope, and begins to read the review of a recently cancelled television series, modernized and loosely adapted from the theme from Nelson DeMille's 1989 novel, The Charm School. Reality check: You expect a middle-aged, overweight, out-of-shape desk-jockey technocrat, purported to be a mid-level Air Force manager and ex-Jet Fighter Pilot, assigned to an embasy post in the USSR. Someone who sort of reminds you of another DeMille character, the joke-cracking "legal eagle" wise guy--John "Rambo He's Not" Sutter, only all grown up and matured now. What you get instead is the character of Sam "Haul Ass" Hollis, a walking-talking Hardened-Man Dynamo of excess energy and instability, who appears to be on a daily-regimen combination of steroids and "Viagra," yet his is a healthy diet of pure natural foods, rich in body-building proteins, vital nutrients, and source vitamins. Must be the fresh air and exercise.He goes out to explore Moscow only to discover the food is terrible, the service is worse than intolerable, and he can't seem to get decent results in any of his search efforts. As a matter of taste, there's no Cordon Bleau Cooking School influence to be found anywhere; refinement, no Butler academy graduates in the vicinity to lend a helping hand in a pinch; or, for purposes of on-going professional development, ready access to a spare F-15 in reasonably close proximity is simply not there. To add insult to injury, he is badly mistreated by some of the local inhabitants. His rivals bully and intimidate him. Apparently, he doesn't understand the country, or it's long history of traditions and local customs. He certainly does not fully comprehend the mentality and brutality of his KGB counterparts. Be forewarned: the plot of the novel may seem far-fetched, preposterous, even, bizarre at times, "nyet"--impossible. Hollis has the primary mission of locating missing U.S. Air Force pilots from the conflict in Viet Nam, who may have been re-located to Russia, for some inexplicable reason. He asks around for possible leads and follows up on some of the information he receives. His boss, the embasy station chief, Seth "All Systems Go" Alevy encourages Hollis in his duties, provides guidance, and tasks his ex-girlfriend with assisting him. The boss does reveal his conflicted "inner-child" and war-mongering tendencies in the process. For example, he includes weapons of mass descruction in his contingency plans--a worse case scenario, one might suppose. He seeks to make a profit on his business ventures in Moscow, but this is not a high priority. In contrast, he is generous to a fault and is a prolific giver of gifts. Hollis's new girlfriend, then, Lisa "Tsarina" Rhodes is allegedly young, beautiful, scholarly, and sexy. You wonder if she and Hollis didn't fall in love, she might have been a "sleeper," on her way to the pinnacle of the personnel charts within the diplomatic corps. The real trouble begins when Hollis invites Lisa along on one of his fact-finding missions into the vastly remote countryside and isolated villages some distance away from the center of Moscow. Here, you are cautiously reminded, that there are some places in the world where you just wouldn't want to go wandering around without at least two or three Army Divisions, plus some extra Marines, and dedicated air support. I would not want to hazard a wild guess or contemplate any of the more serious implications of Hollis's and Alevy's decision-making process and their ultimately chosen courses of action in a real-world scenario. One can only be thankful and feel humbled that the novel is merely an extension of some kind-hearted, sentimental narrator's hyper-active imagination running rampant, but you can't help but wonder from where the meglomaniac personality and the persecution-complex induced tendencies for revenge and supreme domination springs forth. As if they had gone on some incredible road trip or a mind-blowing ego trip, but really wanted to go on the world's scariest roller coaster ride. You might also be curious what they do to relax, chill out, and calm down afterwards. What would they do for an encore? Another covert military operation? Oddly enough, Sam, Lisa, and Seth do sort of remind me of the three principal characters in "Star Wars," if you really want to stretch the point of an "evil empire" way out there into the farthest reaches of the galaxy. They get to drive around town and drag main in a cool transport vehicle. All in all a considerable amount of team research and "boots on the ground" detail went into producing every single chapter of this novel and packing it with interesting facts and information about the host nation. The reader should bear in mind, however, that the world has changed drastically since the time when the novel was first published. Currently, there are so many extremely dangerous, extraneous trouble-makers in the world stirring the pot who originate in several other high profile countries around the globe. Nonetheless, the U.S. and Russia remain steadfast and ideologically opposed. They both strive to expand their influence throughout the rest of the world. A stalemate as far as most are concerned.

