Soul of Viktor Tronko

by David Quammen

Book Overview

Quammen provides an intricately plotted spy thriller in which a reporter stumbles upon a 20-year-old story about Soviet moles which plunges him into a dizzying whirlpool of dangerous intrigue and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385195966
• ISBN13: 9780385195966
• Release Date: May 1987
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent, sophisticated.

I read this book several years ago. One of the better, more cerebral espionage books I've ever read. Been trying to find his other spy book (i.e., "Zolta"), but its out of print. Too bad the author does not appear to be writing this type of fiction anymore--while his nature stuff is good, I'd love to see him fill the void left by Adam Hall.

Worth digging around to find

It's a spy-thriller type book, the story of a journalist who starts rooting around in CIA affairs, trying to find the truth about a man named Viktor Tronko. Tronko was a Soviet, who may have been a defector, or maybe a ruse; in any case he told the Americans some pretty important information. If they believe it. The novel swarms with characters, all of them realistic and lifelike, all imaginative. Although the facts and people become confusing after awhile, the end is very satisfying and definately worth reading to. It's also amusing that Quammen wrote a novel wherein the main character is a middle-aged journalist who enjoys writing about nature (and through that about people) and has a fetish for Eugene Marais. The writing is very good, the story although confusing is interesting.