The Russian Endgame by Allan Topol
November 5th, 2013

"The Russian Endgame" is the last of a trilogy in the "Craig Page Thriller" series by Topol. It's very much in the tradition of Ludlum and Clancy as a nail-biter of a spy thriller.

Topol doesn't mince words. His style is direct and description is sparse, but effective in getting across the fact that post-Cold War East-West relations are still pretty frigid. In this Endgame chapter the EU Director of Counterterrorism Agency, Craig Page, is invited back to the CIA as its director by the new president following the assassination of the previous president. Page tried unsuccessfully to get his predecessor at the CIA to act on a strong tip that a former Russian KGB agent was headed for the US to undertake some major act of terrorism. As a result, that spy, Orlov, acting on behalf of both Chinese and Russian presidents, managed to recruit a Pakistani sleeper to carry out an assassination of the US president. I won't reveal more of the plot than this, although there are plenty more chilling episodes in the book- more than enough to keep the interest of those who like a good spy thriller.

For the most part the plot seems plausible, and very chilling at that. "The Russian Endgame" makes it very clear that in the amoral world of espionage there is more dis-information generated than truthful accounting of what is going on in foreign affairs today. The recent revelations of phone taps on the major leaders of the world is no doubt just the tip of the iceberg.

Spy thriller enthusiasts will have a hard time putting "The Russian Endgame" down.

Reviewed from a supplied copy.

Liz Nichols

September 27, 2013

"The Russian Endgame" is a novel of greed, revenge and international intrigue involving, Moscow, Beijing, Washington and Paris. Former Russian KGB agent Dimitri Orlov devises a plan to make Russia a superpower prepared to compete with the United States and China. His plan involves convincing Russian President Kuznov to form an alliance with China in which the two superpowers will strike at the United States and Europe in a joint operation.

Director of EU Counterterrorism, Craig Page, has a history with Chinese General Zhou and is out for revenge for the murder of his only child, Francesca. As Page plots, executes, and fails in his revenge on General Zhou, circumstances in China change. General Zhou becomes China's new President and meets with Orlov. Together they make plans to unite Russia and China in a common goal. Zhou insists that Orlov prove his sincerity by assassinating U.S. President Dalton.

As suspicions grow regarding President Zhou's involvement with Orlov, Page, who has become the new CIA Director under new U.S. President Treadwell, works to prove Zhou's connection. Page joins forces with journalist Elizabeth Crowder to bring down Zhou before he manipulates Orlov into a new operation, stealing potentially devastating military technology capable of destroying the world as he knows it.

The characters in "The Russian Endgame" are believable with real problems and emotions. Topol's descriptions were vivid and clear. The plot has fast pacing. Unfortunately, the dialogue didn't distinguish the characters, with several of them sounding alike.

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FTC Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided by its publisher.

In addition to his columns on Examiner.com, Terry Ambrose (<themysterywriter.com) also writes mysteries and suspense. <The San Francisco Book Review said of his latest novel, "On all levels License to Lie justifiably earned this five-star rating!"

October 8, 2013

In The Russian Endgame, the third and last book in his Craig Page trilogy, Director of EU Counterterrorism Craig Page, along with Elizabeth Crowder, is out to get vengeance on the Chinese General Zhou, and also thwart the attempts of former KGB agent, Dmitri Orlov, from a plot to assassinate the President of the United States and seizing classified military weaponry capable of shifting the balance of world power.

Author Allan Topol has written a thrill-packed roller-coaster of a novel which is sure to keep you awake late into the night turning the pages. It's a thriller which shifts back and forth between four main settings, Moscow, Beijing, Paris, and Washington, with exotic locales like Indonesia and Bali thrown in for good measure.

Dmitri Orlov has amassed a fortune through his KGB activities and connections, and his sister is sleeping with General Zhou. Orlov develops a scheme to meet with President Kuznov of Russia, who is an old acquaintance/friend of his. Orlov wants to convince Kuznov to go along with a plan which will eventually result in an alliance between Russia and China, and then to Russia gaining world dominance, and the collapse of America.

Craig Page, who is living in Paris, France at the outset of the novel, wants to have General Zhou extradited to Spain to stand trial for his involvement in trying to take over Spain in the second book of the series, Spanish Revenge (the first book is The China Gambit).

However, there is no extradition agreement between Indonesia and Spain, so Craig Page decides to kidnap General Zhou with the help of a team of other men and bring him back to Spain. It is a great idea, but General Zhou gets warned, and he has extra guards flown in from China to prepare for the assault.

When Zhou escapes being kidnapped, Craig believes that what was perhaps his best chance to get revenge on him for murdering his only daughter, Francesca, is gone. But, he will find that he has other opportunities ahead of him, and that his efforts are needed to try to prevent Orlov from gaining the advanced military technology he's after, assassinating the President, and bringing about the end of the United States as we know it.

Eventually, Orlov's plan looks like it's coming to fruition. General Zhou does become the new President of China, and meets with Orlov to discuss how best to put the rest of their plans into motion.

President Zhou demands that Orlov prove that he is sincere in their common goal to bring America to its knees. The way he can show his sincerity is through assassinating U.S. President Dalton.

In the meantime, Craig Page is advancing in his career, and has become the new CIA Director. The President of the U.S. is Treadwell – he defeated Dalton in the last election. Page works to gather evidence that Zhou is involved in the plot to destroy America.

Page and the journalist, Elizabeth Crowder, join up to try to stop Zhou before he can use Orlov as his tool to steal the advanced military technology that I've already mentioned.

The Russian Endgame is a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, and reading it is like a rush of adrenaline in your veins. The characters are three-dimensional and believable, and it's a book you won't want to put down. It can be enjoyed as a stand-alone, though I highly recommend that you also check out the first two books in Topol's Craig Page trilogy, The China Gambit and Spanish Revenge.

Written by: Douglas Cobb