THE RED DOVE

by Derek Lambert ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 3, 1983

Plot, counter-plot, and brightly busy espionage--as the US schemes to arrange for the defection of a Soviet cosmonaut. . . while the USSR develops two simultaneous (alternate) plans to destroy America's space potential. The Reagan-like US Prez needs a preelection publicity boost--a ""spectacular,"" he says--and the CIA comes up with one: bitter ex-astronaut Robert Massey, who was drummed out of the space program after some excessive dÉtente-ish remarks, will be recruited to stage his own fake-defection in Moscow, then to infiltrate the USSR space program and persuade young superstar/cosmonaut Nicolay Talin to defect to the US! But how will Massey convince the KGB of his sincerity? By giving the USSR computer codes to the US space program--with sub rosa cooperation by the US space-people, of course. So, while defector Massey enters training as a Soviet cosmonaut and starts cozying up to Talin (who has shown anti-Soviet tendencies), the USSR is happily planning to sabotage the US space program via computer disinformation. (Good news for the USSR President, who prefers this alternative to the Minister of Defense's plan: a limited nuclear attack on America's five space-flight centers.) The KGB does start to suspect Massey, however; an East German assassin is on the loose; Massey has ambivalent feelings about the whole scheme--as does would-be-defector Talin, who's blissfully in love with a Bolshoi ballerina (and intensely attached to his older, patriotic cosmonaut-mentor). But the defection plan does go ahead, leading up to the big finale on the day of the launch of Russia's new space-shuttle (Dove II). . . which Talin now plans to fly right over to America. A trifle over-knotted, perhaps, and more whimsical than gripping--but smart, snappy work from the reliable author of The Yermakov Transfer and Touch the Lion's Paw: an inventive mixture of space-tech, computers, spies, and politics.

Pub Date: June 3, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION