Customer Reviews

The Plot

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I must admire Irving Wallace for his imagination and creativity.

Using a couple of real-life events - the banishment of John Patton Davis,U.S. ambassador for China; the defection of Dr Chien to China to head up the nuclear program; the Eisenhower Administration's missile gap; the Kennedy assassination; the Profumo scandal in Britain he had created a really exciting story whose credibility cannot be disputed since it was based on real-life events. I thoroughly enjoyed it from the beginning to the end.

I am disappointed that 'The Plot' had not be been made into a movie; it would have been a blockbuster. Bravo, Irving Wallace !!

In The Plot, the charachters include Matt, a once famouse diplomat now exiled from America because of his role in leaking nuclear weapons secrets to Red China; Emmet, a former President, modeled after Eisenhower, already living in obscurity but now threatened with a darker place in history for his role in that same nuclear scandal; Jay, a former internationally recognized print journalist now going to fat writing cookbooks (also in obscurity) in Vienna; Hazel, Jay's estranged lover and one-time pupil, who now surpasses him, but can't get past him; and Medora, a young British girl exiled in Paris for her role in a Profumo-like sex-scandal involving high-ranking MP's. Having nothing apparently in common, besides being losers, each of our heroes suddenly discovers that the key to their salvation may be waiting for them in Paris where America, China and Russia have gathered to hold disarmament talks. For Matt, it means the chance to reunite with a Soviet diplomat who can prove Matt was not to blame for allowing an American nuclear scientist to defect to China. For Emmett, it means the chance to talk an embittered and dying German munitions magnate out of publishing memoirs that will hold the ex-president accountable for allowing the Chinese a nuclear arsenal. For Jay, it means reuniting with Hazel and uncovering proof she hinted at years earlier of Russian involvement in the Kennedy assasination, proof that will bring Jay back the journalistic stardom now only a memory. For Hazel, it means the chance to scoop her competitors and escape Jay's shadow. And for Medora, it means that Paris will be full of British diplomats, including the one who tricked her into leaving England and then yanked her citizenship. None of our heroes sees their plight as having anything to do with the fact that hundreds of diplomats have come to Paris to decide the fate of the world. Darker powers are at work, aimed at reshaping a larger chunk of the world than that inhabited by any one of our protagonists.

Except that this is Irving Wallace, and, despite being over 500 pages long, a series of impossibly contrived plot devices brings our heroes together first and then to the realization that more is involved than any of their petty desires. In fact, what drives the book, and makes it both improbable and enjoyable is that our loser heroes really are losers who would couldn't nab the last metro let alone the Sino-Soviet conspiracy. Instead, our heroes would wander aimlessly through Paris (much of the book reads like a travelogue) while their targets continued to elude them. Our charachters are so dim, that when they realize the possibility that a larger plot even exists, the development is abrupt, almost atypical for them, and the novel would collapse right then if the author hadn't already suspended our belief for hundreds of pages. Examples of such howlers - Hazel's Russian lover hints at Soviet backing for the Kennedy assasination, but Hazel sits on the story for years; At a gathering of global gluttons, a Russian cookbook author accidentally spills the beans that the Russians and Chinese have been meeting together for years, depsite the fact that the two powers are bitter enemies and the fact that the Russians can't cook lo-mein to save their lives; Blame for the Chinese defection falls squarely on Matt, a young, idealistic diplomat, with none being reserved for the president; When nothing tips our heroes off to the existence of the Sino-Soviet plot, Medora picks up more clues in an overheard conversation spoken between the wives of Communist Chinese diplomats - in English!

Any one of the above would kill the book, yet Wallace makes his charachters incredibly fallible yet gifted in instinct. They're dim like us, but have pluck and can piece together clues that we can't making them - and us - seem smarter than they have a right to be. It's almost as if Wallace were including his readers in his plan. Toss in Paris and the fate of the free world, and the Plot delivers.

In The Plot, a group of characters having apparently little personally to do with each other, converge on Paris to right old wrongs and end up saving the world from a massive conspiracy.

Our heroes include Matt, a once famous White House aide now exiled from America because of his role in "allowing" an American nuclear-weapons expert to defect to Red China; Emmet, a former President, modeled after Eisenhower, already living in obscurity but now threatened with a darker place in history for his role in that same nuclear scandal; Jay, a former internationally recognized print journalist now going to fat writing cookbooks (also in obscurity) in Vienna; Hazel, Jay's estranged lover and one-time pupil, who now surpasses him, but can't get past him; and Medora Hart, a young British girl living in exile in France for her role in a Profumo-like sex-scandal involving high-ranking British Politicians.

Sharing nothing besides being losers, each of our heroes suddenly discovers that the key to their salvation may be waiting for them in Paris where America, China and Russia have gathered to hold disarmament talks. For Matt, it means the chance to reunite with a Soviet diplomat who can prove Matt was not to blame for allowing the Chinese a toe-hold in the nuclear club; For Emmett, it means the chance to talk an embittered and dying German munitions magnate out of publishing memoirs that will hold the ex-president accountable for allowing the Chinese a nuclear arsenal; For Jay, it means reuniting with Hazel and uncovering proof she hinted at years earlier of Russian involvement in the Kennedy assassination, proof that will bring Jay back the journalistic stardom now only a memory; For Hazel, it means the chance to scoop her competitors and escape Jay's shadow; And for Medora, it means that Paris will be full of British diplomats, including the one who tricked her into leaving England and then yanked her citizenship.

None of our heroes connects their plight to the underlying summit that has drawn diplomats of the world's most powerful nations to Paris to decide the fate of the world. Darker powers are at work, aimed at reshaping a larger chunk of the world than that inhabited by any one of our protagonists.

Except that this is Irving Wallace, and, despite being over 500 pages long, a series of impossibly contrived plot devices brings our heroes together first and then to the realization that more is involved than any of their petty desires. In fact, what drives the book, and makes it both improbable and enjoyable is that our loser heroes really are losers who would couldn't nab the last metro let alone uncover the Sino-Soviet conspiracy. Instead, our heroes would wander aimlessly through Paris (much of the book reads like a travelogue) while salvation continues to elude them. Our heroes are so dim, that when they realize the possibility that a larger plot even exists, the development is abrupt, almost atypical for them, and the novel would collapse right then if the author hadn't already suspended our belief for hundreds of pages. Examples of such howlers - Hazel's Russian lover hints at Soviet backing for the Kennedy assassination, but Hazel sits on the story for years; At a gathering of global gluttons, a Russian cookbook author accidentally spills the beans that the Russians and Chinese have been meeting together for years, despite the fact that the two powers are bitter enemies and the fact that the Russians can't cook lo-mein to save their lives; Blame for the Chinese defection falls squarely on Matt, a young, idealistic diplomat, with none being reserved for the president; When nothing tips our heroes off to the existence of the Sino-Soviet plot, Medora picks up more clues in an overheard conversation spoken between the wives of Communist Chinese diplomats - in English!

Any one of the above would kill the book, yet Wallace makes his characters incredibly fallible yet gifted in instinct. They're dim like us, but have pluck and can piece together clues that we can't making them - and us - seem smarter than they have a right to be. It's almost as if Wallace were including his readers in his schemes. Toss in Paris and the fate of the free world, and the Plot delivers.

THE PLOT is one of the better books that I have found in some time! I cannot believe that it hasn't been brought to film, as it remains timely still, but to our supposedly "hip" generation of today, so much of the essence could be made so very rich! Goodness gracious, where are the heads of the producers now? WHERE WERE THEY THEN? OMG? I just realized...it hit too close to home then, as now...scary YIKES! Maybe that's the reason neither ABC, CBC, nor NBC will tell us the truth anymore..jeez, makes ya' think, oh no, that's baaaaad. A great read, though, everyone...if this administration doesn't scare you, you shouldn't be too rattled.