THE KHRUSHCHEV OBJECTIVE

by Christopher & Noel Hynd Creighton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 20, 1986

Hynd (Flowers from Berlin, etc.) teams up with the pseudonymous ex-WW II spy ""Christopher Creighton"" to create a story of the British Naval Intelligence defusing an international incident involving Khrushchev, Bulganin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and the Grand Duchess Marie--in this factually based adventure centering on the first visit of the Soviet leaders to England and on the mysterious death of frogman Lionel Crabb. The Official Secrets Act is without a doubt the handiest legislation imaginable when it comes to backdated British thrillers. The act continues to veil ancient acts of war and espionage in official secrecy, thereby lending authenticity to any number of fictional treatments of actual WW II and Cold War events. One such event is the death of Lionel Crabb, the retired Navy diver whose headless body surfaced near Portsmouth, England, shortly after Khrushchev's visit to the United Kingdom. Here, Crabb is sucked into an elaborate effort to protect the visiting Soviets from an assassination attempt by wealthy White Russians and their anti-communist German chums. The fanatical Czarists have kidnapped their own Empress Marie Nicolayevna Romanova, who turns out not to have been done in by the beastly Bolshies after all. It's up to Christopher Creighton, called to active intelligence duty by Marie's cousin Lord Louis, to free the Empress and then protect the lives of the very men who rule her one-time empire. At the same time, Creighton has to cope with a wildly demented Anthony Eden. Stuffy, but plausible enough to keep reading.

Pub Date: Feb. 20, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION