Customer Reviews

Conspiracy in Kiev (The Russian Trilogy, Book 1)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

This is probably one of my surprising reads of the year. I had been a bit wary of this book because it was an unfamiliar author and I'm usually not a big fan of books that take place in Eastern European countries. However as soon as I started reading the book, I was hooked in completely. Alex is a character that I absolutely adored from the beginning. She's the type of heroine that you want to be, and that you like very much. She's strong, yet you can see her weaknesses. I really enjoyed all the historical facts that were presented in this book. As a historian, I appreciated how the author used real history and didn't create events to make the story better. It's interesting how real life events can be just as interesting (or even better) in comparison to fictional tales. Some readers might find these bits boring, as the history of Ukraine and the former Soviet Union are told in details but they are relevant to the plot of the story and shouldn't really be skimmed over. The story is extremely well researched and I actually felt like I had traveled to Europe along with Alex. With so much going on in the book, one would think the storyline would be hard to follow. However it's not and it makes for a very fast paced read. One other thing I really liked is that even though the author is male and writes as a first person female, Alex acts like a rational woman and does not fall into cliched stereotypes. I personally enjoyed the downplay of romance in this book.

There is quite a bit of violence in this book. The story is very action packed and many characters do die. In fact, it seemed that there was someone that died in almost every chapter. Characters also do drink socially throughout the story. This book felt very realistic in the way situations were handled. Events that take place in this book could pretty much be ripped from headline news. To be honest, I don't consider this book Christian fiction at all. It may be by published by a Christian publisher, but the story doesn't really project anything preachy. Alex does grow stronger in her faith but it is not a main focus point. In fact I would just consider this book to be a good international suspense thriller. By far and away this was one of the best suspense books I've read all year. Tight storyline, thrilling action sequences, an engaging heroine and a page turning read make this one of my favorite reads of the year. VERY HIGHLY recommended.

Well, I was certainly surprised at what I could get for nothing, zip, free from Amazon for my Kindle. That's the way the book came to be downloaded. This and another of Hynd's books, Midnight in Madrid also fell into my Kindle.

So, Conspiracy in Kiev begins with a bang. As the body count mounts, the central character Alexandra LaDuca, an agent with the Treasury Department finds herself pretty much all over - Kiev, Venezuela, New York, Paris.

While she's globe trotting and shooting her way out of house and home, there's a sub plot in Rome. Goodness, I thought, how does it all come together?

And to Noel Hynd's credit he does finally bring it all together.

I think any test of a book, especially fiction and a thriller shoot 'em up is, "Did the book entertain me"? Well, it did.

However this is perhaps the first that religion, and Christianity was central. I say that because it was central to Alex.

I've read other books where religion is central also, as The Name of the Rose which takes place in an Italian Monastery in, I believe the 15th or 16th Cent. Monks all over the place. Recently finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson in which a serial killer uses biblical quotations from Leviticus. Or the Gabriel Alon series, two books I think center on the Vatican and the Pope.

Still, for some reason the Alex's religiosity did seem to jar when I began encountering it. In the books previously mentioned religion/God seems to be part of the plot.

In Conspiracy it seems to be a character, as I mentioned, it is Alex's character.

Something else that struck me, only because of my age and my memory for a particular movie: There is an exchange between Alex and her new best friend, Ben (note; I'm not giving any of the story away) who is a veteran of the Iraq war and who has a leg prosthesis. Ben describes how he puts the prosthesis on his leg. That rocked me because I recalled a scene from the 1946 Movie, The Best Years of Our Lives,in which Harold Russell a veteran of the WWII who lost both arms describes how he has to put his prostheses on to Teresa Wright who is in love with him.

Anyway, I wouldn't let a little thing like Christianity stand in the way of a good read.

So, Conspiracy in Kiev (by the way, my mother's family left Ukraine in the first decade of the 20th Century) gets the coveted 5 stars because it my simple criteria for fiction. It entertained me.

The first chapter of this novel held out a little promise. It started in a sexy location, brought in a character that seemed personable, and killed him under weird circumstances that left me with questions. Ordinarily, these questions would be answered over the course of the novel. Indeed, they may have been. I couldn't tell you, because I can't bring myself to continue reading the thing.

The next few chapters don't introduce anyone who isn't a roll-your-eyes stereotype. Sentence structure is often awkward. Setting up the main character's role as a government investigator was a snooze, and her internal monologue was the sort of writing where you flip ahead to see where the passage ends. Somewhere along the way, the author also lost track of the "show, don't tell" rule of storytelling; we are told, for example, that the main character is a sharpshooter, something that would have been much more interestingly shown to us during an action scene than told to us in a piece of long-winded, tell-don't-show exposition about her relationship with her fiancé (which itself was clumsily wedged into what seemed to be an exposition about how petulant the main character got when forced to spend a long day at her government job).

There are more offenses, but I think I've given you the flavor of the thing already. In "Conspiracy in Kiev", Noel Hynd makes a hack like Dan Brown look like Ernest Hemingway. Hynd may do better elsewhere, but I'll never find out.

One point of consolation: I got the thing for free (unless you count the time wasted).

This trilogy has three fine novels complete in themselves and are entertaining reads; but the three together are greater than the sum of each by itself. Actually, I read the middle novel, Midnight in Madrid, first--didn't know any better. Then the first novel, Conspiracy in Kiev (for me, the prequel.) Finally, the Countdown in Kiev. It works just fine.

