The Cardinal of the Kremlin

Yet another Tom Clancy book, The Cardinal of the Kremlin is set at the height of the cold war, when tensions between Russia and America were at its peak. The KGB and CIA, the espionage and counter-intelligence agencies of the respective countries, are everywhere, trying to root out the other and place their own agents deep into enemy territory. The CIA are fortunate to have a very high ranking Russian official on their payroll, Mikhail Filitov. He has been there for many many years, and was a celebrated war hero during WWII. For the 20 years he has been active, nobody has suspected him. Until now. A careless mistake has compromised his safety, and the CIA move to get him out of Russia. But not until he can obtain information on the new secret weapon the Soviets are developing in the middle of Afghanistan. The Americans are working on a similar weapon, a laser designed to destroy incoming nuclear missiles. They wish to know of any new breakthroughs that the soviets might come up with. A deadly game of intrigue plays out, spies being caught and assassinations taking place. An American scientist working on the project was kidnapped by KGB agents, at the same time as the KGB arrest Filitov. yet the soviet location for their weapon couldn't be in a worse place, right in the middle of the fighting between the Russian Army and the Mujaheddin. A band of Afghan fighters sneak to the compound and overcome the defenders, destroying much of the equipment. Meanwhile, American spies uncovered a nasty fact about the Soviet Premier, and blackmail him to defect to the United States, and bring Filitov with him, or face the consequences of having the information revealed. This book is a riveting novel, and despite being quite long, is enjoyable to read, being understandable. In classic Tom Clancy style, the plot is developed slowly, information about the characters only totally revealed near the end where everything comes together at the climax.