If you are expecting a spy novel the likes of Robert Ludlum or even Ian Fleming then this isn't it. It was very slow moving and probably what being a spy is really like. Scott Stoddard is newly married to the beautiful and very rich Desiree. He is a college student in Switzerland and she is a 29-year-old divorcee. The book takes place in 1964 and Scott's status for the draft is changed to 1-A. He is tested for the service and does so well he is forced to work for the CIA undercover or be sent to Vietnam.

I felt the writing was flat and one-dimensional. It was the 60's but I had no feel for the time frame other than the Vietnam war being mentioned. Desiree is hounded by paparazzi but it was never explained what made her so fascinating other than her money. As Scott's wife and mother of his child the character was never developed other than a pretty thing with good clothes and a great deal of money and a social life that means a lot to her. Scott seems resentful that he is forced to work for them and wants to be fired but he also seems to be doing what he can to accomplish their goal even while being a bit rebellious. I never did understand what exactly Scott was doing. With a half hour left in the book when I should be getting excited for the conclusion I found I no longer cared what he was doing or why.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my opinion.

As spy novels go, this one seems a bit on the bland side. Perhaps the world of spies is more like that which is described here than it is in the books and stories to which we are accustomed. It is not a fast paced story; it is, in human terms, very easy to accept. It is politically very interesting.

The Vietnam War Era was a fraught period in both American and world history. Keeping this time period in mind, the events leading to Scott Stoddard's recruitment seem more believable than I would believe could happen today. I found myself looking at the incidents told here from the point of view of a student (in 1964) and a member of the military (1966). By 1969, I found myself in a march against the war.

I believe that for at least the first two thirds of the book, I was leaning toward a 3-star review; however, upon completion and further reflection, and the very good writing, it does indeed deserve a 4-star rating.

Those of us who grew up reading Ian Fleming and Frederick Forsyth will inevitably look for action and nail biting situation in a spy thriller. Gary Dickson gives us a different look by providing a more mundane experience. A spy need not be capable of jumping tall buildings in a single bound, he can be a rather intelligent, albeit normal, guy who can get the job done and walk away unscathed.

A good read, entertaining and engrossing. I liked the vivid historical background, the cast of characters and the plot.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I wish to thank Net Galley and the publisher Greenleaf Book Group for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a spy novel which really drew me to it as I usually enjoy this type of read. An American Student studying in Geneva marries a beautiful, wealthy, Countess. He thinks his life is perfect. While on his honeymoon he receives a draft notice to serve in the Vietnam War. He does not want to go and considers giving up his citizenship so he can avoid it. He goes to Germany to be tested and does so well that he finds himself being approached by the CIA to become an agent. The story just does not seem believable on so many levels. I finished the book but just did not love it. Although it is set in the Vietnam era it is not a Vietnam book. It deals mostly with activities in Switzerland, France and Germany.

I found the title of the book to be great but the book was a slow read and one I just could not get excited about it.

I was interested in reading this book because I enjoy spy tales. The author has a good story line, set in Europe during the Vietnam War. An American who has married a wealthy European woman, is anxious to enjoy family life. But in order to avoid the draft, Scott is given the opportunity to spy instead of returning to America to join the military. While many of the details are interesting, there was a lot of confusion about what the objective was. The story was slow and I had a difficult time keeping engaged and following who was who.
I did find the history of the Vietnam era from the viewpoint of those living in Europe, eye opening. I'm sure a lot of research went into this book.

While on his honeymoon Scott Stoddard receives notice to report for testing. He is a United States citizen living in Geneva going to school when he meets his wife, Desiree. In order not to be called up as a 1-A draftee he changes his citizenship from U.S. to Swiss and French. Then he starts doing journalism as a cover working for the the U.S. government. Scott makes himself known as a controversial figure to draw the attention of people the government is wanting to know more about. I thought the story was good but got a little drawn out in places.

It's 1964 and Scott Stoddard, an American graduate student in Geneva, has just married a wealthy countess, Desiree in Paris and they are honeymooning in Provence when Scott receives a draft notice. Desiree is three months pregnant, and they just want to be together and have fun. However, Scott reports to a base in Germany to get his physical and take some tests. Then, he needs to be tested again. It turns out that he has done so well on these tests that he is being recruited by the CIA.

Scott gives up his US citizenship and becomes a Swiss and French citizen. He begins writing articles for a left-wing newspaper complaining about the Vietnam War and other thinks and gets an in with German student activists and a left wing Paris group. Meanwhile, Desiree has the baby, Celene, and Scott would like to spend more time with them instead of bouncing back and forth to Berlin and Paris. He keeps asking his director in the CIA to be let off. He finally makes a plan which works.

The story is not really realistic, but it's a good yarn with humor, well told, and I enjoyed it.

I am not the most sophisticated reader, but I could not get my brain to digest more than about 10 percent of this novel. To me, it read like an adult version of “My Weekly Reader”. With extremely simplistic dialogue and sentence structure, I felt the story line and unbelievable main characters most closely resembled a mediocre TV soap opera. Sorry, this one just didn’t work for me at all.

This is a hard one to review. The cover is gorgeous. The story is very good. But - there are quite a few buts. It started very slow, in fact the pace was never that fast. It’s a spy story so I expected some twists, a convoluted story perhaps and I really love that stuff but it got so knotty at times I struggled to follow it once we got into the nitty gritty.

The other thing that struck was the tone of the writing was very dispassionate, where was the emotion? Also the main characters were in the glitterati, the jet set, filthy rich and happy to flaunt it. This is so far removed from my life and, I would suggest, many others that this, along with the dispassionate writing made it difficult (well impossible for me) to relate to or identify with any of the characters. The style was also odd. Set in the mid 1960s during the height of the Cold War and the ramping up of the Vietnam War, all the lavish parties, rich dinners and lengthy descriptions of designer clothing and jewellery gave it a feel more like the 50s, almost Gatsby although that is earlier again. I can see that many would really enjoy this and the writer certainly has something. Unfortunately I didn’t find much of it this time around.

I tried to get into this one but just could not find my way - the characters and story were fine, but they never grabbed me the way I expected them to, given the premise... I am just not a good fit for this one.

Very good story of an American student in Switzerland who marries a countess and then gets drafted. He goes to Germany to take tests and does so well that he is recruited to become a spy instead of going to fight in Vietnam. Under cover of being a journalist, he travels and investigates what's going on. Of course, he also has to be there for his wife and child...