Title: The Dogs of Lenin
Author: Linda Freeny
Publisher: Toplink Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1949502688
Pages: 476
Genre: Suspense Thrillers/Literature & Fiction
Reviewed by: Tony Espinoza
Hollywood Book Reviews
Establishing trust is one of the oldest and most hard-fought battles one can make on a personal level. Whether it is to build trust between a body of government and its people or to build the trust between a would-be couple, trust is an essential bond which people must have to truly create a healthy and meaningful relationship. As Sir Issac Newton once said, “I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
In author Linda Freeny’s The Dogs of Lenin, the author explores the concept of trust through a doomed relationship between two people. Lisa Danton and Grant Chandler were young and in love, and yet despite their love for one another, they knew they were destined to move down different paths. They persisted in their relationship, despite her desire to become a journalist and his passion for activism and hatred of the media establishment, but in the end their relationship is doomed to fail. Over the span of decades, each moves along their chosen paths, but when Grant discovers the locations of Russian plants extends to Lisa’s own network, he must reach out to her in hopes she can lead him and his underground movement to the Russian plant. Yet can he trust her, or is she now untrustworthy and joined with those he opposes?
This is a well-written and engaging story. The author does an incredible job of balancing character development and suspense, weaving in and out of the narrative’s many timelines as the relationship between these two protagonists is explored in full. Their frayed relationship is the perfect way to analyze the torn relationship which has always existed between the United States and Russian governments. The way the author balances the suspense of the political and espionage elements of this narrative with the more personal development of the protagonists, creates a huge draw for readers, and captures the haunting and fearful state of emotions that most people felt during the Cold War era.
This is the perfect read for those who enjoy mysteries and thrillers, as well as suspenseful tales of espionage and a hint of romance and history. As a fan of these genres, I was immediately drawn into the struggles and conflicts these characters endured, and found the period settings of these various eras a great way of exploring the evolution and mindset of these protagonists as the story progressed.
An intriguing, shocking and entertaining read, author Linda Freeny’s The Dogs of Lenin is a must-read for fans of engaging thrillers. A true tale of twists and turns which will test the protagonists and draw readers in, this narrative is a fantastic story of suspense, lost love and the delicate balance of trust and suspicion that often went into the Cold War era. Readers will not be able to put this book down.