The suspense begins on page one. The lead character is very strong although a llitte roo sarcastic at times . But the relation ship story helps keeps him Human. There are areas where I realized I waa holding my breath. This story could be happening right now. It is contemporary even though it is in the past . Russia has not changed.

I first read this book about 30 years ago and it made me a lifelong fan of Nelson DeMille. I recently reread it and it is just as good as I remembered. It's a spy-versus-spy story in an oppressive Cold War Russia setting. The storyline alternates between surprising, suspenseful, and satisfying. The characters are typical DeMille, smart with a healthy side of smartass. Although the cold war has been over for many years, this is still an excellent read, and perfectly captures the sentiments and fears of the time. Highly recommended.

I came across this earlier demille book—I am a big fan and thought I had read them all—and what a great read it is! Highly recommended!

the characters are believable and capture you and drag you into their world. Moscow comes alive as you walk the streets or eat in the restaurants. You find yourself with a bond for the common people and a deep dislike for the leaders who run Russia. This is a true work of art!

Best Demille I have ever read! Wait! One of the finest books I have ever read. A thriller ! Every page a page turner. 800 pages of thrills. And that last 100? Wow! Takes place in the late 80’s but apply now as well. What a ride !

This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. The story and characters are incredibly well designed. I plan to read more of DeMille in the future!!

I read this book the first time about 30 years ago. It's so worth your time to read. I'd forgotten how good Denville writs.

Typical farce about middle aged, old fart running about with a 'highly educated' yet oddly child like and stunted, hot, (very) young woman.She of course longs to be passed about by him, which I'm sure will be described in toe curling, lurid detail.I would suggest to read this if you like slow burners with no suspense. I gave up when the crusty takes the bimbo to a morgue (after she begged and snivelled to be taken outside the compound) and crusty employs his full mcguyver skills - jimmying locks and climbing walls to get in. There's not much finesse for a spy novel and suspension of belief is strongly recommended. Wouldn't be surprised at some point if he's caught blatantly eavesdropping. I know it's fiction, but I was expecting something with a little more realism.As a plus, if you long for the days when female characters were only added to be ogled and tell the crusty old dude how brilliant he is this is it. The female is literally some titsy red head who burbles random 'facts' about herself as character building. There's an awful part where crusty puts a coin in her and she remarks that she (of course) is forgotten Russian royalty. Crusty then examines her face in a scene that parrells crufts and examine her features for traces of Russia. For some reason this American thinks they all sprung from the earth of America itself and seems shocked to realise European features means European heritage.

This was an excellent book that kept my attention from beginning to end with a story that was quite complex and had many facets, each adding to the drama as it unfolded. There were some excellent well developed characters throughout the tale, each contributing to the plot by different degrees, to my mind, adding to it and increasing the tension that I always felt was present in this book. The main two characters were very likeable and this contributed to my enjoyment along with a fair helping of romance, humour, action and drama which kept things moving along to a noteworthy conclusion. Recommended.

Boy, was this book hard to put down. I don't consider myself a fan of thrillers and espionage novels, but if they're all this good, I'll have to reconsider. Usually when I read a genre novel, I find myself thinking "I bet he's going to...". But with this book, I was happy to be wrong most of the timesIt's not just straightforward spy vs spy, as in KGB vs CIA. The American side is split between Defense Intelligence, CIA and State Department intelligence each with their own agendas.I was pleased not all Russians were KGB baddies. There were some more sympathetic Russian characters too. If anything, the American diplomatic personnel came off worse than the Russians.That's not to say it's perfect. The book loses one star for Sam Holis, the main character, being the stuff of cliché. And the female lead is a bit of a token woman. But other characters such as the CIA chief Seth Alevy and KGB villain Petre Burov more than compensate.

I only 'found' Nelson de Mille recently. The Charm School was recommended by a relative. it's a real page turner. Set in Russia in the 80's during the cold war. I would never have chosen it, but valued the opinion of my relative. Honestly, I couldn't put it down.The author takes you down one road, where you think you know what's going to happen, then off on another road, it's a roller coaster ride! If you like spy thrillers and I didn't know I did - get it, read it and enjoy!

Slow for 60% then gripping for 40%. Well worth the wait though first half was seeing the scene albeit, methodically.