Customer Reviews

TOPAZ

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is far and away my favorite Leon Uris novel. Unlike many of Uris' other works, this book is crisply written, the story moves at a fast pace, the ending is climactic, and the characters are vivid. The protagonist, Andre Devereaux, is unforgettable.

This is a novel essentially of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It also deals with postwar French foreign policy under De Gaulle (thinly disguised as "Le Croix" in the novel). The novel is told from the perspective of Devereaux, a French intelligence officer. Devereaux must deal with his knowledge of the Soviet activities in Cuba as well as Soviet penetration of the French government.

This is a fine novel. Unlike many of Uris' other novels, it does not bog down, and the characters behave like real people. There are no idealized characters--each person is shown complete with flaws and foibles. Recommended.

What a wonderful novel this is. Again Leon Uris is able to make a good story great...this time we are brought into the world of espionage between, the Soviets, Americans and France. In a nut shell there is a great conspiracy brewing i.e. the Cuban Missile Crisis...but Uris goes a step further by saying that maybe the entire Crises was a hoax...dreamed up to get France to leave NATO and weaken the alliance....or is it? I must admit he is really able to keep the story moving along and does a great job creating mystery and intrigue. As you read you are never sure who is telling the truth and who is not...It really makes you bite your nails and question what you think is going on....that is a good story to me.
I feel they should re-release this novel because it is very indicative of our times now. A good read.

One of the masterpieces. The way cold war has been described is incredible. The way the suspense breaks is really prodigious. You cant drop it till the time you have finished it. The pages turn automatically. One of the few gr8 books read by me. I highly recommend this book.

Very good, even when read almost 30 years after its publication. Captures a snapshot of the cold war through the eyes of a colorful type cast espionage cast. The most memorable section of the book for me was Uris's lead character's early description of a class of bureaucrats who spend most of their time banding with other like-minded individuals to create a web of protection and incompetency!

Leon Uris does a great job in Topaz--the book really does leave you wondering what is ficition and what is truth! The story is basically about the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962, but we are also taken 20 years back in time to war-torn Europe, seeing how Capitalism and Communism even THEN played a role in the danger that young President Kennedy faced. The book is engagingly easy-to-read, and does a tremendous job of tying loose ends together--I highly recommend "Topaz"!

This intriguing novel is set against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 . It revolves around four remarkable people : Michael Nordstrom , the American Chief of ININ , Inter-NATO Intelligence Network ; Boris Kuznetov , top Russian KGB defector ; Andre Devereaux , the chief of the French Secret Service SDECE and the captivating and beautiful Cuban aristocrat Juanita De Cordoba (who heads a resistance network against the Tyrannical Castro regime)
We are taken form the streets of Paris and Copenhagen to Washington DC to the hell-on earth that is Castroite Cuba soon after the 1959 Revolution that swept the Communist regime to power
Great intrigue is underway as one of the NATO allies is being manipulated to act in Soviet interests and one man is determined to stop this before the free world is destroyed
While John F Kennedy is simply referred to as the young President one can be certain that the Imperial President of France Pierre De La Croix is based on none other than Charles De Gaulle as only one man (former leader of the Free French during World War II) dominated France during the 1960's

.

Leon Uris has done it again. He thrilled readers with Mila 18 and Trinity, leaving us dying for more. Topaz is an incredible novel on the inner workings of Cold-War intelegence operations. Uris dazzeled me with suspence, anxiety, and unpredictability. The secrets this novel contains, hold true to the end. I recomend this to anyone looking for a novel that makes you want to continue to turn the page. Once you start, you just can't stop!

If you're a Leon Uris, espionage, or historical fiction fan, or if you love a don't-want-to-put-it-down story, this is for you. Deals with Cold War era, post Bay-of-Pigs espionage with French and American interests in Cuba. Leaves you shaking your head at the descriptions of the inner workings of international policies and how espionage really works. Realistic, educational descriptions of what Cuba was like at the time. Characters are intriguing and entirely human with both strengths and weaknesses developed. Hyper-tense page turner. One of his easiest books to read. A definite must read.

Topaz did not strike me to be as good as either Mila 18 or Exodus but a far better than average read for fiction.
I read the book just recently and was stuck by the many parallels that could be imagined between the Cuban missile crisis and now.
The work itself was very interesting and intriguing. But, I did not find the dramatically moving passages that were common in the other Uris books I had read. I am sure a big part of that had to do with the subject matter.
I would suggest this book to anyone but especially to those who do not remember the Cold War.

the condition of the book is not the same as the seller had indicated.the seller should have been honest.