POLITICAL THRILLER SET IN THE LAST DECADE OF THE SOVIET UNION WHERE DISILLUSIONED KGB AGENT OLEG MEDVEDEV USES HIS SKILLS TO SOLVE THE MYSTERIES OF A HIGH-PROFILE MURDER AND FOILS A PLOT TO STOP DEMOCRATIC REFORM.
During the last decade of the crumbling Soviet Union, a bitter struggle for dominance develops between the Red Army and the KGB. The main character is a KGB agent, Oleg Medvedev. The plot follows Oleg from his idealistic beginnings with the most feared agency in the land, to his becoming a mature, resourceful and lethal agent. A high-profile murder investigation takes Oleg from the halls of power in Moscow to the wild Carpathian Mountain where he uncovers a complex plot to assassinate the President of the Russian Republic and seize control of the government. Soon his own life is in mortal danger.
...exciting from start to finish. The historical details about the USSR as it was undergoing a monumental transition are tremendously interesting.
Seldom has a Russian spy seemed so exciting to follow as is Oleg in this novel by Rosenstein. Oleg calls to mind Phillip on the television program the The Americans. He is dashing and exciting and you root for him regardless of your political allegiances.--David Makovitz, Infectious Disease Professor, Researcher, Scientific Writer.
...a terrific read set against the background of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the conflicted role of the military during the Perestroika period as a force for change and a force committed to maintaining the status quo. The author, clearly fully at home in the Soviet milieu, clearly knows the Russian milieu from first-hand knowledge. But hes also fully at home describing a boar hunt or the aftereffects of a gunshot wound...and also the web of conflicting loyalties that accompany any nations radical transformation into something new and different. Quick-paced, clever, fully engaging, and very exciting--Double-Edged Sword will appeal to a wide range of readers young and old.--Martin S. Cohen, Novelist, Essayist, Editor, and Non-fiction Author.
In this taut, gritty thriller, Oleg Medvedev, a rising Soviet agent, finds himself at the heart of intrigue that threatens to overthrow the government. It is the 198s, and the Soviet Union is buffeted by the toll of a foreign war in Afghanistan, the factional paranoia of the KGB and the military, and the fears of dissidents and emergent democratization. Rosenstein paints a landscape of Soviet life reminiscent of Orwellian bleakness and Big Brother machinery. Driven by adventure as well as desire to protect the motherland, Oleg soon finds a world of physical and moral confusion, where even his own intentions might be a double-edged sword.--Arnold Hartstein, English Literature Professor.
...truly great. Engaging story and interesting characters. We particularly enjoyed the details about life in Soviet Russia. We had difficulty putting it down.--Funda Meric, Professor, Researcher, Scientific writer.
