The Icon - by Frederick Forsyth

Here we go again! The bad Russians are up to some mischief and so the good guys, of course, the Americans are more than determined to thwart them. This, in a nutshell, is the plot of Frederick Forsyth’s “The icon”.

Be forewarned! The cast of characters on the American, British and Russian sides at the beginning of the book does give you an idea about how difficult it is gonna be to keep track of all the “ov”s that will soon crawl out of the woodwork but it’s still difficult when you actually start reading it.

It all begins when an ultra-secret document called “Black Manifesto” is stolen out of the party headquarters of the popular Russian presidential candidate Igor Komarov. The document contains all of Komarov’s plans for the minorities of Russia when he is elected to power – in short, a blueprint for genocide and ethnic cleansing. A damning evidence, if ever brought to the world’s attention!

In a bizarre twist of events, the Manifesto does come to the attention of the Brits but they along with their CIA buddies are barred from taking any “overt” or “covert” action by their governments. Time for an ultra-subvert Operation! Enter Her Majesty’s Secret Service chief Sir Nigel Irvine and Ex-CIA operative Jason Monk. Jason has had an experience of running a spy network in Russia and so is Irvine’s only choice for this mission. Does he or does he not subvert Komarov?

First, the pluses! It’s pure enjoyment to read about how spy networks are run, documents exchanged and messages conveyed in the espionage world. It’s also engaging to read how Jason’s seemingly unrelated actions are part of his overall plan of subversion and the final drama that is played out on the streets of Moscow on New Year’s Eve. And then there are some references to the real-life Soviet mole Aldrich Ames who was burrowed deep into the CIA.

The negatives? Well, I did warn you about the huge cast that you might find difficult to keep track of – especially the Russian names. Then the narrative keeps shifting between the time Jason ran his spy network and the present – it jars at many places, especially if you have 2-3 days’ gaps between your consecutive readings.

Hey, but if you can live with these, then you gotta read “The Icon” :-)