THE MAN WITH THE PRESIDENT'S MIND

by Ted Allbeury ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1978

Allbeury (Omega-Minus) is a moderately skillful craftsman who regularly lumbers himself with plots of numbing implausibility. Here, for starters, the militarily superior Soviets ""want a war, a world war, now or next year,"" so they demolish the Berlin Wall and prepare to ""take"" Europe in three days. Not unlikely enough for you? Well, an essential element of this plan is predicting the reactions of US Pres. Langham--by setting up an Oval Office replica near Kiev and installing therein an ""extraordinarily handsome"" Russian professor, whose character and life history somewhat resemble those of the Prez. The Prof has to listen to American jazz, watch American TV, speak English, and react American-ly as they test out their strategies on him. Not surprisingly, the Prof gets fed up with this deal--especially after the Soviets murder (or have they?) the Irish Communist beauty who's been his constant companion--and he winds up in America (don't ask how), trying to warn the White House, evade assassins from Moscow, and reunite with Commie colleen Clodagh, who's not dead after all. Some of the action scenes are neatly engineered, but the mixture of blatant foolishness with quasi-authentic international relations is a drag--Allbeury should have found a cleverer, happier medium for his anti-detente message.

Pub Date: March 1, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION