The Second Lady [Mass Market Paperback]

Irving Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1981

"In a novel of daring international duplicity, sex becomes the ultimate secret weapon . . ."

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 341 pages
• Publisher: Signet; First Signet Printing October 1981 edition (1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451125908
• ISBN-13: 978-0451125903
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,327,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A disapointment after reading "The Man", July 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Second Lady (Hardcover)

Wallace's novel "The Man" would have to be one of the best novels I've ever read. However "The Second Lady" compared as a very poor cousin. A very disapointing read for such an accomplished author. Forgettable and lacking the integrity of "The Man".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars suspensfull,could it really happen??, May 14, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (michigan,u.s.a.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Second Lady (Signet) (Paperback)

Great Book! Easy,rapid reading,hard to put down.Although fiction,it sure makes you wonder--speculate,and the ending? well,thought provoking to say the least.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Preposterous Thriller, August 17, 2005

By 

Rottenberg's rotten book review (nyc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Second Lady (Signet) (Paperback)

An utterly preposterous book. The Lady of the title is a virtual clone of the American President's wife - living unfortunately in Russia. The Lady is stumbled upon by the Soviets' spymaster who hits upon a daring idea: swap the two - if temporarily - to give them access to the President's innermost secrets. Specifically, they need to determine whether the Americans have really beefed up the military position of an embattled and US-Backed African nation. As the Russian spy gains access, she soon realizes that it may take more than looks to pass for the president's wife.

So why is this novel so bad? The cardboard characters typical to novels like this are in attendance, but it's the premise that makes this an unlikely read. The idea behind the Russian lady is problematic because it was unnecessarily made as implausibly as possible - instead of working at some secret soviet lab, there just happens to be a Russian woman who looks like the wife of the most powerful man in the free world, and she just happens to catch the eye of the head of the KGB. Just to reassure jaded readers, we're told that the real first lady is an avid skinny-dipper, allowing Russian spy-photographers to verify in pictures what file photos at Reuters will not. (More intelligent readers wonder how the First Lady's predilections survived our ruthless press.) The Soviets get so used to having the plot go there way, that when a problem crops up, they seem to miss the simplest solution (The Russians, despite their dossier on the President's wife, miss an embarrassing detail about the lady's current medical condition; when they learn that there's a problem after having made the switch, they go to desperate lengths to get details, even though they have the First Lady in their power and can have one of their own doctors determine the situation). Most of the Irving Wallace novel's I've read are rife with plot howlers, but the good ones (Like "The Plot") actually work on their implausibility and have enough fun characters that they work. To its credit, "Lady" ends on a smart twist ending, but it's one that seems undeserved by this contrived book.