The Orlov Legacy By Robert Marcum Deseret Book, 1996. Trade paperback: 386 pages. ISBN: 1-57345-146-0 Suggested retail price: $13.95 (US)
Reviewed by: Dave Combe

This book is very much a mixed bag.

As a mystery/spy story, it is a good read. Current events are revealed to be tied to past World War II events (I don't want to give too much away here), and this story seems part and parcal of the mass of current fiction that does this. The book shares some of the characteristics of this group of writers, and in my own mind I found myself comparing this book to the Clancy/Grishom type of book we are seeing so much of now days.

This comparision is not entirely complementary. Like Clancy and Grishom, the emphasis is on a fast paced plot line. Like Clancy and Grishom (in my opinion), The Orlov Legacy is stongest in having a good, fast-paced plot. But like these two writers, the book is weak in character development, and abounds in cliche. Like much of contemporary fiction, the storyline is far superior to the actaul writing.

The history of the book seems factual to me, meaning that what I understand of the WWW underground in Europe, the historical development of the OSS under Donovan, and similar material agree with other non-fiction material on these topics I have read. The USSR/Russian material seem right. I was reminded of years ago when I read Gorky Park how I felt as though I really did not know how the Soviet police operated, but the book reflected my assumptions about how they would operate, whether it was true or not.

There is what appears to an error in the historical record when a character notes that the Hope Diamand is in the crown of the monarch of the United Kingdom. So far as I recall, I saw it at the Smithsonian, and some brief research on my part indicated that the Hope was still there. (World Book Emncyclopedia, 1996 edition)

The book is published by Deseret, and is clearly written to the LDS audience. Robert Marcum has written several other books, none of which I have read. The book's "mormon-ness" seems both "LDS politically correct" and yet oddly distant.

For example, early in the book, the main character, Alex Barrett reads the paper where "the Tribune ranted about another scholar being excommunicated from the Church -- the indignant voice calling foul again". Alex's sister is pregnant by her now separated husband. She is inactive in the church, and considers an abortion, briefly. Yet at the same time, other then one character attending a Sacrament meeting, there just isn't much Church here. All of the little things that make people recognizably LDS just aren't around. It read to me as though the author wanted to establish the LDS credential but not have it be too LDS. The book may well suffer from the problem of not being LDS enough for some readers and too LDS for others. This has the potential of limiting the book's market.

As I read over this, it seems more negative then I really want it to be. As I began, this is a good read. For those who have read Clancy or Grishom and enjoyed them, they will like this book. For those who tried them and didn't like the language, the violence (there is violence in this book, and one scene involving torture, for the squimish) or the portrayal of sex in Grishom or Clancy, this book does not have as much of those potential negatives. A good part of the violence happens off-stage (a crime is discovered and becomes clear as it is investigated, for example). The language is purer then the driven snow compared to most books of this genre. There are a couple of times when couple kiss. Only the most strict of readers will find anything in these areas to bother them.

Dave Combe    
dcombe@rain.org    http://www.rain.org/~dcombe/dave.html