Bombshell [Paperback]

Barbara Collins (Author), Max Allan Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2005

Husband and wife Barbara and Max Allan Collins team up on a comic historical mystery about a star-crossed meeting between Nikita Khrushchev, a man who held the fate of the world in his hands, and Marilyn Monroe, the blonde bombshell who became America's most unlikely diplomat.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It's 1959, the cold war is escalating, and Nikita Khrushchev is coming to the U.S. Along with the expected official meetings, Khrushchev wants to meet Marilyn Monroe and visit Disneyland. The Monroe meeting goes well, but the premier is incensed when his trip to Disneyland is canceled. Meanwhile, Monroe overhears two Soviet security agents discussing a plot to assassinate Khrushchev. Marilyn helps hatch a plan to protect "Nikki," who winds up getting his Disneyland visit after all--and with a very comely guide. The Collins have taken an event based in history--Khruschev's U.S. visit--and shaped it with wonderful characterizations (Nikki and Marilyn have never been more interesting) to re-create an era within the context of a delightful comic adventure (a cold-war variation on Roman Holiday). This is sure to interest fans of Max Allan Collins' Nate Heller series, which offers fictional solutions to real-life mysteries of the 1940s and '50s. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"[Max Allan Collins is] the master of true-crime fiction."
-- Publishers Weekly (Publisher's Weekly )

"[Barbara Collins is] a latter day Roald Dahl."
-- Mystery Scene (UNKNOWN ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Five Star Trade (June 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410402258
• ISBN-13: 978-1410402257
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,811,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure delight, May 19, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Five Star First Edition Mystery - Bombshell (Hardcover)

In 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev comes to America to meet with President Eisenhower. Comrade Khrushchev has two special requests of Ike both in Southern California. He wants to visit Disneyland and meet Marilyn Monroe as he saw the actress? film Some Like It Hot at the American National Exhibit in Moscow.

Ike arranges the meeting with Miss Monroe, but vetoes Disneyland as too dangerous especially since several foreign countries want to see the Soviet dead. His speech at the UN inflamed the Chinese Nationalists on Formosa and the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution two years earlier have angered individuals from that satellite nation. Khrushchev arrives in Los Angeles to a rather shabby greeting until Miss Monroe gives him superstar treatment. When she learns that a third group plans an assassination she does everything to keep the Russian bear alive not just to prevent World War III, but because they have become friends.

Though Marilyn Monroe serving as a world savior may seem implausible, readers will believe she did save Khrushchev?s life in this remarkable historical tale. The story line flows with life in the 1950s with the threat of nuclear war hanging over everyone. Readers who remember the ?duck and cover? exercises in school need to deny it to hide their age. Though terrific insights into the era and Miss Monroe, BOMBSHELL belongs to the vivid full depiction of Khrushchev, who does not get enough credit for de-Stalinization and recognizing his country?s lack of nuclear parity by not raising the ante during the Cuban missile crisis.

Harriet Klausner