Some reviewers objected to the Christianity in these novels. But, Alex's Christianity is a fat thread in the complex personality of a main protagonist. These are not Christian novels as I read them. So please don't let the Christian thingy be off-putting. As with most ethical systems it proves to be a help and a hindrance in the character's response to her situations. it is just a real part of who she is.

She? Would I send a woman out as the pointy-end of a project? I'm old school--not sure that I would. Here it works. (I was sure that she would get bagged and tagged several times.) Read the novels and see if it works for you.

The characters are well crafted and very interesting. The bad guys are not one-dimensional or dirt-bags. They are competent, cosmopolitan, and scary. Approach with caution.

And Noel Hynd, thank you for the great reads and for publishing on Kindle.

This book needs to be tagged as a Christian novel. Like others, I downloaded it for free for some easy reading. I don't mind a character who goes to church, but the book was so overloaded with Christian metaphors and salvation by religious artifacts that it became just plain silly. It wasn't really obvious until halfway through the book, so by the time you realize the extent of the underlying messages, you've invested enough time in reading it that you just put up with it. The ending was completely unsatisfying, using the "Deus ex Machina" technique to save the heroine. The author also provided a half-hearted discussion on missionaries -- for anyone who isn't Christian, the concept is rather offensive.

This is a pretty good political-mystery novel, and is the first of a trilogy involving this protagonist. Its strengths are a linear plot that is easy to follow despite some clever twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. There is plenty of action in this one, but unlike some action-oriented novels there is also something of a plot. What seems to be lacking is a point. I do not want to elaborate for fear of spoilers (my review policy is to eschew all spoilers) but suffice to say that the novel is ambiguous about the US Government's actions vis'a'vis the Ukrainian mob, which is the essential theme of the novel. Perhaps this will become more apparent in the subsequent two novels of the trilogy.

While there are some Christian themes in this novel, this novel is not a novel of the "Christian" genre particularly, despite what at least one other Amazon review contends. It is true that one of the themes in the novel is the simple fact that there are forces in the world that oppress the South American poor mercilessly and continuously. While one portion of the book involves the protagonist visiting Christian missionaries in Venezuela who are sincerely trying to do good, this is hardly the dominant theme of the novel, which ultimately returns to its Ukrainian theme.

This is a very readable novel which kept my interest throughout. It does more or less leave the reader hanging at the end, which I suppose is inevitable for the first novel of a trilogy. RJB.

Conspiracy in Kiev by Noel Hynd was a book that intrigued me. I was initially drawn to it after having been to Eastern Europe. But as I started reading the book, I was drawn into the suspense and action of it. Alex LaDuca works for the US Treasury and is sent to the Ukraine to keep an eye on Ukrainian Yuri Federov while the US President was in the Ukraine on a political visit. Federov owes the US about ten million in personal taxes as well as owing corporate taxes and having a criminal history. Considered as one of the most dangerous men in the world, Federov was LaDuca's assignment. In the midst of murders in several countries, will LaDuca be able to babysit Federov without getting killed herself?
Conspiracy in Kiev is the first book in The Russian Trilogy (Midnight in Madrid and Countdown in Cairo are books two and three respectively). I am excited to read books two and three in the coming days.

I received this book free from Zondervan for the purpose of this review.

With a title like that, it took almost half the book for the character to even get to Kiev, and the end of the book to let us know what the whole "conspiracy" was. I was disappointed in the mystery. The writing was good but the story and execution left me deflated when I finally finished. I wouldn't reccommend this book, but at least I got it for free so I didn't waste money on it.

Conspiracy in Kiev is the first in this trilogy of international intrigue. I read these out of order, and although each of them was perfect as a standalone book, the three of them together are captivating.

Alex is a smart woman of faith who can handle herself well in tough situations. The locations in the book are well described, so I had a sense of being there with the action. The characters are interesting and there is ample information to get to know and understand them. There is a perfect blend of narration and conversation without either being overdone. Plenty of action and adventure held my interest until the end.

Although Alex is a person of faith, this is not a religious or preachy book. Her feelings of conflict in her faith and moral dilemmas are worked out in the book, but she is far from a perfect person. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good thriller, adventure, and story of international intrigue.

Conspiracy in Kiev has taken me on a virtual trip to three continents...from romantic European cities to the insect-infested jungles of South America...and I never had to leave my home!! What a very pleasant surprise this experience was for me because this was my first book by Noel Hynd. This thriller held my attention throughout with its clear descriptions of different environments/locations, action scenes and characters. And I've fallen in love with Alex, the strong female main character. She's bright, strong, talented, and loyal to those she loves and to her country. Her adventures in this well-written thriller range from those one would expect in such a novel to frustrating experiences we've all experienced, like going through the security line at the airport. Alex is also dealing with issues of her faith, which appealed to me. This is the first book of this genre that attempted (successfully) to make the main character truly human.

Many years ago, I remember reading Ludlum's Bourne Identity is just one day. Reading "Kiev" reminded me of that experience...it totally held my attention from chapter to chapter. Enough action, mystery, and romantic relationships, without explicit descriptions. At the conclusion of the book, I felt I really knew the characters and was pleasantly surprised at the unexpected final scene.

My wife is happy I've closed my Kindle signaling my finishing "Conspiracy" so that we can have a meaningful conversation. It's a good thing she doesn't know I already downloaded the second book in the trilogy. I'm very eager to read about Alex's next assignment. I'll have to renew my passport and pack my bags for this next adventure.
Len